Will Smush Parker start at point guard for the Heat this fall instead of Jason Williams?

Parker, who signed a two-year contract with the Heat on Friday, said the team told him he'd have a chance to win the starting job.

"As of right now, we are battling for the starting position, me and [Williams]," Parker said during a news conference Monday at American Airlines Arena. "Nothing is guaranteed. I am going to come in and work hard and earn everything they give me here."

Charles Oakley thinks about a comeback ? his 6-foot-9 frame looks in better shape than the day he left Toronto in 2002 ? but only under the right circumstances. Toronto would be nice, but so would Dallas, Miami, Cleveland or New York, as long as the price is right.

"I'm not coming back cheap," he said. "If you read this article and you think you can get me cheap, there's another thought coming."

Smush Parker is expecting to like Dwyane Wade more than he did Kobe Bryant.

"D-Wade is more of a people person than Kobe," Parker said of Bryant, his often-mercurial teammate. "I'm looking forward to jelling with Wade, and playing with him. He's going to be a great teammate."

One Heat target, Warriors swingman Mickael Pietrus, is looking less likely.

"He's not going to take half the mid-level," said Pietrus' agent, Happy Walters. Pietrus' qualifying offer from the Warriors is $3.5 million, above what the Heat can offer.

Walters did, however, add that Pietrus would rather play for the Heat. Pietrus' arrival in South Florida would have to be through a sign-and-trade, possibly with unrestricted free agent James Posey.

The Heat's free-agent season got a little brighter Friday when the team signed Los Angeles Lakers point guard Smush Parker.

Parker, 26, has averaged 9.4 points and 2.9 assists per game during his career and is one of four players with 110 steals and 110 3-pointers during the past two seasons. The deal is believed to be worth between $4.5 million and $5 million over two years.

Parker, who is 6 feet 4 and 180 pounds, started the past two seasons but was replaced by Jordan Farmar for the playoffs. With the Heat, Parker will likely back up Jason Williams and replace Gary Payton.

The Heat concluded its nearly month-long search for a veteran point guard Friday when it agreed to terms with guard Smush Parker, two sources said. Parker started most of the past two years for the Lakers before losing his starting job late last season.

Parker, 26, is believed to have agreed to a two-year contract for a portion of the Heat's $5.35 million mid-level exception. The deal is contingent on Parker passing a physical on Monday.

Juan Carlos Navarro's American agent, Alex Saratsis, said on Wednesday that the Heat remains "a solid possibility" for the point guard if the Washington Wizards trade his rights. The two teams are in active negotiations, according to a source.

Saratsis said Barcelona, Navarro's current team, has imposed a deadline of Aug. 3 for the Wizards to complete a deal. He said the Heat is one of seven or eight teams interested. The Wizards are over the salary cap but might not be eager to deal with the Heat because the teams play in the same division.

"Barcelona dropped his buyout number from $14 million to $3 million," Saratsis said, "so he could play in the NBA. Barcelona begins training camp in a couple of weeks. If we don't get a deal done, they will sign him to a new contract, and his buyout number will be prohibitive, at least $14 million again.

Eight teams have contacted the Wizards with interest in acquiring Juan Carlos Navarro, including the Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies, but so far, no offers have been to the liking of Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld.

The team has never seriously considered signing Navarro, who is seeking a contract that would pay him around $3.5 million, according to a league source.

As often as NBA players and coaches are at odds with referees, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade says everyone realizes the integrity of the game is in their hands and now is at stake during the current investigation of referee Tim Donaghy.

"There's always something going on with the officials about calls, but that's part of competing," Wade said Wednesday during the first day of his third annual youth basketball camp at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island.

"We understand our referees have the hardest job of any refs in any athletic contest because there is always body-on-body contact."

Washington has shown little interest in accepting a Heat draft pick for FC Barcelona combo guard Juan Carlos Navarro.