Category: Miami Heat Blog

The AP reports: Dwyane Wade still believes his knee will be ready for the Beijing Olympics. The Miami Heat guard, who missed the final 21 games of last season because of chronic soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, said Sunday that he’s been playing 5-on-5 games for about a week with “no problems.” Wade is spending much of his offseason rehabilitating in Chicago, with eyes on both getting a spot on the Beijing-bound team—USA Basketball will finalize its Olympic roster later this month—and ensuring that he’s fully healthy when the Heat open training camp in late September.

The AP reports: Alonzo Mourning, whose season ended when he suffered severe knee and leg injuries in a game in December, said that if his body gets healthy, he’d like to play one more season before finally calling it a career. “I just want to get my body right to do it. I need to get my body where my mind is,” said Mourning, while appearing at Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor’s charity golf event. Mourning, 38, has said several times previously that a return wasn’t out of the question – but yesterday’s comments may have been his strongest yet.

The Miami Herald (Michael Wallace) reports: New Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has visions of running an up-tempo, slashing, dunking offense that takes advantage of an athletic nucleus anchored by guard Dwyane Wade. But it’s going to require a gear Wade had been unable to reach the past two seasons. Wade began his latest — and what he hopes to be his last — rehabilitation on his troublesome left knee Monday in his hometown of Chicago, where he is working with Michael Jordan’s former trainer, Tim Grover. It is the latest step Wade has taken in an attempt to put two injury-plagued seasons behind and regain his more-explosive form from the Heat’s 2006 championship season, when Wade was named MVP of the NBA Finals.

The Miami Herald (Barry Jackson) reports: As he passes the coaching reins to Erik Spoelstra, Pat Riley plans to change his approach from when Stan Van Gundy was the coach. Reflecting in a quiet moment, Riley said, ”I distanced myself, I thought, a little too much [from Van Gundy], not in a meddling way. I really showed too much respect, too much distance and wanted to stay absolutely out of the picture because it was his show.” Although Riley wants to give Spoelstra a lot of space, “I think there has to be more contact between me and the head coach on a regular basis, meet once every month or every two weeks.” And Riley said he must ”have a more positive relationship” with his new coach: “I don’t think I ever gave Stan enough kudos because I never needed a pat on the back. When you’re in that position, you never expect one. That’s probably where I’ll come in more than I did the last time.”

It’s the NBA playoffs and a very important question not just for basketball but all of humanity has been answered.

The AP reports: Dwyane Wade has finally spoken up about his alleged romance with Star Jones: “Star is an unbelievable woman. We have a great, great relationship. As friends.” “We’re friends, just like a lot of celebrities. We are friends,” the Miami Heat star said Thursday during a guest appearance on “Inside the NBA,” the jocular TNT show featuring Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. “Are y’all close friends?” Smith asked. “We’re good friends,” Wade responded.

Miami Heat President and Head Coach Pat Riley has stepped down as Head Coach of the Miami Heat, but will continue to serve as team President. Former Assistant Coach/Director of Scouting Erik Spoelstra has been elevated to head coach. Spoelstra becomes the sixth head coach in franchise history.

Here’s Dwyane Wade reaction to the coaching change: “I am excited about the future of our organization….as head coach – Pat Riley has instilled in me values that enabled me to win a championship in just three seasons. I’ve seen him do the necessary things to make us winners and I believe that with his focus on being president and his commitment to the team – we will once again become a contender…I believe in Coach Spo and have complete confidence that our team will succeed with him at the helm.”

And here’s what Alonzo Mourning said: “A big reason for coming to Miami was to help Coach Riley build a winning team and franchise…we’ve experienced many rough times together on the road to the 2006 championship, and those experiences made the winning that much more gratifying. I admire Coach Riley and his accomplishments and I am also proud of Spo, who will now step into this position to take the organization back to our winning ways.”

Heat coach Pat Riley, probably realizing that it’s no fun coaching a team that gets destroyed by 70 points a night, is making the wise move to just be team president. Former assistant coach/director of scouting Erik Spoelstra is now head coach. It’s not surprising that the new coach came from within, as Spoelstra obviously has Riley’s respect, knows the players and the team’s secrets. And until Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion get a lot more help around them the team has plenty of rebuilding to to.

“The game of basketball is a game about talent,” said Riley. “While we are always looking for NBA talent to perform on the court, the most important talent that you may find has to perform on the bench, in the locker room, on the practice court, late at night, watching film, motivating and executing all the responsibilities of a head coach. I believe Erik Spoelstra is one of the most talented young coaches to come around in a long time. This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative and bring fresh new ideas. That’s what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He’s a man that was born to coach.”

More info about Spoelstra is here.