The word has died down a bit, Pat Riley helped to throw a little baking powder on that grease fire the other day, but it's worth briefly reminding you that any trade that would send Shawn Marion and his expiring contract to Toronto for Jermaine O'Neal could not be counted on as anything less than an absolute steal for the Raptors.

If you're a Raptor backer, you have to worry that the trade, as reported last week (Marcus Banks would also be moving along to Toronto) has died, that even Pat Riley is scared of O'Neal's knees. And as a Heat supporter, you also have to be scared at the idea of penny-wise ex-coaches working as personnel bosses, and that Riley would even consider giving up a cap space bonanza for O'Neal.

I mean, Riles is Riles. He'll compromise anything for the chance to win now, and you just have to learn to expect that from him. Sometimes it'll work; the Heat did raise a banner in 2006 after all. The ultimate "win now" champion.

But usually it doesn't. There are many smaller and more nuanced factors that explain away Riley's championship drought since leaving the Lakers in 1990, but the overriding theme is that Riles as a front office behemoth just doesn't really work to perfection that often.

Or, more than once. He had Dave Checketts reigning him in somewhat with the Knicks, but unchecked in Miami, the highs have been high, and the lows have been pretty low.

One such low allowed for Dwyane Wade to come on board, and a bit of cap space and expiring deals to work with as the remnants of one chase of the dragon neared the end of its run. Riley cashed those assets in on Shaquille O'Neal, and while he helped, he was also the third-leading scorer in the 2006 Finals. This was Wade's run.

Wade's still running, and the Heat have both expiring deals to work with, a youngish core, and the potential to take on quiet a bit of cap space should Miami decline to trade Shawn Marion for a longer contract, while letting the forward walk during the offseason. About $10 million in cap space, and possibly more if they can find some takers for Mark Blount's hefty expiring deal.

But to waste it on O'Neal? Jermaine's been pretty OK offensively this year, nothing more, but he still wants the ball a bit too much, and his once-dominant defense has really fallen off this season. This isn't to say Toronto is a better defensive team with O'Neal sitting, far from it, but they've been a better team with O'Neal on the bench, for whatever reasons you want to attribute this to.

And grabbing Marion's expiring deal could leave the Raptors with nearly $16 million in cap space this summer if they go full bore and pass on Joey Graham and this year's draft pick. That's a team-changing figure, and Riley wants to hand it to them?

I know that starting off with $10 million in cap space might not be enough to land Carlos Boozer, but Miami can get creative. They could think long-term. They could make the tough decisions now (working the phones, involving agents, exploring sign-and-trade options), or they can shrug their shoulders, bring in O'Neal, and talk up impending cap space and flexibility in 2010, when everyone is going to have impending cap space and flexibility.

You hope, for D-Wade's sake and for Michael Beasley's future, that this is all talk. That Riley's come to his senses. That this won't go down. But the mere idea that Riley would even consider this deal has to be off-putting.