Category: Miami Heat Blog

Mayweather was a surprise guest at Heat practice Sunday morning, sitting courtside with team president Pat Riley, managing general partner Micky Arison and other members of the franchise’s brain trust. It’s rare for any outsider to get invited into Heat practice, though Mayweather’s resume – unbeaten in 45 fights and generally considered the best fighter of his era – certainly earned him the ultra-VIP access.

”We’re trying to defend two titles. He’s been defending for a long time,” Heat star LeBron James said. ”He definitely knows where we’re coming from. It’s exciting at the end of the day to have someone, one of the greatest of all-time, to be in the presence. It’s something you can talk about years from now. … We’re honored and blessed to have him in the building.”

Mayweather, who left just as practice was ending, gave the Heat a brief speech, reminding the two-time defending NBA champions about the need for hard work and dedication.

Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

The Heat has an endorsement deal with the Bahamas, and the team did its part to attract attention to these beautiful islands and its wonderful people, but from the perspective of players and coaches, the trip was valuable time spent building team chemistry.

When the players weren’t sweating on makeshift courts in an enormous ballroom, they were lounging together by the pool or palling around together in the resort’s casino. Unlike the trip to China last year, families and friends of players and coaches weren’t invited to the Bahamas.

“To come down here, just us, it gives us a great time to bond and have some camaraderie both on and off the floor,” James said. “We worked our tails off for five practices and to be able to have down times in the afternoons to just chill around the pool, we had a lot of laughs.”

Dwyane Wade called it the best training camp of his 11-year career despite most of the practice time being dedicated to defensive fundamentals. The Heat’s defense performed below its normal standards to begin the 2012-13 season and time was spent in the Bahamas to prevent a recurrence of the problem.

Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald

Thursday proved to be about rigor and reward for the Miami Heat on the third day of training camp at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort.

Perhaps fittingly, coach Erik Spoelstra threw a blowout at the ballroom-turned-court in the resort’s conference center, pushing his players through an unrelenting 90-minute morning session. The reward was cancellation of the afternoon session, meaning two-a-days are over, with a single session planned here Friday before a return flight to Miami.

“Just intense work,” guard Dwyane Wade said.

“We got at it right from the beginning,” forward LeBron James said.

Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

LeBron James Athletic

LeBron James is bringing back the pregame powder.

The Miami Heat star says he’s decided to resume his one-time tradition of tossing powder into the air just before the start of games. He’s depicted doing exactly that on the cover of the NBA 2K14 video game that was released this week, that image almost serving as a teaser of what was to come this season.

James got away from the pregame powder salute a couple of seasons ago.

Reported by the Associated Press

Tuesday was a bit surreal for Miami Heat center Greg Oden.

Not only was he going through his first NBA practice in four years, but it was taking place in the middle of a hotel ballroom on a tropical island.

The Heat opened training camp with a standard, defensive drill-oriented workout in a warehouse-like conference center at the Atlantis Resort. Oden took part in about half of the practice, but that still was a significant step forward as he attempts a long-shot comeback after not playing since December 2009 because of chronic knee problems.

“It felt good just being out there,” Oden said. “First time in a while, I’m happy I got it completed. They had to pull me off the floor. But I’ve got to take steps.”

Reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com

The Miami Heat really enjoy having Juwan Howard around. And will continue to do so, though nobody has to pretend that Howard might actually play in a game anymore.

The Heat announced today several front office promotions, including Andy Elisburg to Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations/General Manager, Adam Simon to Assistant General Manager/General Manager Sioux Falls Skyforce, Dan Craig to Assistant Coach/Player Development, Chad Kammerer to Director of NBA Scouting/Advance Scout, Keith Askins to Director of College and Pro Scouting and the hiring of Juwan Howard to Assistant Coach/Player Development.

Elisburg, a Heat original employee of 25 years, will serve as Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations/General Manager. His duties will include assisting CEO Nick Arison and President Pat Riley in the management of all aspects of the Heat’s basketball organization including salary cap administration, talent acquisition, league compliance and the day-to-day business of basketball operations.

Simon has been named Assistant General Manager/General Manger Sioux Falls Skyforce. He will assist Andy Elisburg in all areas of the Heat’s basketball operations department as well as heading the basketball operations department of the Heat’s NBA Development League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Craig, entering his 11th season with the Heat, has been named Assistant Coach/Player Development and will continue to spend numerous hours on the court with individual players developing their game.

Kammerer has been named Director of NBA Scouting/Advance Scout after spending the previous five seasons as an assistant coach. His responsibilities will include providing scouting reports and player evaluations to assist the Heat coaching staff in their game preparations and the team’s personal department on player acquisitions.

Askins, who has spent his entire professional career with the Heat, enters the 2013-14 season as Director of College and Pro Scouting as he will work with Chet Kammerer and Adam Simon overseeing all aspects of the Heat’s scouting department after serving 14 years as a full-time assistant coach.

Howard, a 19-year NBA veteran, will make the transition to the coaching staff after being named Assistant Coach/Player Development. He will be assisting in the areas of player development and other duties assigned by Head Coach Erik Spoelstra.

Additionally, the Heat also named Rich Fernando to Executive Assistant to the Coaches, Eric Glass to Video Coordinator and Tim Hardaway to Scout/Community & Corporate Liaison.

The Miami Heat announced today that they have signed guard Roger Mason Jr.

Mason, a nine-year NBA veteran, has appeared in 493 career NBA games (101 starts) and averaged 6.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 18.0 minutes while shooting 40.9 percent from the field, 38.4 percent from three-point range and 86.3 percent from the foul line. Additionally, Mason has appeared in 24 career postseason NBA games (three starts) and averaged 5.3 points, 1.0 rebounds and 17.1 minutes while shooting 36.8 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three-point range and 76.5 percent from the foul line.

Last season, he appeared in 69 games (13 starts) with New Orleans and averaged 5.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 17.7 minutes while shooting 43.3 percent from the field, 41.5 percent from three-point range and 90.7 percent from the foul line. He led the team in three-point field goal percentage while finishing second in free throw percentage and third in three-point field goals made (66).

Mason will wear number 21.

The Heat’s roster now stands at 19.

For the second time in the four seasons that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have played as teammates, the Miami Heat will hold their training camp away from South Florida.

After holding camp at the Hurlburt Field Air Force installation in the Florida panhandle in 2010 in the wake of the signing of the Big Three, the Heat returned to AmericanAirlines Arena for camp the past two years.

But now, as they prepare to defend a second consecutive NBA title, the Heat again are attempting to escape the expected media crush by moving their camp to The Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, Bahamas.

Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel