<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Heat, awaiting a decision from Damon Jones, has had contact with the agents of the other top remaining free agent point guards ( Nick Van Exel, Earl Watson, Gary Payton and Dan Dickau). Also available are Brevin Knight and Tyronn Lue and two notable restricted free agents: Marko Jaric and Steve Blake. The Heat ideally would like to keep Jones without cutting into its $5 million salary-cap exception. Miami can sign Jones to as much as a 20 percent raise from last season's $2.5 million salary without using its exception money. There are conflicting reports about whether Dallas will buy out Michael Finley's contract by next Monday's amnesty deadline, and the Heat would face heavy competition from Denver and others if he is released. If Miami doesn't get Finley, the list of remaining shooting guards and small forwards isn't particularly appealing. It includes shooting guards Kerry Kittles, Anthony Peeler, Devin Brown, Courtney Alexander and Kareem Rush, small forward Glenn Robinson and swingman Rodney Buford. There are health issues surrounding New York's Allan Houston, another potential amnesty cut.</div> Miami Herald I like that list. For our PG posistion I believe the best suit to me would be Tyronne Lue and Brevin Knight. It's a process of elimination when I look at it. Earl Watson coming to Miami to be a backup again to Jason Williams is highly unlikely. I don't really want Gary Payton or NVE because they are pretty much past their prime, and Van Exel is injury prone. Van Exel has some game left in him, but he's not what the teams need even though he's a good shooter (that's always good when you have Shaq on your team). Dickau is pretty much a scorer at the 2 spot, it would be better to have Wade as the backup point than Dickau. Landing Jaric is a unlikely and Steve Blake would be a nice acquisition, but as a 3rd string PG. Lue can handle the ball, be an energy guy at the same time and play some pretty decent D when he's on. Brevin Knight knows how to distribute the ball and makes good decisions while be a very good on ball defender despite his height. I like Kittles for the 2 spot. Although he's injury prone, he can shoot and defend which is always a very nice combination. Coming off an injury plague season, he should come at a cheap price. Devin Brown is my favorite player from that list, but I don't see him leaving SA. I believe Rush has re-signed, but if he is available I would look into acquiring him because he faired well in his days in LA. Courtney Alexander is also a very nice player to have. I'm not sure how he'll fare after his knee injury, but if we can bring him in and get him to perform like he did before, then that would be a steal.
The article also says the Heat are interested in Eddie House. He was one of my favorite players when he played for the Heat. I don't see why we would really want him though because he's a shooting guard trapped in a point guards body at 6-1. He would make a decent 3rd stringer.
