Miami Heat's success without Dwyane Wade has some thinking he should be traded

Over the last week or so there has been an alarmingly increasing number of Heat fans who are bringing up the idea of trading Dwyane Wade. Just because the team has been winning games without him doesn't mean that they don't need him in order to win an NBA championship. Even if they could trade him in a deal that would be a perfect fit for the team (to New Jersey for Deron Williams is one I'm hearing quite a bit), there is no way that the Heat would pull the trigger.

Pat Riley is a very loyal guy, and he has proven to be extremely dedicated to his players, especially in his time with Miami. A recent example is back in 2006 when Riley went so far as to return to coaching to benefit his players, then remaining loyal to those players and keeping that team together a bit longer then he should have. Knowing how much he means to this organization, I don't think there is any way that Riley will trade Dwyane Wade, or any other main component of this team for that matter.

When the hot topic was how the Heat could potentially get rid of Mike Miller under the amnesty clause of the new NBA collective bargaining agreement, Riley immediately met with Miller and told him that he had nothing to worry about, that he was going nowhere and all he need worry about was getting healthy and ready to play.

Now think about how much D-Wade means to this organization. Since being drafted back in 2003, Wade has become the face of this franchise. It's most popular player since he was a rookie, Dwyane has made a Miami his home, and has since been rewarded by having the county of Miami-Dade renamed in his honor for an entire week; from July 1^st to July 7^th in 2010.

When I think of how well the Heat have played this season with Dwyane Wade out due to injury, its without thinking that they obviously don't need Wade's services in order to win games. I commend the team for turning their games up a notch when they know a supreme effort is needed with Wade on the sidelines.

It's surely impressive that Miami has gone 5-0 with D-Wade out of the lineup this season, winning those five games by an average of almost 20 points (19.8 to be exact). It's gone so far that ESPN featured a ‘Without Wade' segment, which got noticed, and laughed at, on twitter by D-Wade.

Some people are arguing that LeBron James is better off playing without Wade by his side, pointing to his 32.3 points per game average in games Dwayne has missed. James still manages to put up 28.9 in games that Wade plays in, which makes sense considering that the 19.6 points that D-Wade is averaging have to come from somewhere.

The bottom line is that Wade is not going anywhere, and as much as fans might want to get rid of Dwyane, or LeBron James, or Chris Bosh, that's just not going to happen. Not with Pat Riley running the show. Right now the main thing for them to focus on is Wade getting healthy and returning to the lineup so that he and his teammates can continue to get better and better playing together.

Remember, last year the Heat were without Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller for the majority of the season, and didn't have Norris Cole, Shane Battier or Eddy Curry to come off the bench either. This is a much deeper and more talented team then last season, and the more time they have to play together and improve as a unit, the better. Hopefully that time comes soon and the Heat has a healthy Dwyane Wade working with his teammates towards the ultimate goal...winning an NBA championship.