The Miami Heat had an offseason that gave fans numerous swings of emotion. The best player in the league, LeBron James, 
left for Cleveland as a free agent. But that same week, Chris Bosh turned down an offer to join James Harden and Dwight Howard in Houston and agreed to sign a maximum-level contract with the Heat. Pat Riley then quickly assembled a new team with several new players – Luol Deng, Josh McRoberts, Danny Granger and Shannon Brown, just to name a few.
Riley will always keep an eye on the bigger picture – and that, if you don’t know, is 2016 – but knows that building a good team has benefits, including the 2015 first-round pick the Heat traded to the Cavaliers in the original James sign-and-trade deal in 2010. The pick is top-10 protected, meaning Miami will only keep that pick if it falls within the top 10. That trade will hurt a lot less if it isn’t in the lottery.
Even so, far more questions than answers surround the Heat in the post-Big Three era. Unlike 2008 and 2009, Miami doesn’t have an in-his-prime Dwyane Wade to lead the team. Wade can’t afford to take off the second night of a back-to-backs anymore, and the former third option will now likely have to lead the team offensively. The issues become even murkier after looking past Bosh and Wade.
A lot will have to go right for Miami to finish with a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference. Here are five things to watch this season.
1. Can Chris Bosh do it all? Bosh sacrificed far more than James and Wade during the four-year Big Three era. He relegated himself to a safety-valve offensive option, and the Heat rarely ran offensive sets designed for him. He vastly improved his 
defensive game, shifted to the center position and emerged as the anchor of the Heat’s aggressive trapping defense. And he also extended his range to the 3-point line to draw big men away from the paint.
In a moment of candor, Bosh told Grantland’s Zach Lowe during last year’s playoffs that he doesn’t post up anymore because playing Miami’s style of defense is exhausting. It remains an open question whether Bosh can become the 20-point scorer Miami needs him to be while chasing pick-and-rolls at the 3-point line and defending opposing centers, all at a weight disadvantage. Erik Spoelstra utilized Bosh and Chris Andersen in the same lineup more frequently last season, and that may be an option again. But with Bosh vaulting from the third option to the first option, one has to wonder whether he can also stand as the defensive anchor.
2. How healthy and effective will Dwyane Wade be? The face of the franchise played in just 54 games last season, seldom playing both sides of a back-to-back. And he broke down in the Finals after he played more consistently than he ever had during the regular season. But now the Heat will likely need as much Wade as possible during the regular season for playoff positioning.
Not since he came back from his knee surgeries in 2008 has Wade gone into a season with more questions. He is coming off an abysmal performance in the Finals, turns 33 in mid-season and will have to face opposing teams’ best perimeter defenders for the first time in four years. But the newly married man went on an offseason diet, and one hopes he can become an efficient scorer with few injuries this season.
3. Will Miami get consistent point guard play? The Heat probably selected Shabazz Napier in the first round of the 2014 draft in an effort to keep LeBron James. But James left, and then Napier struggled mightily in the NBA Summer League. The most news Napier made during the offseason was his clumsy explanation of unfollowing James on Twitter.
In hindsight, it appears strange that the Heat would draft a point guard in the first round when it ended up keeping Mario 
Chalmers and Norris Cole. With his uninspiring Summer League performance, Napier may start his rookie season firmly out of the rotation. But he may find himself with a chance if Spoelstra doesn’t like what he sees out of his two other point guards.
Chalmers had a pedestrian Finals performance, resorting to a flagrant foul against the vastly superior Tony Parker in a lamentable moment. But he appears motivated for the season ahead. Cole has posted workout photos over the summer on his Instagram account. Like Chalmers, Cole also played poorly in the NBA Finals. They both will have a lot to prove, as does Napier.
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4. Will one of Pat Riley’s reclamation projects pan out? Riley waded into the risky waters of the NBA’s scrap heap last summer, signing Greg Oden and Michael Beasley to minimum-salary contracts. Neither played a meaningful minute in the playoffs. Before them, it was Eddy Curry. But Riley did sign Chris Andersen in the middle of the 2012-13 season in a brilliant move.
With limited financial resources within the NBA’s restrictive collective bargaining agreement, Riley had to make similar moves this summer. Danny Granger was an irritant for Miami players and fans during the Heat’s 2012 championship run, but injuries have kept him off the court for a lot of time since. He is expected to serve as a rotation player but simply hasn’t played much in the last couple years.
Riley also signed Shawne Williams, a former first-round draft pick who has bounced around the NBA and D-League recently. Will Granger and Williams be buried on the bench or – like Andersen – emerge as key contributors?
5. Will the Heat’s supporting cast offer youthful energy? Three players expected to receive playing time this season – Josh McRoberts, Shannon Brown and James Ennis – are all athletic and under the age of 29. Riley probably thought that they would all offer a level of youthful exuberance to the team, reminiscent of the 2003-04 squad with Rafer Alston, Caron Butler and then-rookies Udonis Haslem and Dwyane Wade.
Wade, Bosh and Deng will serve as the veteran leaders of this team, but it will fall on those three players to serve as sparkplugs off the bench. Ennis played well in the Summer League but has yet to play an NBA game. Brown was a player signing 10-day contracts last season. McRoberts is the only sure thing among the trio, but they will all have to play well for the Heat to secure a high playoff seed.
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Diego Quezada is a contributing writer for Hot Hot Hoops, the SB Nation site covering the Miami Heat. You can follow him on Twitter.