OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 8:37 p.m. ET July 7, 2009

Sean Deveney

So if you're a Heat fan, the question that is, no doubt, now rolling around in your noggin is this: Was it worth it?

It's been three years since Miami won the NBA title, when they came from a 2-0 deficit in the Finals to beat Dallas in six games. That was a thrilling postseason, one that saw Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley collect well-deserved rings.

But, even before the Heat started that 2005-06 campaign, they took a gamble that almost assuredly would pay short-term dividends, but would cost the team in the long term. Miami's August 2005 five-team trade of Eddie Jones for Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey gave the Heat a stocked roster. It was an old roster, though. With Walker getting a six-year, $53 million contract as part of the trade and with O'Neal's enormous deal on the books, it was also a roster that would have limited future financial flexibility.

Since 2006, the Heat have pretty much been in a weird limbo, moving O'Neal for Shawn Marion, then Marion for Jermaine O'Neal and, all the while, mostly shuffling bad contracts for other bad contracts. Only last year, with the drafting of Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers, did the team begin adding young talent and that team managed 43 wins.

But it might be too late. That's because Wade is slated to be a free agent next summer, and he does not sound very pleased with the direction of the team. The roster, as it stands, does not appear to be much better than last year's team. Another year of .500-ish basketball is not something that excites Wade. "That's not enough for me," he told the Associated Press.

And on Miami radio station 790, Wade was asked whether he felt that, as other teams have been improving, the Heat have been left behind. "At this moment, yeah," Wade said. "It's a lot of teams that got better, real fast. One thing I've come to realize here in Miami is never count out Pat Riley. You never know what he can cook up in the lab. We're going to be patient. I'm not going to worry about it."

Maybe Wade won't be worrying. But there's another thing he won't be doing — signing a contract extension with the Heat this summer and avoiding free agency next summer. As a source close to Wade told SN, "I just can't see how that could possibly happen."

Wade is eligible to sign an extension on July 12. That doesn't mean that Miami won't re-sign Wade next summer, of course. But if Wade is looking for a championship-caliber team when he hits the market, it's hard to see how the Heat can get to that level in the next 12 months. That will make it pretty easy for him to walk away from Miami.

If that happens, then you've got to revisit the summer of 2005 and the Walker-Posey-Williams deal. Was it the right move? It no doubt led the Heat to the '06 championship. But it also clogged the books and kept the team from building a winner around Wade, which could eventually cost the Heat the services of their star player.

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