Heat News

"The signs of progress were visible through Heat forward Dorell Wright's grin as he talked Thursday about the strides he has made while recovering from knee surgery that prematurely ended his season. He is making strides now, literally. He is walking with no discernable limp, painlessly climbing stairs at his home and extending his left leg into a straight line and lifting it into the air while in bed. "

"Heat players accept they're not getting Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan or Larry Bird as their next coach. But Thursday, two made it sound as if they were getting Dr. James Naismith. Downplaying Erik Spoelstra's lack of an NBA-playing resume, forwards Udonis Haslem and Dorell Wright instead gushed about how Spoelstra's insight into the pro game makes him a capable fit."

"Erik Spoelstra doesn't have the kind of basketball credentials that can mean instant credibility with NBA players who might view him skeptically as a first-time head coach. Spoelstra, the Heat's new coach, never played in the NBA. Of the league's 27 head coaches (three positions are open), 19 have played in the NBA... Spoelstra, 37, is the youngest coach in the league, and he's taking over a team that tied the franchise record for fewest victories with 15. It seems a background playing in the NBA would benefit Spoelstra's transition."

"Erik Spoelstra doesn't have the kind of basketball credentials that can mean instant credibility with NBA players who might view him skeptically as a first-time head coach. Spoelstra, the Heat's new coach, never played in the NBA. Of the league's 27 head coaches (three positions are open), 19 have played in the NBA. He was a pretty good player at the University of Portland, spent two seasons with a pro team in Germany, and then caught on with the Heat as video coordinator and self-described "computer geek." Thirteen years and a few job titles later, Pat Riley promoted him as his successor."

"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."

"Heat guard Dwyane Wade began the next step in his rehabilitation from March shock treatment on his troublesome left knee Monday in Chicago. Working in concert with noted independent trainer Tim Grover, new Heat trainer Jay Sabol and Heat therapist Rey Jaffet, Wade is hopeful of receiving full clearance in June to participate with the U.S. entry in the August Beijing Olympics."

"Forgive new Heat coach Erik Spoelstra for being naive enough to dismiss his first week on the job as just another typical few days of hard work. He doesn't know any different. His phone didn't stop ringing. His inbox kept filling. Interview requests and media demands never ceased. Meetings with his assistants or boss Pat Riley and the Heat brass that started over breakfast often didn't end until just before dinnertime. He had a cross-country flight and got next to no sleep. But that schedule is typical."

"The Miami Heat has to wait 18 days to find out how high its lottery selection will be for the NBA Draft on June 26. But Heat officials are well into their draft preparations and the teams' options are beginning to crystallize. The draft is loaded with college underclassmen -- some who have ditched the rest of their NCAA eligibility by signing agents, and others who are testing the NBA waters. The NBA released an official list of early entry players Thursday. Ninety-one early entry players are eligible, including 22 international players."

"The NBA today released the list of players who met Sunday's deadline for early-entry into the June 26 NBA Draft. As expected, the list is massive, in part because those electing to leave college retain the right to withdraw from the list by June 16 to retain eligibility, provided they have not signed with an agent or declared for the draft in a previous year. Also, the NCAA, for the first time this year, is allowing teams to pay travel expenses for individual workouts without that impacting a prospect's ability to return to college."

"On his way out as coach, Pat Riley has decided to clean the slate, clear the ledger when it comes to one of the most trying incidents of his recent tenure. After nearly a year and a half of behind-the-scenes wrangling, a settlement is pending regarding $40,000 in conditioning fines issued during the 2006-07 season to forward Dorell Wright and former Heat players Antoine Walker and James Posey. "It's like anything that happened in the past two years," Riley said. "I just want it behind me." "

"First off, the blueprint relies on the Heat getting lucky. That's what this comes down to, right? If the Heat doesn't snag the first or second pick in the NBA Draft lottery, then everything changes. The Heat would have to get lucky with whomever it gets rather than get the guy it really needs. But let's say karma doesn't kick the Heat, the pingpong balls bounce the right way and the team secures one of the top two picks. Based on what's happened in the past two months, can the Heat hope for anything but ending up with Memphis prospect Derrick Rose?"

"When Pat Riley stepped away from the Heat bench for stretches each of the past two seasons, he considered giving Erik Spoelstra sort of a test drive as a head coach. Didn't happen."

"No longer having to balance two jobs, Pat Riley said one of his prime goals this offseason will be maintaining fiscal balance."

"Riley announced as expected Monday that he has resigned as coach and has promoted assistant Erik Spoelstra to run the team. Riley, 63, has twice stepped away from the bench since 2003 only to return in dual roles as president and coach. But he said this time he is done for good; this time, it's for real."

""I am officially retired," Riley said in Miami yesterday, when he stepped down from coaching the Heat and handed the job to Erik Spoelstra, a low-level Heat assistant who had long been rumored to be taking over. Riley will stay on as team president, while Spoelstra becomes the youngest coach in the NBA at 37."

