Heat forward Udonis Haslem is sidelined indefinitely with a torn ligament in his left foot, but he still wants to accompany his teammates to Cleveland for Thursday's game against the Cavaliers.

The game will mark the first time LeBron James has returned to play at Quicken Loans Arena since he left the Cavaliers as a free agent this past July.

"I would love to be there in Cleveland," Haslem said. "I want a piece of that. By any means necessary. You can take the other foot if you let me go to Cleveland."

It's expected that Haslem will not accompany Miami when the team flies to Ohio late Wednesday night; typically, injured Heat players don't travel on one-game road trips.

LeBron James is preparing for an emotional return to Cleveland as a member of the visiting team on Thursday night.

He was asked on Tuesday whether he'd eventually like to see his jersey hanging in the rafters at Quicken Loans Arena.

"Wow. Of course," James said. "If that's something that organization and franchise would do, I'm all respectful of that. I just tried to be the best player I could be every night, whether I was in that Cavalier uniform, that USA uniform. If that results in me having my jersey retired that would be great."

James added that he'll be ready for whatever response he receives when the Heat battle the Cavaliers in Cleveland later this week.

"I'm ready for whatever response I'm going to get," James said. "It's going to be very emotional. I give a lot of thanks to that city, a lot of thanks to those fans for giving me the opportunity to not only showcase my talent, but to grow from a young boy to a man during my seven years. So it's going to be very emotionally draining. I can tell already."

In the midst of speculation about player unrest and a run of poor performances, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and star LeBron James met for 30 minutes on Monday afternoon.

Spoelstra said the meeting was primarily about Miami's offensive struggles and wasn't a clearing-the-air type conference.

Both seemed to emerge on the same page, there was no denial that the Heat are dealing with some internal issues.

"I call these 'healthy conflicts,' " Spoelstra said. "I truly believe these are good for a team. As long as you can survive these, it'll make you stronger. It'll make your bond stronger."

James denied he was personally frustrated with Spoelstra, who has asked James to change some of his offense this season. That has included playing mostly point guard.

"I think there's frustration from everyone," James said. "As far as me and Spo being frustrated with each other, I don't think there is. I have Coach Spo's back or whatever the case may be. This is who we have.

"If I have something to say to Coach Spo, I'm going to go to Coach Spo. If he has something to say to me, which he's done, he's going to come to me. It is nothing I'll take behind his back. I've never done that, I will not do that."

LeBron James and Erik Spoelstra addressed their now-famous bump heading into a timeout in Dallas on Saturday.  Both said the bump was unintentional and not an attempt to send a message.

"I didn't realize. I don't think Coach realized it either, until it was brought up to our attention," James said. "Really, nothing, honestly, incidental contact I guess. It wasn't intentional or anything."

Spoelstra gave a similar account.

"I didn't even notice it until people mentioned it after the game," Spoelstra said. "Often, coming out of the timeout, it's a pinball game. I'm colliding into a lot of people. So it's probably a perfect case of over-speculation from this team."

Tracy McGrady says LeBron James would have been better off signing with the Bulls, according to a report in The New York Daily News.

"[Chicago] was a better decision, a better place for him," McGrady told the Daily News. "You can't just go somewhere and have that type of chemistry he had in Cleveland."

McGrady's Pistons played the Knicks in a double-overtime battle on Sunday afternoon.

He said one of the reasons the Heat are off to a disappointing 9-8 start is the chemistry of James and Wade on the court.

"When they're on the court together, they're terrible," McGrady said. "Him and D-Wade don't complement each other. They're somewhat the same type of players, 'Bron and D-Wade. ... Both of those guys need the ball, and they don't shoot the ball like Ray Allen. That's why they're having trouble scoring in the halfcourt, because they can't get a rhythm, because one of them is dominating the ball. That guy might be getting off, but the other guy [isn't].

"That's why when they're on the court together, they're terrible. They're rhythm players that need the ball. I'm like that. I can't stand out there and catch and shoot. I've never been a guy that sits out there waiting for the ball to come to me."

The Heat are growing frustrated with coach Erik Spoelstra and some are questioning whether he is the right man for the job, according to people close to the situation.

Miami has lost four of their last five games, leading players to privately grumble about Spoelstra for a number of reasons.

The players believe he is not letting them be themselves, that they are questioning his offensive strategies, and that they think he is panicking because he fears losing his job, according to sources.

Contrary to popular belief that Spoelstra is afraid to criticize superstars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, he's been very hard on them.

"He's jumping on them," one source said. "If anything, he's been too tough on them. Everybody knows LeBron is playful and likes to joke around, but Spoelstra told him in front of the whole team that he has to get more serious. The players couldn't believe it. They feel like Spoelstra's not letting them be themselves."

Coming off back-to-back losses and a players-only meeting, LeBron James says the Heat need to find "balance."

A record of 9-8 wasn't what Miami envisioned when they re-signed Dwyane Wade and brought LeBron James and Chris Bosh in to play alongside him.

"We're used to having the ball, making plays, finishing plays," James said. "So, right now, it's a process of us having to still be aggressive, but playing off the ball. So it's an adjustment for ourselves.

"We've talked a lot recently, just trying to figure this thing out and do what's best for ourselves individually and what's best for the team. It's something that we're making progress with."

James said that it shouldn't be expected that he or Wade will change their style of play.

"I can't change my game dramatically, and I don't think he can, either," James said. "It doesn't make any sense to do that. I'd be a role player at that point, if I changed my game dramatically.

"We have to figure out a balance, where we continue to be who we are for the better of the team, for the better of each other."

The Heat held a players-only meeting after Saturday night's loss to the Mavericks.

The meeting lasted about 45 minutes after Miami fell to 9-8.

"It was a well-needed team meeting where everybody had an opportunity to get off what they had on their chest or what they had in their head about us figuring things out," LeBron James said.

"Right now, we are a 9-8 team and we have to own up to that. Right now, we're at 9-8 because we've been playing like that."

There were moments where players and coaches were seen arguing during timeouts during the loss to Dallas.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he desperately tried to recruit LeBron James and his business manager, Maverick Carter, through a series of text messages after the July 1 start of free agency.

"Before he made his decision, what I told [James] ... and what I told Maverick was no team had ever blown up their team to ground zero -- well, I shouldn't use those words -- blown their team up of all of their core, and then added a couple of free agents and won a championship," Cuban said.

"It's always taken someone to come into a good team, make it better, and put it over the top. That's what I told him, and that's what I told Maverick."

Cuban had envisioned James playing with perennial All-Stars Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd and surrounding them with one of the league's deepest supporting casts.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says he spoke to team president Pat Riley recently amid speculation that his job may be in jeopardy.

"Business as usual," Spoelstra said of the discussion of team-related matters. "I came in with a clear head."

If he is on the hot seat, Spoelstra said that the pressure isn't coming from inside the organization.

"I'm just coming to work like everybody else is," he said.

He said the team has shifted to strength-through-adversity mode.

"I'm not worried about what people think and when it should come together after how many games," the coach said. "The most important thing is that we stay together and we are getting to know each other under adverse circumstances."