Heat check: Now that LeBron’s talents are in South Beach, how long will they stay?
July would seem to be either way too late or way too early to suggest the twice-defending NBA champion Heat’s fate is teetering, moreso because of a name from the past like Greg Oden.
Unfortunately, it’s a new, head-hunting age.
It was 1597 when Shakespeare wrote, “Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown,” before the world got wired, not to mention on Twitter.
Now, I’d suggest, “Watch your !@#$^%! rear end.”
As LeBron James, the first superstar of the Twitter era, finds himself alternately adored or reviled, the
aspiring Heat dynasty finds itself the target of the new CBA’s war on entrenched power.
The Heat have a glamorous but only mid-size market and a billionaire owner in cruise line magnate Micky Arison. They have luxury tax problems so dire, using the amnesty provision on Mike Miller – who averaged 15 minutes last season – became an issue.
Making one of his rare appearances to declare they wouldn’t let Miller go, Heat president Pat Riley drew a line in the sand, proclaiming:
“What I said at the end of the season is what I meant. I want to try to keep this team intact as long as we can because we have a championship basketball team here and continuity being, I think, the most 
important thing to when it comes to winning championships. … I would hate to break it up.”
The very next day, they broke it up, letting Miller go. So much for lines in the sand.
Although the Heat, uh, heatedly denied it, it looks like Riley’s plea was pitched internally toward Arison.
If worse choices await next spring, cutting Miller’s $6.2 million salary will save $17 million in luxury taxes.
So, it’s really interesting to see if Miami, reportedly among the finalists for Oden with San Antonio, New Orleans and Sacramento, will offer its $3.1 million taxpayer exception for, say, two seasons.
RELATED: Oden among top available free agents
Of course, we’re a long way past Greg Oden, can’t-miss superstar. This is the oft-wrecked, rebuilt version, coming off three seasons out of the game.