"Mike Miller's South Florida curse has almost run its course.

It's probably not a "curse," of course, but there's almost no other way to describe the events of his last year-plus.

How else to explain that, soon after signing a deal to play in a dream situation, his nightmarish next 13 months would go like this:

Sustain a serious thumb injury to his shooting hand that forces him to miss half the season; sustain the same exact injury to the other thumb; sustain a shoulder injury in the playoffs; have a daughter born with serious heart issues during those playoffs; lose the championship he so longed for; have a clause written into the new collective bargaining agreement that almost encourages the Heat to waive him; have the Heat sign a player in Shane Battier who only could be viewed as his replacement; then sustain a hernia injury just before the season kicks off after he had worked himself into the best shape of his career during the extended offseason."