Tuesday News and Notes

- The Heat is about to make an offer to the Wizards for Juan Carlos Navarro.

I'd love to get Navarro. However, it's been suggested by some that we would have to give up either next years 1st round pick or Haslem to make the deal work. There aren't enough words to describe how much I hate the idea of giving up our starting power forward or a 1st round pick for a guy who's going to probably be a back up point guard (especially since we'll have the right to swap picks with Orlando next year as long as they're not in the lottery).

I'd rather see us pursue one of the remaining free agent PGs. Speaking of which.....

- Barry Jackson writes that the Heat have expressed interest in signing Steve Francis (scroll to the bottom of the article).

When news first broke that Portland had bought out Francis, I wasn't all that interested in him because of his age and history of injuries. The situation has changed though since we lost out on Mo Williams and Steve Blake.

If we have to give up too much to get Navarro, I wouldn't mind bringing in Francis. It's not like there are many better options currently available in free agency. He'd most likely be coming off the bench, so he'll have a better chance of staying healthy than he's had in the past.

- Michael Pietrus' name has been coming up a lot lately in conversations about who could be the starting small forward for the Heat next year.

I'd like to see the Heat go after him. He's athletic, can shoot the three, and most everyone over at Golden State of Mind says he plays good defense (scroll down past the Barnes report card to read more about him). They also say he can be a bone headed decision maker at times, but we're hurting for depth at small forward, so I'm willing to deal with his shortcomings.

- Wade could very well miss the start of next season, and I'm fine with that. Take all the time you need, D-Wade. Just come back healthy.

It's not like the team won't survive without him, at least for a little while. The Heat proved that they're more than capable of winning by running the offense through Shaq when Wade was hurt last year.

- Udonis Haslem isn't worried about how the off-season is going.


- Despite experiencing so many bad breaks that have prevented his career from getting off the ground, Wayne Simien still isn't feeling sorry for himself. By all accounts Simien is one of the nicest guys in the Heat locker room. I'm really rooting for him to break into the rotation this year.