Okay, so now that I have your attention…

Team Name: Miami Heat
Last Year’s Record: 43-39
Key Losses: Jamario Moon, Mark Blount
Key Additions: Carlos Arroyo, Shavlik Randolph, John Lucas, Quentin Richardson

1. What significant moves were made during the offseason?

Unfortunately for the Heat, the biggest move was acquiring Quentin Richardson from the Minnesota for salary hound center, Mark Blount. This summer, the Heat missed out on acquiring swing-man forward, Lamar Odom from the defending champion Lakers, and the bruising Carlos Boozer from the Jazz. The good news for Richardson and the Heat is that he brings the long ball threat that Miami loves to utilize, and he is also a long time friend of Dwyane Wade, who the Heat hope to sign an extension with this year. The Heat’s addition of Carlos Arroyo to their roster adds a veteran guard to the backcourt.

2. What are the team’s biggest strengths?

The Miami Heat’s biggest strength is…Dwyane Wade, surprised?  After a strong comeback season where he finished top 3 in MVP votes, “Flash” is back and better than ever. If second year forward Michael Beasley can get past his offseason woes, Pat Riley’s dream of a great tag-team can come full circle. The development of Mario Chalmers allows the Heat to run a fast paced offense, and by this season’s end, Chalmers will most likely be a top tier guard in the league.

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?

Since the departure of Shaq and the retiring of Alonzo Mourning, the Heat’s biggest hole is the center position. Year after year the Heat try to develop a young center, but the products have been Earl Barron and Joel Anthony…enough said. With the mid-season acquisition of Jermaine O’Neal, the soft spot of the defense was hopefully going to be filled, but it seems only temporary. Perhaps with a Magloire, Anthony, and O’Neal frontcourt, the Heat can contend with the size the East has to offer.

4. What are the goals for this team?

Every so often, a summer like the one upcoming brings such great free agents that a team wants all of them. The Heat are looking to sign the likes of Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, and/or put a bid in for LeBron James. The main goal is to sign Dwyane Wade to a multi-year deal in order to keep him from testing the free agent waters. The Heat are looking to add another big name to play along side Wade to not only keep him happy, but to keep the people of Miami interested.

5. Don’t count out Daequan Cook.

The third year guard out of Ohio State has shown significant improvement after each summer, including winning the 3-point shooting contest last All-Star break.  The 6-5 guard gives the Heat different looks at the guard position, and Cook has proved to be a good defender, and will only get better with experience. Look for big things from him this year.

Predicted Record: 44- 38. Due to the lack of free agent signings, the Miami Heat will improve only slightly this season and will enter the playoffs at a 4-6 seed.

Am I surprised by the move?  No.  Almost two year’s ago, I asked on this blog, Is CSMG Still The Place To Be? The company was just coming off of terminating its CEO, laying off several employees, having its founder step down as chairman of the board of directors and had a signed separation agreement with one of its major NFL player agents.  Thereafter, the CSMG football division vanished.  The company was left with a strong baseball and basketball division…until Octagon bought out CSMG’s very strong baseball client list and the agents working on their behalf.  Roughly twenty CSMG employees and over one-hundred-and-forty baseball players switched hands in the deal.

Since the deal between CSMG and Octagon in October 2008, CSMG had one thing to focus on: basketball.  The company’s website currently reflects that fact.  Dwyane Wade’s likeness is all over the homepage, the client sites listed are Henry Thomas’s players, and the only clients listed are those playing basketball.  Will CSMG close up shop for good now that Thomas is leaving for CAA?  The company has had internal issues for quite some time now, and Thomas’s departure may just be the final step to dismantling an entity that was once #6 on Jason Belzer’s Sports Agency Power Rankings.

As listed on CSMG’s website, there are only two Executive Officers: Henry Thomas (President) and Ginger Gordon (Chief Financial Officer).  No need for a CFO if there is no President.  And CAA grows again..

Sports Business

• Think you have what it takes to run Darren Rovell’s blog over at CNBC? [Write My Blog Contest--Your Chance To Blog Right Here!]
• Divorced athletes and their child support options [Negotiating The Professional Athlete’s Child Support Obligations].
• Something makes me think endorsers are just going to love this new column…[Endorsement "Fraud" Central].
• Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter, and Dell Computers? [CAA hired to upgrade Dell].

NFL

• They want $100 million collectively for the use of their likeness [More than 2,000 former players sue NFLPA].

NBA

• After all the Redick speculation, he remains a part of the Magic [Magic pick up option on guard Redick].
• No matter where you go overseas, the people sweat Kobe [Dwyane Wade’s jersey drops in popularity in Europe].

MLB

• Michael Brantley was recently acquired by the Cleveland Indians in the C.C. Sabathia trade.  His agent, Josh Kusnnick spoke about the trade and life as an agent in a recent radio interview [Smoke Signals].

I learned a lot this weekend.  Perhaps the most important nugget of information was that I should never wait until the last minute to start looking to book a flight.  And even when waiting until the last minute, there is no reason to be stubborn and say, “Screw it, I’m driving.”  Although I was able to take care of plenty of phone calls on the road, driving sixteen hours in three days is not something that is fun or necessary.  Anyway, I am back from Winston-Salem and Chris Paul’s charity bowling tournament, and back to the daily grind.

The weekend was a major success.  I left Friday morning, slightly hungover from the previous night’s festivities.  I made it through all of the Florida speed traps, through Georgia, South Carolina, and eventually into North Carolina.  By the way, the lakes in Davidson (just outside of Charlotte) are beautiful.  I arrived in Winston-Salem at around 7 p.m. and got lost a few times before finding my final destination.  I took a former intern and current Wake Forest student, Justin Herzig, and Dynasty’s Bowling Division Director, Bruce Falcon, out for some authentic barbecue and before we left the establishment, we all felt that we had been severely hit on by the waitresses, which was not all that gratifying.

The next day, I snuck into a gym to get my daily workout in, caught up on some law school reading, and watched the first half of the Florida vs. Tennessee game before I headed to the Winston-Salem AMF Lanes. At the bowling alley, I met up with Bruce and a couple of gentlemen from Chaney Sports Marketing Group. Besides seeing one of our clients bowl and network with others in the industry, Bruce and I had traveled to North Carolina to witness what goes into creating such an event. Between myself, Bruce, and Chaney Sports, we hope to create a similar bowling event during All-Star weekend. Much more on that to come in the future.

The Dynasty client that participated in CP3 weekend is Tommy Jones. He was partnered up with Dwyane Wade, who I love as a basketball player, but leaves quite a bit to be desired on the lanes. I am not going to give away who won the event, but let’s just say that D-Wade did not stick around for long. Throughout the event, LeBron James was cracking jokes on everyone, and the crowd was eating it up. I hope that ESPN captured some of LeBron’s antics for when the show goes on air in a few weeks. By the way, look out for a spiked hair guy wearing a blue button-down shirt. I am told that I can be seen in the background of many shots.

The event was catered by Texas Roadhouse, and when there is food, I am a happy camper. Five chicken breasts did the job and I was set for the evening. After the bowling tournament, we headed to a club downtown called 411, which was rented out by Chris Paul and contained more free food, an open bar, and some giveaways.

Overall, it was a great event. The drive home on Sunday was less than pleasurable; however, nothing beat hearing that the Dolphins took it to the Patriots in Foxborough. And it seems like Dynasty may be signing some new clients in the near future based on some of my phone conversations in the car. So I guess driving was not so bad after all…

To see some pictures that I took during the event, click here.