The Miami Heat could very well be in the draft lottery this season, which really wasn't what they were thinking going into the season, eh? But Chris Bosh's reported blot clot problem, along with a general problem with underperforming, has left the Heat in the fight for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East as we head into the final six weeks of the season.

What exactly has gone wrong in Miami? How can it be fixed?

And if Pat Riley's team misses the playoffs, who might they target in the draft?

Former Division I head coach Bobby Gonzalez, now writing for SheridanHoops.com (check out his Mock Draft), gave his answers in this interview with Orlando Alzugaray on the Big O show on 560 WQAM in Miami.

Enjoy.

The New York Knicks have run the Love Triangle offense off the court better than Phil Jackson’s version on the court thanks to coaches Derek Fisher and Kurt Rambis.

Will this be the final straw for Carmelo Anthony to waive his no-trade clause and for the Knicks to scrap the Triangle offense for a proven winner in former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, the best available coach on the market?

Speaking of the Bulls, Derrick Rose is averaging 26 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game since returning from the All-Star break.

However, without a healthy Jimmy Butler, the Bulls would have a tough time giving the Cleveland Cavaliers a fight in a potential first-round matchup should the standings hold as present. For that matter, it remains to be seen if the Raptors can give the Cavaliers a run for their money in the East when Toronto has failed to advance past the first round since 2001.

If Cleveland makes it to the NBA Finals healthy, we’ll at least be able to answer a lingering question from last season: Could the Cavaliers, with a healthy LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, beat the Warriors for the title?

That ship appears to have sailed last season. With the Warriors on a historical pace this season as arguably the best team ever, Cleveland would be an underdog – even with James still in his prime.

With that in mind, I joined Yahoo Sports radio to discuss whether the Raptors can challenge the Cavaliers, what the future of the Bulls looks like for Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol, potential trade markets for Blake Griffin and Kevin Love, the Knicks’ Triangle offense on and off the court and where Anthony Davis ranks among the game’s top players after scoring 59 points and grabbing 20 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons.

We have our first trade deadline deal -- almost exactly 72 hours before Thursday's NBA trade deadline.

Just months after signing a max contract extension with the Orlando Magic, Tobias Harris is being dealt to the Detroit Pistons for point guard Brandon Jennings and stretch forward Ersan Ilyasova.

The news was broken by our own Michael Scotto -- not a bad scoop for that young man.

The deal appears to be a coup for Pistons coach/general manager Stan Van Gundy, who is acquiring one of the league's top young talents in exchange for a backup point guard (though in truth, Jennings would be a starter if not for Detroit's acquisition of Reggie Jackson at the deadline a year ago) and a stretch 4 who is in the middle tier, at best, of the NBA's stretch 4s.

Harris has been averaging 13.7 points and 7.0 rebounds for the Magic while shooting 46 percent from the field, with his scoring total off significantly from the 17.1 points he averaged last season -- his third with the Magic after being acquired from Milwaukee in a deal for J.J. Redick that was considered one of the best ever made by Magic general manager Rob Hennigan. His 3-point percentage of .311 is down from last year's number of .364.

With Detroit, he will likely start on the front line that also includes Andre Drummond, who leads the NBAs in double-doubles, and Marcus Morris

Jennings will presumably take over the starting point guard spot from Elfrid Payton as Scott Skiles tries to make a playoff push with a team that started the season strongly but has slumped badly since they were 19-13 at the start of 2016, losing 16 of 20 to drop to 11th place in the Eastern Conference, 3 1/2 games behind the Charlotte Hornets.

Here is Scotto discussing the deal on SiriusXM Radio with hosts Mateen Cleaves and Jared Greenberg.

Think the Bulls miss Tom Thibodeau?

You know that saying from the old Joni Mitchell song: "You don't know what you've got til it's gone?" OK, maybe you don't know that song. Apologies for dating myself.

But here is something Bulls fans of all ages can relate to: The team, at 27-25, is one of the East's biggest underachievers, the trainer's room is overloaded, the immediate future is looking a bit bleak, and the trade deadline is going to come and go with the possibility that one of Thibodeau's biggest supporters, Taj Gibson, will be he main player moved by Chicago due to their logjam at the power forward spot.

Reports out of Chicago in recent days have said the Bulls intend to hang onto Pau Gasol, who plans to opt out of his $7.77 million deal for next season in order to cash in one one last major payday as the salary cap balloons to $90 million. He will probably get double that amount or more from the Bulls or someone else, and who can blame him for trying to get into the Derrick Rose (making $41.4 million this season and next) stratosphere. 

And speaking of Rose, folks in Chicago have clearly grown tired of him. By all appearances, he peaked four years ago. And if the Bulls could find a taker, they'd be eager to part with him, don't you think?

Well, here's the thing. The New York Knicks are looking for a point guard, and the only player on their roster who might be of interest to Chicago is Carmelo Anthony -- who flirted with Chicago in free agency before deciding to put his trust in Phil. I have gone on record saying the time for Phil Jackson to trade him is now, and on Tuesday morning I furthered that argument on the Mully and Hanley show on 670 The Score in Chicago. Enjoy.

Houston Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff called his team “broken” recently, and with the team currently out of the playoffs Dwight Howard could be on the move.

However, trading Howard may not be as easy as it sounds in theory as colleague Ben DuBose explained in a SheridanHoops column.

Trades talks are heating up with less than a week until the trade deadline on February 18.

Another player who may be dealt at the deadline is Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris who has wanted out since the summer when the team dealt his brother, Marcus, to the Detroit Pistons.

With that in mind, Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops.com joined Sportsnet 590 The Fan radio to discuss the latest on trade rumblings around the league and what the Rockets will do with Dwight Howard.

