Although players such as forward/center Antonio McDyess and guards Stephon Marbury and Jamaal Tinsley are available or might be available soon, Heat president Pat Riley appears to be taking the wait-and-see approach with his young team.
The Heat is about $400,000 into luxury tax territory, and Riley said "any transaction that we make has to be via trade or to slot somebody into an exception." That probably won't happen with McDyess, Marbury or Tinsley. Riley acknowledged he's talked with Andy Miller, McDyess' agent. But Riley also stressed his team wants flexibility for the 2009 and 2010 off-seasons, which seems to eliminate Tinsley.
"We really don't want to go into the third year (2010)," he said, "and one of the contracts (Tinsley) goes into that year."
Riley said it takes 20 or 30 games to assess a team, and apparently that's what he'll give this current group.
"I don't want to give away any assets," Riley said. "I want to try to collect more assets and make the right moves to protect our future and our assets, and at the same time try to win. So there are four or five things out there that might be interesting down the road, but right now we're going to let this team play."
RAPTORS 107, HEAT 96: Toronto used its size to build a 52-35 rebounding edge. But the Raptors won this game at the start of the fourth quarter when they went on a 16-3 run.
"It wasn't an offensive problem," G Dwyane Wade said. "It was all defense."
Wade ended with 29 points, eight assists, four steals and two blocks, but he didn't get much help. F Michael Beasley (13 points on 4-for-14 shooting) played just three minutes in the fourth quarter because coach Erik Spoelstra wanted to get his "best and quickest defensive unit" on the floor.
