Miami Heat
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(Note: This was done before the Heat traded Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien and a conditional first-round pick to the Timberwolves for Ricky Davis and Mark Blount.)

An opposing team's scout sizes up the Heat

The big questions with Miami are going to involve injuries, age and chemistry. Those are three huge issues. Dwyane Wade is going to miss the start of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery. They're not going to win many games while he's out. In his absence, Antoine Walker is going to take a lot of shots, and they aren't going to win that way. Wade played hurt at the end of last year and he was still better than most guys. Some people think he's the best player in the conference, and they already have the best big man in Shaquille O'Neal ...

Another way of looking at Wade's injury is that it has forced him into a period of extended rest after playing deep into the playoffs and playing in the summer with USA Basketball. With rested legs, he might be capable of an MVP season. And if Shaq comes up with a great year, then there's always a possibility they can contend because that still could be the best 1-2 punch in basketball ...

Shaq will be 36 in March. He's on the downslide, and he's injury-prone. He's going to play his typical 60 games and if guys aren't making shots around him, then the defenses will collapse on him and it's going to affect the way he plays. He'll have to force shots up then. He's still the most dominant big man in the game, but I'm not sure he has enough around him. I mean, he has enough to make the playoffs, but can they get to the Finals? I'm not sure they can without the shooting of Jason Kapono, which will be missed, and the bench play of James Posey ...

Shaq can still draw a double team and open it up for the other guys. When he catches the ball in certain areas in the box, he's unstoppable. He turns around and dunks it or tosses his little flip shot up to the basket that goes in a lot. He's still so much bigger and stronger than everybody else, and he still has enough to run up and down the floor for 30 minutes. Even at his age, nobody comes close to his strength -- nobody. And nobody can guard him one-on-one. Put him on any team with good players around him and he can win the championship for them. I just don't think he has enough around him in Miami. They need a third good player. Let's say Ray Allen went to Miami -- then I'd say Miami would be my pick to reach the Finals ...

Age is definitely a big concern for them. This is a team whose window is closing unless it can interject a couple of really good, lively players around Wade. Shaq has three years left. Alonzo Mourning will be 38 [in February]. At his age, he can still argue with the referees and complain on every call, and he can still guard the goal because he's so strong. But he can't score, and I'm so tired of watching his act of complaining all the time. Between him and Dikembe Mutombo, it must be a Georgetown thing ...

The problem with trying to add youth to this team is that Pat Riley wants to win now. As soon as he doesn't think he can win the championship, he's going to be out of there ...

Jason Williams is playing for a contract, so maybe they'll get a good year out of him. But he's not young either [he turns 32 on Nov. 18], he has a history of knee problems and there's not going to be a big market out there for him. Since he got to Miami, he's done a good job of running the team; he's gotten away from the craziness he brought to Sacramento and Memphis. Maybe Shaq helped straighten him out. He looks for the open man, and he does make shots. He's a streak shooter, but when he's on a roll and feeling it, he's pretty tough. He still can run a team so long as his knee troubles aren't getting to him ...

When Walker is feeling it, he can still score, and I guess he can still do a little bit of everything. He's a big body and they play him at small forward, which gives them rebounding from that position. It seems like whenever Shaq is out of the game, Walker becomes their low-post option because Udonis Haslem can't score down there and neither can Mourning anymore. But Walker isn't very athletic: He plays like an old man, and he can't really turn around in the post and juke and fake you to get his shot off. Plus, he travels a lot. I don't think there's a player in the NBA who walks more than he does. He does it almost every single play ...

A lot of people in the league like Haslem as an undersized power forward who does all the dirty work. He was a key starter on their championship team. There will always be a place for guys like him ...

Minus Posey and Gary Payton, they still have the key players from their championship team -- Walker, Haslem, Wade, Shaq and Williams. But they're all older, and Wade is coming off his injury. And during their title run, Walker was playing out of his head beginning with the last month of the regular season. He was a big reason they went all the way because he was playing so much better than usual. Can they expect to get the same kind of performance from him this year? I doubt it. So while it may be the same lineup, they're not the same team. And in the meantime, the East has gotten better and deeper, which means the competition will be tougher ...

As much as they'll miss Posey for his all-around play at both ends, they'll miss Kapono's shooting more. Where are they going to get their perimeter shooting from?

Smush Parker is a little better shooter than Payton was. Parker is a good-sized point guard and he can run a team. If he's your backup, then you're doing very well there. But will he fit in and have a positive impact on their chemistry? Shaq can be a policeman for only so many guys. Maybe he'll have to bring his nightstick ...

They gave up on Dorell Wright last year. He hardly played over the second half of the season, and there was talk that he might even be traded. When I saw him early in the year, I thought he had a lot of potential, and though he didn't look like he had great range on his shot, he looked like a very athletic player. But then their guys got healthy and Eddie Jones came over and he never played. Maybe they don't see the potential that other people see, because why would you not use a guy who can provide the athleticism and liveliness that your team is looking for? I don't know how they feel about him, but they're going to have to try to make use of him this year ...

Overall, they'll have to do their best to hold on until Wade can come back in late November, which means riding Shaq without wearing him out. If they can stay competitive in the first part of the season, then they'll have a chance, but there will still be a lot of other issues for them to get through.