"Pat Riley, the man who made the Miami Heat matter and then made it a champion, broke the news to his players -- maybe to himself, too -- with a story about Forrest Gump."

"So, this was after Pat Riley turned over the Heat sideline to Erik Spoelstra, after Riley had said he really, truly was done coaching this time. No, really. He meant it. "Absolutely," he had said."

"So Pat Riley is stepping down as coach of the Heat. Hey, whatever floats his boat. The thought I can't get out of my mind is that the Heat will be good again someday, probably sooner than anyone thinks, and then Riley will appear magically on the sideline once more, no longer finding the job of head coach so tiresome."

"The quiet ending becomes him. And yes - let's get to this part right away - Pat Riley is done coaching. It's for good this time."

"There was a moment Wednesday night, a fun and surreal sideline moment, when Pat Riley's feet went backpedaling and his arms went flailing and his full body English tried to get his Heat players to do what his mouth was telling them."

"But Riley knew the guy he wanted. He saw no reason to waver - or wait. The soon-to-be Hall of Fame coach had been grooming prodigy Erik Spoelstra - the guy who started with the Heat as a video coordinator 13 years ago."

"Jon Spoelstra won't go as far as to stay his son was born to coach. "I wouldn't say it was a lifelong dream," the retired longtime NBA executive said Monday when his son, Heat assistant coach Erik Spoelstra, was named to succeed Pat Riley as head coach. "But he's always been around the game.""

"Last place and the Hall of Fame will be the final two stops of Pat Riley's coaching career. In a move that took days of deliberation but was hinted at months in advance, Riley will announce today he is stepping down as coach of the Heat to concentrate full time on what had been his dual role as team president, according to sources familiar with the situation. Assistant coach Erik Spoelstra is expected to be named his replacement at a 4 p.m. news conference"

"Pat Riley has scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference where he is expected to step down as coach of the Miami Heat but remain in the role of team president. Riley has two more seasons remaining on a contract that gives him the leeway to serve in the dual role or exclusively as president."

"Elton Brand and Corey Maggette of the Los Angeles Clippers could have expiring contracts going into next season and therefore be trade-deadline bargains. The same could be true for Sacramento forward Ron Artest and Washington guard Gilbert Arenas. And New Orleans guard Jannero Pargo, Philadelphia guard Andre Miller and swingman Andre Iguodala, Portland sharpshooter James Jones, and Toronto guard Carlos Delfino, to name a few."

"It's against that backdrop of issues that Riley and Arison will meet this week, possibly as early as Tuesday, to discuss the direction of a team looking to regroup from a season that began ugly and only deteriorated. In recent weeks, Riley, who said he was spending last weekend evaluating his options, has sounded as though he were leaning toward stepping down as coach after 25 seasons that have included five NBA titles and 1,210 victories, third-most in history."

"Go through a 37-year career as an NBA trainer and there are plenty of things to wrestle with. Ron Culp decided a bear shouldn't be one of them."

"He has coached in the Eastern Conference semifinals and the Eastern Conference finals. He has guided a team that went on to win an NBA championship. But Stan Van Gundy has never had the opportunity to finish the job. "

"It's the perfect symbol, that thin black bruise line under Stan Van Gundy's right eye, for his scrappy NBA coaching career is known for the ability to take a hit and keep on fighting."

"Free agent Ricky Davis -- who said Shaquille O'Neal called him with a ''little apology'' after Shaq took a verbal shot at Davis and Chris Quinn -- said he's looking for midlevel exception money ($6 million annually). It's unlikely Miami would go nearly that high, though he can be re-signed without using the exception."

"When he emerged Friday from his team's first playoff practice with a black bruise under his right eye, fiction was far more believable than fact. Stan Van Gundy, the Orlando Magic's abrasively affectionate first-year coach, had thrown himself into the middle of a lopsided fight."

"Which direction the Heat takes this offseason could carry implications well into the future -- or at least through the summer of 2010, when guard Dwyane Wade can opt out of his contract and become a free agent. It might be one reason why Wade suggested Thursday that what the Heat does the next five months might even trump -- in terms of long-term impact -- the 2004 offseason, when the Heat traded for Shaquille O'Neal."

"Although it's not exactly Bear Stearns in degree, the Heat wound up almost as much of a loser with the NBA's luxury tax as in the standings. Based on an NBA audit, the Heat is one of eight teams that will have to pay a luxury tax to the league this offseason because of its excessive payroll. Operating with the league's fifth-highest payroll, the Heat will have to pay about $8 million in the dollar-for-dollar penalty for exceeding the tax threshold of $67.9 million in salaries."