Guards Jeff Teague and Tyreke Evans have been added to the list of difference makers available on the NBA’s trade market with the deadline less than three weeks away.

The trade market is loaded with forwards such as Rudy Gay, Ryan Anderson, Markieff Morris, Terrence Jones and Corey Brewer.

Trades talks will heat up closer to All-Star Weekend in two weeks when all the general managers are on hand.

Three players who won’t be making the trip are Damian Lillard, Pau Gasol and Hassan Whiteside, which is hard to fathom based on their statistics.

With that in mind, Mike Scotto of SheridanHoops.com joined Sportsnet 590 The Fan radio to discuss the latest on trade rumblings, All-Star snubs and what the Clippers will do with Blake Griffin.

Dwyane Wade scored 2 points last night in a lopsided loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, only the third time that has happened to him in 973 career games. Tyler Johnson started at point guard and shot 0-for-6. The Heat shot a season-low 36.5 percent and failed to break 80 points for the second straight game. As a team, the Heat totaled 13 assists.

Was this "rock bottom," as Michael Wallace of ESPN.com wrote?

Is there any way Pat Riley can fix this mess of a team? Or has he already mortgaged too much of the future by dealing away a pair of first-rounders in last year's deal for Goran Dragic to go along with the top-10 protected pick the Heat will not have (in all likelihood) in this June's draft.

Is there anyone who will take Josh McRoberts off their hands, freeing about $6 million in cap room for next season to possibly allow them to keep both Wade and Hassan Whiteside?

So many questions. You want answers?

I did my best to provide them in this interview on 560 WQAM in Miami on the Big O Show with host and friend Orlando Alzugaray.

Dwight Howard called me a liar Tuesday night. He is mistaken.

I wrote that Howard is very unhappy in Houston, and I stand by that report 100 percent. For the reasons why he is unhappy, and my best guess as to where he will finish the season (Miami), click over and give a read to my column.

Howard was interviewed in Sacramento after the Rockets lost to the Kings, and the man asking the questions was Jonathan Feigan, longtime beat writer for the Houston Chronicle. Feigan tried to ask four questions -- the first was about sending a message, the second was about the failure to play as a unit. Howard answered the first two questions with variations of the stock jock reply "We just gotta play hard." The third was about my report, and the fourth was unintelligible because Howard cut Feigan off.

The important question is the third one.

Feigan: "There was a report, maybe you've heard about it, that you were very unhappy with your role. If you hadn't been asked, what response would you have given?"

Howard: "I haven't said nothing to nobody about anything."

My retort:

There are no lies in my story. I am very well-sourced around the league, and people tell me things that they would not tell other journalists. The sources for this story are exceptionally plugged-in to what is going on with the Rockets. Also,this is not a rumor. There is a difference between a rumor and a news report. This is the latter, not the former. 

I had a lot more to say about the latest Dwightmare on the Rockets' flagship radio station, SportsTalk 790 in Houston with host Matt Ryan.

It was fun while it lasted, wasn't it? But if you saw how tired the Golden State Warriors were at the end of their double-overtime victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night, you had to know they'd be gassed the following night in Milwaukee.

That they were, not to mention hobbled with Klay Thompson playing on a bad ankle and Harrison Barnes missing another game. And like all good things, the streak came to an end.

Tonight they will no doubt begin another one, and Friday night brings a quick revenge game against the Bucks.

As we move along through the season, we can circle four dates on the calendar:

Dec. 25: A Christmas afternoon matchup with the Cavs, who will have two guys who weren't around for the NBA Finals -- Mo Williams and Kevin Love -- in their arsenal. Prediction: Warriors by 18.

Jan. 25: The 'Dubs first matchup of the season with the San Antonio Spurs, who are doing their thing under the radar with so much attention being focused for so long on the Warriors. At this point, it is safe to say that the Spurs are the only legitimate threat to defeat the Warriors in a best-of-7 series.

April 7: Another meeting with the Spurs, with a shot at an NBA record 73 wins within their sights.

April 10: A road game at San Antonio after a game the previous night at Memphis. This could be the make-or-break game in terms of bettering the NBA record of 72 wins set in 1996 by the Chicago Bulls.

I covered that Bulls team the night they set an NBA record (in Milwaukee, of all places) with win No. 70. And let me tell you the main difference between watching those Bulls and watching these Warriors: Golden State is a lot easier on the eyes. I offer a further explanation in this podcast with Damon Bruce on 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area.

Enjoy.

Quite the performance by Hassan Whiteside of the Heat in Tuesday night's loss to the Hawks: 23 points on 11-for-12 shooting, 14 rebounds and four blocks in just 31 minutes. If Dwyane Wade had not come down with a migraine, the Heat might actually be 3-1 instead of 2-2.

Folks in Miami are rightfully thrilled about the emergence last season and this season by Whiteside, but here is the bad news: Unless Miami plans to renounce its right to Dwyane Wade, there is almost zero chance they can retain him when he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Whiteside is on the second year of a two-year contract, and when it expires he will become what is known as an "Early Bird" free agent -- as opposed to a "Full Bird" free agent who is coming off a contract of three years or more.

So the Heat cannot offer him a max contract, while plenty of other teams can.Mike Scotto addressed this in his list of the Top 25 Free Agents of 2016, and Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel went into further detail:

"With Whiteside to fall short of full Bird Rights due to only a two-year tenure with the team, the Heat still will have to create salary-cap space to re-sign him next summer. The only way for the Heat to go over the 2016-17 salary cap to re-sign Whiteside would be if he would sign for the average salary as part of his Early Bird Rights, a figure of less than $10 million, one expected to be far below his market value."

I passed along this information during an interview on the Big O show on AM560 in Miami today, and it hit the host -- and a bunch of listeners, I am certain, like a ton of bricks.

Give a listen and you will see what I mean.