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| Tuesday, October 26 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last year: 33-17, tie-first place in Atlantic (lost first round to Knicks) Coach: Pat Riley Arena: Miami Arena (21,711) Last NBA title: None Record the last 5 years/NBA rank: 223-155 (T11th)
Outlook From Basketball News If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That was Heat coach Pat Riley's attitude after Miami became just the second No. 1 seed in NBA history to fall to a No. 8 seed in the first round of the playoffs with a five-game loss to the hated (and eventual Eastern Conference champion) New York Knicks. The loss was devastating, and after suffering an embarrassing first-round defeat to the Knicks for the second straight year, nearly everyone thought Riley was going to do some major housecleaning over the summer. Uh, not quite. "I don't care what anybody says about our team," Riley says. "I'm committed to this team, and I believe in this team. I love these guys, and we have another year to find out what we can do." And though the team has sputtered in the postseason in recent years, the fact remains the Heat has won the last three Atlantic Division titles and has posted a .667 winning percentage over the last two seasons. That fact alone was enough to convince Riley to stay pat with the lineup he has in place. "People don't understand how difficult it is to be a winner," Riley says. "I'm not going to sacrifice the possibility of winning big for the one-time shot of winning it all. It's not time yet (to break up this team). It's very premature." Not that Riley didn't have the chance to retool. A number of teams were interested in making a deal for forward P.J. Brown, but Riley refused to trade one of the most valuable players on his roster. Forward Jamal Mashburn and guard Voshon Lenard were shopped around some, but the Heat couldn't put together a deal it liked and both stayed in south Florida. In fact, the only major addition to the team comes in the form of ancient Otis Thorpe, who signed as a free agent from Washington. The 37-year-old Thorpe will miss the start of the season with a broken thumb, but his veteran leadership and experience will only make Miami stronger. Another year older, another year wiser, the 1999-2000 Heat look a lot like the group that slumped off the floor last May after getting eliminated by the Big Apple Bad Boys. But being another year older and bringing back the same nucleus of last year's division champs don't concern Riley. In fact, he revels in the situation. "We're not an old, graybeard team," Riley says. "That's Utah, a vintage wine. From a talent standpoint, well, we're going to find out once and for all now, aren't we?"
Point guard "I played terrible," Hardaway remembers. "I was embarrassed to go out to eat dinner. I didn't feel comfortable seeing the Miami Heat fans and them asking me what went wrong and me having to tell them, 'I (screwed) up.' I felt I let people down." Hardaway seemed to regain his old form playing for the U.S. national team in the Olympic qualifying tournament in July. And after undergoing surgery on his knees and getting plenty of rest, he is refreshed, both in body and mind. "I'm completely healthy-mentally and physically," he says. "I'm back to the Tim Hardaway-style of playing aggressively, going to the basket." The Heat badly need vintage Hardaway if it is going to push deep into the playoffs. And at 33 years of age, Hardaway is aiming for a big year to prove he's worth a new contract far more lucrative than his current incentive-laden deal that expires next summer. Riley would love nothing more than to give Hardaway more rest this season, but that might be difficult without a seasoned backup. With the loss of Porter, veteran Rex Walters has emerged as the front-runner for the backup point guard job, even though he seldom played the position in his two previous years in Miami.
Shooting guard However, Lenard is considered the favorite to start ahead of Dan Majerle, but the starting job will not come with an extended warranty. Miami discussed dealing Lenard and Terry Mills to Detroit in exchange for Jerry Stackhouse this summer, but the deal never materialized. Then in August, the Heat reportedly offered forward Clarence Weatherspoon to Washington for swingman Calbert Cheaney, but Cheaney nixed the deal. At 6-4, Lenard is undersized defending taller opponents such as 6-6 Allan Houston and 6-7 Reggie Miller, but Riley believes Lenard has made strides defensively. "I feel good where I am," Lenard says. "I'm a starter in this league." Majerle excelled defensively last season but averaged just 7.0 points on 39.6% shooting from the floor.
Small forward "Mash had a great summer," Riley says. "He worked more diligently than any other player on the team. He has worked on making quicker decisions and quicker moves to the basket. I just hope his injuries are behind him." Mashburn averaged 19.2, 24.1 and 23.4 points per game in his first three years in the league in Dallas and seemed to be on the verge of stardom. But since coming to the Heat, he has seen his scoring drop off to a mere 13.5 points a game. The former Kentucky All-American doesn't get as many shots in the Heat offense as he would like, leading Mashburn to say his style is no longer conducive to averaging 25 points a night. But Riley isn't expecting that. What both men would like is consistency. Behind Mashburn, Miami has a logjam at small forward, with Weatherspoon, Mark Strickland, Keith Askins and first-round pick Tim James vying for a spot on the court. Weatherspoon and Strickland figure to get the most playing time from that mix.
Power forward His value to the Heat, however, goes beyond statistics. "He just does a lot of the little things that need to be done," Mourning says. "He is very, very, very valuable to our team." Riley obviously feels the same way. Brown, 30, was mentioned in trade rumors all summer, but Riley steadfastly refused to part with him. His belief in the talents of his forward go a long way towards giving Brown confidence and drive to excel. Between Brown, Thorpe and Mourning, the Heat perhaps are blessed with the East's best rotation at the power positions.
Center "There's another level he could get to-a championship-performer level," Riley says. "To make sure his free throw percentage goes up to the mid-70s, to make sure his rebounding is above 11 a game. To block a shot a game more." Riley's knock on Mourning's free throw shooting is certainly justified. The 65.2% he shot from the charity stripe won't help the Heat win a title, and his assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.6-to-3 needs improvement. Still, with Mourning manning the middle, Miami has the advantage over virtually every other team in the conference, if not the league. The Heat has not had a reliable backup center since trading Isaac Austin to the Clippers in February 1997. But Thorpe, once he recovers from a fractured thumb, should help fill that void.
Coaching But Riley's mission will be incomplete if he cannot take this franchise to an NBA Finals. Riley won four rings with the Lakers in the 1980s, but he hasn't sipped championship champagne since 1988. However, Riley claims the title drought doesn't bother him at all. "There's no void, because I truly believe it's going to happen again," Riley says. "I want to see Alonzo and Hardaway and all these guys wear rings. That would put a great smile on my face." Material from Basketball News.Visit their web site at http://www.basketballnews.com |