Red Flag In South Beach

It seems that many moves this NBA off-season aren't actually being made for the upcoming season, but for the leitmotif of the 2010 free-agent extravaganza when players like LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowtizki, and Dwyane Wade are set to become free-agents in some way or another.

Bryant isn't leaving L.A. and Dirk said publicly that he'd like to remain in Dallas. That means the spotlight is even brighter on James and Wade. We all know the deal with James, the New York Knicks have basically arranged to have what looks like the entire current roster to become free-agents next year so that the organization can make a run at LeBron James (and that will give New York playground ballers plenty of chances to dunk on him.) The Cavs countered by trading for Shaq in an attempt to prove to LeBron that he can win if he stays put.

Meanwhile, down in Miami, Dwyane Wade has announced that he'd better see a contender forming in Miami if he is to stay down in Florida. The Heat have taken him at his word and are now attempting to sign free-agent Lamar Odom and there are rumors that the Heat are attempting to trade for Utah inside scorer, Carlos Boozer. (Wow. Imagine Boozer going from Utah to South Beach. Do you think his head will explode from the change in culture?)

It remains to be seen if the Heat are successful in forming a good enough team to suit Wade though the organization is trying. But a couple of events have happened recently that should make Heat fans just a tad skittish.

First of all, the Heat have quickly offered Wade a big extention (three years at over $20 million per year) which Wade says he's in no hurry to sign. That's a clear power play for Wade has he lets the organization twist in the cool ocean breeze while he goes about his business. That's not something a player does when he's happy to be somewhere.

Secondly, Wade just dumped Converse as his shoe representative despite having a three year contract left with the company. Wade went with shoe behemoth Nike on the Air-Jordan line. I know this has nothing to do with the Miami Heat, but it does show that:

A.) Wade isn't overly loyal to organizations and will leave if something better comes along and
B.) Wade is already making big changes to his sports persona.

Could a location change be far away? The Heat seem to doing whatever they can to prevent that, but Wade is showing that he will do whatever he feels is best from him no matter what else is happening be it contracts or personell moves.

The heat is definetely on Miami.