Miller will help the Heat. They desperately needed a shooter. Now, seven veteran's minimum free agents to sign!

Hold on a second here. I thought the Heat were barely going to have enough money to sign the Free Agent Three. Now they’re throwing $30 million at Mike Miller? (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

In the wake of Thursday’s addition of Cleveland Cavaliers free-agent forward LeBron James, and amid the need to clear additional cap space, the Heat late Thursday night traded Beasley, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a 2011 second-round draft choice, plus a future swap of first-round picks.

The Heat then turned around and reportedly utilized that $4.9 million in gained cap space on Washington Wizards free-agent swingman Mike Miller, who had a standing five-year, $30 million offer on the table from the Heat. Radio station KSFY in Miller’s native South Dakota reported the deal early Friday morning.

Well, there’s the shooter they needed. I wonder how they had any cap space. I always thought they had to move Beasley just to allow the Free Agent Three to sign max deals. Did they not sign max deals? Are they THAT committed to winning?

By the time it’s all said and done, this Heat team is going to be scary. But Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge ain’t too worried about it.

When LeBron James announced his decision to sign with the Miami Heat on Thursday night, uniting the so-called “Team Trinity” of James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade in South Beach, many people undoubtedly — and understandably — dubbed the Heat the new team to beat in the East.

But in Rivers’ mind, that distinction can’t be transferred in the offseason. The Heat are going to have to wrestle it away from the Celtics on the court.

“We’ll find that out later,” Rivers said Wednesday when asked if the free-agent moves in Miami could cause a power shift in the East. “We’ve got to play. Clearly they’ve improved their basketball team. I’m not going to go ahead and say there’s a shift, as far as I’m concerned.”

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge echoed those sentiments Thursday.

“We are the Eastern Conference champs and we think we’re going to be better,” Ainge said before James’ announcement. “I have a great deal of respect for [James, Wade and Bosh], they are all top-notch free agents. We know that whatever happens, the East is going to be a challenge; the East is going to be stronger.”

Bring them on, fellas. They have an unbelievable trio and Miller’s a solid fourth, but there’s a reason I’m sitting with my phone in my hands — I’m waiting for the Heat to call and offer me their starting center position.

Oh, and by the way. There are already rumblings that Pat Riley is going to remove Erik Spoelstra at the first sign of trouble. Two thoughts: 1) That reminds me of the scene in Remember the Titans, when Coach Boone realizes he’ll be fired after the first loss. I can imagine Riley already: 78-1?!?!? YOU’RE FIRED, SPOELSTRA!! And 2) Pat Riley is a bigger asshole than Lebron, Lebrick, LeDecision and Dan Gilbert put together.