The summer of 2010 is dead, killed by a combination of recession, impatience and an overdose of hype.

Right now, the summer of 2009 is the new 2010. And if there was any more evidence needed of that fact, it’s that the Heat, once one of the leaders in the march for 2010, is discussing possibilities of building itself a winner now instead of waiting through another meaningless season.
The latest involves the somewhat — depending on who or what you read — possibility of Miami acquiring Carlos Boozer, a post-threat power forward from Utah, and Lamar Odom, a familiar and versatile forward who helped jump-start the latest era of Heat basketball in 2003-04.
Other than declaring the summer of 2010 old news, which is weird because it’s still a year away, the Heat making those two moves would be following a new trend.
Call it the Lakers design.
The NBA isn’t as much a copycat league as the NFL, but this easily could be sold as a case attempting to build a champion in the almost exact mold of the most recent champion.
Let’s piece this together and see just how similar looking it leaves this potential Heat team to the NBA champion Lakers.
OFFER HASLEM, WRIGHT
The easier portion of the proposal is to acquire Boozer from the Jazz. Boozer has said Jazz officials have informed him they plan on heading in a different direction, which includes trading him relatively soon. And given that the Jazz is desperate for financial flexibility in return instead of a specific type of player (Utah posted on its website that it will match Portland’s offer to budding big man Paul Millsap), it would take the expiring contracts of Udonis Haslem and Dorell Wright in exchange for Boozer.
(On a side note, that trade would be something of a slap in the face to Haslem, because he always has considered himself the equal of Boozer but with far less scoring opportunities).
At 27, Boozer still has a handful of quality years ahead of him, if you assume his injury history is as freakish as he claims and not some disconcerting pattern.
The trickier part of the equation would be luring Odom into the fold. There have been reports that he would only leave Los Angeles for Miami, and with the Lakers supposedly pulling their offer from the table for Odom, the probability of that happening has gathered some momentum.
The issue isn’t whether Odom would like to return to Miami, but whether it’s worth taking a significant pay cut to play here. Given that the Heat would have exhausted any sign-and-trade possibilities by trading for Boozer (you have to love the fantasy aspect of this time of year), it would leave Odom being slotted into midlevel exception money, which is less than even the Lakers were offering.
But let’s just say it’s a pride thing, and Odom decides to come back to the place that got him paid better than $60 million over the past six years. And let’s just say the Heat, in these scenarios, don’t have to give up Michael Beasley in the process.
There would be something familiar in the makeup of this next Heat team. At least familiar to anyone who watched the NBA Finals in June. It would be the closest resemblance to the 2008-09 Lakers than any team in the league can manage.
HOW IT WOULD SHAKE OUT
Playing the role of Kobe Bryant would be Dwyane Wade, last year’s scoring champ whose increasingly diverse game has him on par with Bryant in almost every category.
Playing the role of Pau Gasol would be Boozer, whose career all-around numbers are similar to Gasol’s, only Boozer wouldn’t come with the “soft” label that it took an NBA championship for Gasol to shake.
Playing the role of Odom would be, well, Odom. Is there a need to draw comparisons there? At point guard, Mario Chalmers is no Derek Fisher, but he does have similar qualities in that his best attribute is his defense and he has a knack for hitting big shots. And the rest of the supporting role would include Beasley — who, like Andrew Bynum, has endless potential and can carry the team for brief stretches — Daequan Cook, James Jones and Jermaine O’Neal.
That’s not even considering any other additions the Heat could make.
It would be Lakers Southeast (though there is something of a gap between Phil Jackson and Erik Spoelstra), and it would elevate Miami into the same stratosphere as Cleveland, Boston and Orlando. Nothing would be guaranteed. Not when those other three teams have thoroughly improved, as well. But it would be what Wade has asked for: a chance.
All that has to happen is to kill off the summer of 2010. Done. That was the easy part.
The hard part is getting Boozer and Odom in place. Right now, though, that has never seemed more possible.