"The midseason adjustment is familiar. Rafer Alston did the same thing last year, going from the Houston Rockets to the Orlando Magic.

"It's different and similar," Alston said Friday. "The difference is I was traded last year; I didn't lose any money.

"It's similar in that you come in to a team that's primed for the playoffs and you come in and try to help them achieve, one, some regular-season success, and then some postseason success."

Last season, it meant stepping in as a starter for sidelined Jameer Nelson and leading Orlando all the way to the NBA Finals. This season, after giving back part of his salary in exchange for a buyout from the New Jersey Nets earlier this week, it's moving in as a starter to solidify what has been a mostly shaky Heat rotation at point guard.

Signed for the balance of the season at the veteran's minimum Thursday, Alston joined the team for Friday morning's shootaround, and was named the starting replacement to Carlos Arroyo about an hour before tipoff against the Suns."