Heat Moves Surprised Shaq, Wade

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">CORAL GABLES ? Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade sat side-by-side Saturday while conducting interviews at a Nestle Crunch basketball event at the University of Miami.

With O'Neal attracting most of the attention, Wade went from interviewee to interviewer.

"Shaq," Wade began, using his thumb as a microphone, "now that you didn't take all the money, what's next for the Heat?"

Everybody laughed. But according to O'Neal, who was scheduled to earn $30.6 million this season, that's the same question his father asked.

That's when O'Neal went to the Heat and offered to sign a five-year, $100 million contract extension, reportedly knocking $5 million per year off the originally agreed upon $125 million deal.

"I took one for the team," O'Neal said, "and that's what a great team player does."

O'Neal was speaking publicly for the first time since signing the extension and trade that sent swingman Eddie Jones to Memphis and fetched Miami forwards Antoine Walker and James Posey and guard Jason Williams.

O'Neal appeared fit and trim. He said he's now at 345 pounds with 10 percent body fat. He said he wants to be between 335 and 345 pounds with 9 percent body fat when training camp opens Oct. 4.

Wade and O'Neal said they were surprised Heat President Pat Riley made such drastic changes. While explaining the trade this summer, Riley said he felt last year's team could have won the title, but it wasn't a championship team. O'Neal stopped short of agreement.

"It just wasn't our turn," he said. "It just wasn't meant to be."

O'Neal said the Heat now figures to be a more potent offensive team.

"We understand it's all about defense," O'Neal said, "but teams are going to have to adjust their defense a whole lot more than we're going to have to adjust our defense.

"Jason Williams is like one of the greatest playmakers in a while... Antoine Walker's a great shooter. He's going to post up and he will get the ball. He'll get the ball. I'll make sure that he gets his shots, Flash (Wade) gets his shots, and it won't be a problem."

Right now it appears the Heat's starting lineup would be Williams at point guard, Wade at shooting guard, either Posey or Walker at small forward, Udonis Haslem at power forward and O'Neal at center.

The top players off the bench would be center Michael Doleac, forward Wayne Simien, either Posey or Walker, and possibly center Alonzo Mourning. That leaves notable deficiencies in the backcourt.

Wade said he speaks with free agent Damon Jones, last year's starter at point guard, almost every day, saying Damon Jones is one of his "best friends. ... He feels like he needs to get a little bit more money."

When asked what the Heat needs to add, O'Neal said he'd let Riley and General Manager Randy Pfund decide. But he said he'd like to see both Damon Jones and Mourning return.

"I haven't talked to any of them, but just put it out there that I do want them back ? especially Alonzo," O'Neal said.</div>

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