You hardly would call this a season of great expectations for the Heat. More like a season of suspended expectations -- as if this entire NBA schedule for Miami is little more than a bridge to next year, a necessary delay being merely abided.

Anticipation? Most of that centers on next summer, when all the big stuff happens, and next season, when the franchise is supposed to suddenly be a national player back to championship-challenging again.

We must wait until then for Dwyane Wade's monumental decision whether to stay or go. And for the spending spree on a bumper crop of free agents.

But if Wednesday night's season opener taught us anything, it was to remind that we're still allowed to have a little bit of fun in the meantime.

The Heat's 22nd season commenced at the bayside arena with a 115-93 victory over the woeful New York Knicks, on a night when the club retired Tim Hardaway's No. 10 jersey, and a night when Wade got some scoring help from precisely the right players.

Wade was off his game yet still managed 26 points, but it was the 22 points from Jermaine O'Neal (with 12 rebounds) and the 21 from Michael Beasley (on 9-of-14 shooting) that had to gladden a Heat fan's heart.

O'Neal is the old-for-31 center whom Miami needs to remain healthy.

Beasley, still an NBA toddler at 20, is the rising star Miami needs to be very, very good.

More of this from those two (with Wade's stardom a given) might feather the notion the Heat might be much better than expected this season. Especially with Udonis Haslem and Daequan Cook seeming like a potent twosome off the bench.

Then again, the league won't let Miami play the Knicks every game, alas.

The more likely reality is that this season presents itself as little more than a .500 diversion to help the time pass until next summer. A warmup act of sorts.

Overshadowing the night and the new season is a Miami franchise being patient, biding time, waiting. A franchise sacrificing now for later.

Opening night is opening night.

``The butterflies, I don't think that changes,'' said coach Erik Spoelstra.

Even club president Pat Riley got carried away by the occasion, generously placing Hardaway in the same category as Magic Johnson, which would be akin to placing the Heat's title chances in the same category as the Lakers'.

The self-elected experts have spoken and consigned this Heat team to the mediocrity bin. Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine both have prediced that Miami will finish eighth in the Eastern Conference, for example -- the bare, far edge of playoff contention.

The team will be competitive, Wade alone assures that, but won't likely set the postseason alight.

The Heat's marketing campaign plays off this.

DOUBTERS, proclaims a billboard off Interstate 95.

``Good Enough Ain't Enough,'' reads a motto inside the arena.

The fan buying the idea of another low-playoff seed and first-round ouster must identify the larger meaning in this parade of 82 games.

I mean beyond simply enjoying Wade ply his trade and utilizing all forms of hope and prayer to imagine this won't be the last season he is here.

Enjoy his greatness and 30 points a game even as you obsess about his future but understand this season will have a lot to do with keeping or losing Wade.

It won't be just a money decision. The extra $30 million he can get from Miami by re-signing here could be made up in greater endorsement dough in places such as New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.

Wade is looking for reasons to stay beyond the wallet.

He knows president Riley, most idle this past offseason, will have the money to add big talent next summer -- $40 million in salary-cap space that would enable both the re-signing of Wade and the signing another superstar such as Chris Bosh or (far less realistically, but dreaming is still legal in most states), LeBron James.

If the unthinkable happened and Wade departed, Riley would then have ``more money than God'' (his words) to quickly retool.

The priority obviously is keeping Wade, though, and so what Wade wants to see of this season is what fans should be most interested in determining as well.

Two things, mostly.

1. Will second-year man Beasley, the newly installed starter at power forward, blossom into the star they hope -- and be as reliable with his maturity and off-court decisions as he promises to be with double-doubles?

2. Will fellow second-year guy Mario Chalmers (now pushed by a decent veteran in Carlos Arroyo) prove to be the long-term answer at point guard?

In other words, how fast will the babies grow? And into what?

Beasley affirmed Wednesday he has an offensive gift.

But does he have the consistent work-rate to dig for rebounds? Can he make himself solid defensively?

How this season plays out and some of the particulars within it, such as whether O'Neal stays healthy enough to make a habit of Wednesday's performance, ultimately won't have much long-term impact beyond the season.

What will is whether Wade enters next summer believing Beasley and Chalmers can help him be a champion again.

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