You just have to love the NBA?s off-season.  

 Not only did we all have to wait an entire month for a moratorium on signings to be lifted, thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement that seemingly took forever to be ratified (contrary to the National Hockey League?s new CBA, which took roughly a week to be signed, sealed and delivered), but only in the Association can you find blockbuster trades that border on the near ridiculous.

 In what other pro sports league can you find trades that involve five teams and 13 players?  That?s right, FIVE teams and 13 players!  Are you kidding me?

 There?s a certain someone in South Beach who isn?t laughing right now, however, and that?s Heat head coach Stan Van Gundy.  If the third-year bench boss was under an intense amount of scrutiny following team president Pat Riley?s declaration that he missed coaching, Van Gundy is on an even shorter leash now that the Heat appear to have fortified their roster tremendously.

 If expectations were at an all-time high in Miami after the Heat were one game away from reaching the Finals (had Miami been healthy, they may very well have reached the championship round), you?d have to consider them as the heavy favorite to win it all in ?05-?06 after Tuesday?s blockbuster, which saw Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey added to an already potent nucleus.

 While Heat fans will relish the added optimism heading into the season, the heat (no pun intended, of course) will be on Van Gundy even further to produce championship results.  Now that Riley and GM Randy Pfund have provided the ingredients, it will be up to Van Gundy to make sure all the high-priced, All-Star pieces fit together.

 That means ensuring the Big Aristotle gets his touches down low in the post, especially in crunch time; it means ensuring that Dwyane Wade, even with the arrival of Williams on board as the team?s new starting point guard, still has the ball in his hands a good percentage of the time and is given freedom to drive the lane; it means ensuring that Walker, though he is firmly entrenched as the third wheel on offense, has a well-defined role; and it also means ensuring that Williams does not become a malcontent and snap at members of the media every chance he gets.

 An interesting dilemma for Van Gundy, to say the least.  

 Walker has been used to playing a primary role offensively throughout his career, but his game, especially his ability to hit the 3-pointer and post-up presence, is well-suited to playing alongside Shaq and Flash.  Williams, providing he?s mentally stable, is an upgrade over Damon Jones, regardless of the year Jones had in ?04-?05, while Posey is a younger version of Eddie Jones, who was sent packing to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of Tuesday?s deal.   So there is no denying the talent level has received a huge upgrade and, at least on paper, Miami appears poised to get over the hump this season.

 But all eyes, at least early on, will be on Van Gundy.  If he can?t do a better job of massaging egos and defining roles, and more importantly win, then Riley, who you know remains waiting in the wings, will be ready to come down from the presidential suite and make his triumphant return behind the bench.  

 So whether Riley, Van Gundy or anyone in the Heat?s front office will care to admit it or not, the head coach is clearly on borrowed time if he fails to deliver results this season.  Van Gundy has performed admirably as a head coach thus far, but unlike in his first two seasons on the job, where the Heat were regarded as one of the league?s feel-good stories, simply making strides this season is not enough.  

 It?s championship-or-bust time in South Beach.  And no one knows that more than Van Gundy himself.  

 Kostas.Bolos@realgm.com