Heat will be OK, D'Antoni's gripe, solid Blazers & more

Dwyane Wade's return from shoulder and knee surgeries will allow his teammates to settle into their complementary roles. AP

RELATED • FORRESTER: Shaq's diminishing returns • ASCHBURNER: Wade should adjust game

Taking a spin around the league ...

Will the Miami Heat make the playoffs?

Yes.

Have you looked at the standings lately? You do know they're on the verge of going 1-8 Friday night at Boston?

Yes and yes.

And yes, I know they're last in the East after losing to Charlotte and Seattle by a combined 24, with Wednesday's 104-95 shocker at home to the Sonics happening despite Dwyane Wade's 24-minute season debut in his return from shoulder and knee surgeries.

I know Shaquille O'Neal is averaging a modest 14.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in 29.1 minutes. "His ability to affect the game is happening in shorter spurts,'' an NBA scout said. "He gets tired easily. Where his spurts used to go six to seven minutes, they're now three to four minutes.''

I know the supporting cast is neither supportive nor well cast. "If you believe in the good-guy theory, then this is not your team,'' the scout said. "Smush Parker is a selfish person, Ricky Davis is selfish. They didn't add positive factors to the team. They've spent so much money on Shaq and Wade, and after that it's like they're just grabbing at people. They're old, and then a guy like Mark Blount, who may be able to help them, isn't playing as many minutes as you'd think he would. But that's how it is with Pat Riley: If you don't buy into his system, you won't play.''

So when do you get to the part where you start convincing us they'll make the playoffs?

I feel silly expending more energy to defend them than they appear to be showing on the court some nights.

But Wade is going to make a 180-degree difference as soon as he gets his legs under him and his wrists above the rim. Some people will say it's naïve to think that one player can alter a team that's played as pathetically as Miami, but he will help the Heat climb out of the league cellar in scoring (currently 84.8 ppg) while cementing their defense, which ranks a highly respectable fourth in points allowed (91.1) and ninth in opponents' field goal percentage (43.2).

Jason Williams (who is playing for a new contract), Davis and Dorell Wright will be more useful as complementary scorers. And Shaq will play better in the second half of the season, which is a trend you can trace back to Los Angeles.

Think about this: Where would Cleveland be right now if LeBron James had missed seven and a half of its first eight games? I'm thinking the Cavaliers would be 1-7 too -- and they're the reigning conference champions. On Wednesday, LeBron put together the best all-around game the league has seen since 1968 -- 39 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds, an achievement last matched by Wilt Chamberlain -- and the NBA finalists still lost at home to Orlando. Without LeBron, they would be playing good defense, but they wouldn't score enough to win. He means everything to his team, much as Wade means everything to the Heat. It's not asking too much of Wade to get them back on a .500 plane over the next few weeks, and then to put together a short winning streak before Christmas that leaves them in the large mix of teams competing for the final playoff spots. And then they'll still have four months left to keep improving.

"When I was watching them, my thought was this is a team going nowhere,'' the scout said. "But their coaching staff doesn't look panicked. They're working their asses off and they're frustrated and mad, but they're not panicked. So they must know something I don't know.''

In fact, we all know what they know: that Wade is one of the top 10 players in the league, a truth of which he'll be reminding us very soon.

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