Pat Riley is ready for another sabbatical

Just when he thought he was in, they push him back out.

I'm not trying to imply that Miami Heat coach Pat Riley deliberately decided that the middle of the season - which conveniently coincided with Shaquille O'Neal's recovery from knee surgery - was a good time for procedures on his own knee and hip. I'll just let the Miami Herald's Dan LeBatard come right out and say it for me. (Here's some disagreement from elsewhere in the Herald's sports department.)

But with Dwyane Wade dislocating his shoulder last night - an injury that could keep him on the bench in street clothes for six weeks - I can't help but wonder if Riley's knee and hip are starting to ache more than they did earlier in the week.

I suppose we'll have to wait to see the doctor's prognosis on Wade's shoulder before we know whether or not Riles will find the strength to lead the Heat into a possible playoff run (where we'll surely hear that they're "the team no one wants to face"). But being helped off the court in a wheelchair can't be a good sign.

Was the wheelchair a bit much? Well, I'm no doctor, though I spent enough years in college for the occasional acquaintance to ask if I was going to medical school. Friends who would know better tell me the team physicians needed to keep Wade's shoulder immobilized. And he apparently has been having issues with that shoulder for the past week. I can only imagine how painful a dislocated shoulder must be, so I'm not trying to imply that Wade would exaggerate his agony. That would just make me an @$$hole. However, there has been recorded visual evidence of Wade misrepresenting how he's been thrown to the floor.

Regardless, no one likes to see a team's chances killed by injury. And suddenly, it's not looking so good for Miami's playoff prospects. Judging from the Miami Herald's blogs, it could be over. Israel Gutierrez: "Worst possible scenario? This is pretty much it." Greg Cote: "Wade injury = Heat nightmare." (Gutierrez still thinks the Heat "is still a .500 team or better," however. After all, they do still have The Big Aristotle.)

Of course, this all could just be setting up a glorious comeback story, a further testament to the coaching and leadership genius of Pat Riley. If the Heat somehow manages to make a playoff run without Wade, we'd very likely hear all kinds of praise for this being one of Riley's best coaching jobs ever (despite benefiting from the aforementioned presence of one of the NBA's most unstoppable forces). And that might be enough to keep the coach pacing the sideline all the way into a first-round playoff series with the Detroit Pistons. Will we see you here, Coach?

You could've had him, Joe D

Friends and family have told me that I sometimes dwell too much on the past. Mulling over the "what ifs" and "could've beens" of events that passed long ago is a sure ticket to Crazytown, they've warned. And I've gotten better with that. Really.

But after watching Dwyane Wade score 37 points (and hit the game-winning shot) against the Pistons, leading the Miami Heat to a 100-98 victory, I found myself wishing I had paid more attention and tried harder in my high school and college science classes. If I had, maybe I'd be capable of creating the time machine needed to fling me back to 2003, right before the moment Joe Dumars turned in the draft card with the name "Darko Milicic" on it. It could be one of those slow-motion "NOOOOO!!!!" moments. Or if that's a little too melodramatic, maybe I could just stop time. Then while Joe D was frozen in time, I could just switch the cards in his hand without him knowing.

(Photo by Luis M. Alvarez/ AP)

Of course, if Detroit wins another NBA championship this season, that little fantasy will probably be pushed back in the dusty corner of my mind with other past delusions, such as playing third base for the Tigers, dating Ashley Judd, and becoming Batman.

But if Miami somehow knocks Detroit out of this year's playoffs, or the Heat go on to become a perennial Eastern Conference power after the Pistons' window of championship opportunity has closed, I'll be trying to read Stephen Hawking books and looking up "flux capacitors" on Google again.

During last year's Eastern Conference finals, Evan kept me out of a padded room by convincing me that Wade wouldn't be a good fit on the Pistons, as presently constructed. And it's true, he might be the team's sixth man, rather than America's Next Top NBA Superstar. But oh, can you imagine if Flip Saunders could bring him off the bench right now to spell Chauncey Billups or Rip Hamilton? Or what if Wade was a starter, and Rip came in for instant offense, a la Vinnie Johnson? No second-string guard in the NBA could run with him. And what if the Pistons had Wade in last year's Finals vs. San Antonio?

I know, I know. Check back in May and June, and see if Wade can do that against Detroit in a seven-game series. And even with Wade's superstar effort, Miami only won by two points. If Tayshaun Prince hit his shot at the end of the game, Detroit would've won. The Pistons still have the best record in the NBA (though not by much). They have four All-Stars.

But if they'd drafted Chris Bosh instead of Darko, they might've had five All-Stars. And think about how good Detroit would be if they brought Bosh off the bench to spell Ben or Rasheed Wallace. What if the Pistons could've thrown Bosh at Tim Duncan in last year's Finals...