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The approach is two-fold, two the point and not two difficult to understand.

However you spell it, the Heat's view of Tuesday's start of NBA free agency is all about the power of two.

Dollars will not be the primary focus; years will.
Only two or fewer will be offered.

Free agents who could attract Heat interest
Miami Heat Draft database: Search every Heat pick With an eye toward a 2010 offseason that could include the free-agent likes of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire and his own Dwyane Wade, Heat President Pat Riley does not want to be caught short.

If a max-money free agent should become available in 2010, Riley wants to have the cash sitting on the table. If Wade grows antsy over these next two seasons about the direction of the franchise, Riley wants to be able to mollify those concerns with a 2010 upgrade fund in reserve.

Until then, if a free agent wants a Heat deal that extends beyond the end of the 2009-2010 season, he might as well look elsewhere.

For now, the offseason motto might as well be Take Two.

"The hardest thing for us," Riley said, "is to convince free agents to take short money."

That apparently will be the only option. And that could have the Heat in a later-rather-than-now mode this summer, even with trades and free-agent signings allowed to begin July 9, after eight days of a negotiation-only period.

If Riley does spend the $6 million mid-level exception on one or more players, the preferred approach would be a two-year package that gives the Heat the option on the second year.

"There's a lot of players, at the end of the summer, that become, 'OK, you didn't get your money. How about a one-and-one, with our option, OK?'" Riley said. "It could also be something less than that. That's how we're going to have to do it."

The reasoning, Riley said, is you can't go into the 2010 offseason telling a top-tier free agent to be patient, that you'll somehow create the cap space then. Further, Wade's opt-out deadline in 2010 is before the start of that summer's free agency. In other words, in June 2010 the Heat has to be able to convince Wade that it will have the resources to at least make a run at buddies such as James and Bosh.

"We're going to 99.9 percent try to create the room and let those players see that we have the room," Riley said of 2010. "Once a player sees that a team has the room, and they may have an opt-out, they see how things can change. If they don't see you have it, and you tell them, 'Well, we're going to get it,' then they don't believe you. They're smarter than that."
Riley insists he can protect the Heat for 2010 while still maintaining a focus on the here and now for a team coming off a league-worst 15-67 season.

"We're going to line up our contracts," he said. "We've got about a half dozen different formats and hypotheticals."

Among those hypotheticals could be a trade of forward Shawn Marion for multiple players. For example, the start of free agency could present an opportunity for a sign-and-trade deal with Golden State for free agents Mickael Pietrus and Andris Biedrins, who would fill multiple needs on a team sorely lacking quality depth.

Marion's future with the Heat remains tenuous in light of his goal for a lofty, long-term extension that could eliminate almost any hope of 2010 cap space.

Riley also has to consider that power forward Udonis Haslem becomes a free agent in that 2010 offseason.

"Things get a little dicey when you start to go down the road with these things," Riley said. "But these are the things you have to consider."

Heat11114 wrote:I don't think this means anything for 2010. If we blow up the plan its gonna be either 1) Through 2009 free agency when we could have max money, or 2) through a trade that no one sees coming. I find it very, very hard to believe Riley would pass up being a contender in 08 or 09 for a chance at being a contender in 2010. What happens if Beasley is the real deal and him and Wade flourish off each other? We have 16 million in cap space, we're coming off an excellent season and we sit on that 16 million? Really? Does that sound like Pat Riley to you?

Heat1114, do we have to sit out next offseason to ensure cap room in 2010? Say we let Marion expire and use the 11-16MM next offseason, but then allow Blount and Haslem to expire the following year, what would our cap look like? Or if we were to trade Marion for Biedrins or Hinrich, longterm deals that run past 2010, would we still be OK just renouncing Blount and Haslem?