Wade's Season is Finished

Thank God. Pat Riley finally decided to shut down his star player with 21 games remaining in the season. We all knew Wade didn't want to stop playing, but I think the extra month or so of rest will do the franchise more justice than to ship him out there and get him hurt even worse.

The fans miss out of course, especially those who paid for season tickets. However, it's been clear for months now that this team is terrible and most of the games aren't that entertaining anyway. Any true fan would rather Wade recover to his full strength rather than to pay to see him entertain them at 75%.

Thankfully, the team can now fully go into tank mode. I don't see how this team can win even 4 or 5 more of the final 21. Daequan Cook can now enjoy most of Wade's minutes and learn to grow at the NBA level. Maybe we can take a better look at Marcus Banks once he recovers.

In related news, Ron Rothstein will be the replacement head coach again while Pat Riley is gone scouting Top 5 picks. I don't know what to make of that move. It's the equivalent of signing Penny Hardaway back and giving him Wade's minutes instead of Cook. Why not just send Spoelstra out there? He's got no expectations to live up to. It's baffling. Maybe he isn't read and we are in serious trouble if Riley retires at the end of the season.