"Jeff Van Gundy, working Suns-Spurs and Nuggets-Lakers for ABC this weekend as the playoffs begin, said off the air Wednesday of the Heat, ``They haven't been putting a product on the floor that's representative of NBA basketball, whether it's true injuries or trying to manipulate their chances in the lottery. They should have been in the 40s [in victories], so I'm not going to give them credit for some turnaround next year if they try real hard and win because they didn't do that since Christmas this year.''"

"Heat guard Dwyane Wade said he still expects to play in the Beijing Olympics this summer but understands that USA Basketball officials need assurance he will recover from treatment for left knee tendinitis. Earlier this week, Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball's managing director, said he's "curious" about Wade's physical condition and that he expects players to show up for the June 27 start of a pre-Olympics mini-camp "in really good shape.""

"Mercy. What Heat president and coach Pat Riley simply reduced to as ''this godforsaken season'' is over. Finally. A season that began with the Heat honoring the 20th anniversary of its lowly but lovable 1988-89 expansion team ended with the current squad matching the original one in futility. At least the most painful season in franchise history concluded on a high note -- with a 113-99 victory against the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks on Fan Appreciation Night at AmericanAirlines Arena."

"The Hawks aren't exactly steaming into the playoffs, having lost their last three regular-season games — Wednesday's finale was an ugly 113-99 defeat at the hands of a Miami team devoid of any of its marquee names other than Ricky Davis... And crazy as it sounds, Hawks coach Mike Woodson had his starters on the floor with just under three minutes to play, a half-hearted attempt to salvage a game in which they trailed by as many as 16 points."

"Heat coach Pat Riley again declined Wednesday to discuss whether he would remain in the position next season. Riley said he would meet with owner Micky Arison, likely early next week, and then make an announcement. "I don't think I want to go there right now," Riley said. "I really want to do what's in the best interest of the Heat.""

"Even with free agents Ricky Davis and Jason Williams coming off the books, the Heat will be operating above the anticipated $58 million 2008-09 salary cap, unless forward Shawn Marion opts out of his $17.8 million for 2008-09, which is not expected."

""This," Pat Riley said, "has been such a run-on sentence." He was talking about the non-stop losing, injuries and drama that have added up to his worst season on the bench. But he might as well have been talking about the conjecture regarding his coaching future. Even as the Heat closed out the most disappointing season in the franchise's 20 years, Riley declined to comment on whether he was leaning toward retirement or again guiding the team next season. "

"The question, amazingly, came more often than the losses did down the home stretch of this tormenting Heat season. Everyone wants to know, again, if Pat Riley is coming back, again, to coach a rebuilding Heat team, again. And they want to know if his feelings today are any different than the previous day, or if there are any hints as to where his 63-year-old mind is leaning."

"Will he or won't he? The annual offseason question looms of whether Pat Riley will return to coach the Miami Heat next season. Riley, at left, said Wednesday he could decide his coaching future as early as this weekend. Riley said he would meet with owner Micky Arison once Arison returns from the NBA Board of Governors meetings in New York on Thursday and Friday. Tired of being asked, Riley said before the season finale Wednesday against Atlanta: ``Just let me meet with [Micky]."

" Dwyane Wade's injury problems aren't just a concern for the Miami Heat. In Wade's hometown on Tuesday, a USA Basketball official said he is eager to find out how well Wade is recovering from a knee injury during the countdown to this summer's Beijing Olympics."

"Speaking about his future for the first time, Marion confirmed our earlier report that he ''definitely'' would like a contract extension and will have agent Dan Fegan ask the Heat for one this summer -- even though Miami's seemingly in no position to do that because it wants big salary-cap space in 2009... The Heat might not get a chance in '09 to lure Elton Brand, who hasn't decided whether to opt out this summer instead. "

"The only certainty next season is that Dwyane Wade will return and the Heat will have one of the top four picks in the draft. Players like Marion (should he decide not to opt out of the final year of his contract), Udonis Haslem and Dorell Wright, and even the draft pick, could be traded. Ricky Davis and Jason Williams are free agents and Alonzo Mourning has not decided if he will retire."

"Unless Marion opts out of the $17.8 million he is due next season, the Heat again will be operating above the salary cap in 2008-09. Further, by signing a player to a multiyear mid-level contract, it could severely limit the Heat's future flexibility should Marion depart in the 2009 offseason."

"Ron Culp's 3,001st game will be his last. The only head trainer the Heat has known in its 20-year history is retiring"

"Miami Heat coach Pat Riley tried to offer encouragement in the postgame locker room, first stopping guard Chris Quinn and then pulling aside forward Ricky Davis. Perhaps the best -- and only -- consolation for the Heat is knowing there is one game left. After Monday's 91-75 loss to the Raptors at Air Canada Centre, the only thing remaining for the Heat is the season finale Wednesday against the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks at AmericanAirlines Arena."

"A 91-75 win over the Miami Heat and Cleveland's dramatic last-second win over the Philadelphia 76ers assured the Raptors of a first-round playoff matchup with the Orlando Magic starting Sunday night in Florida, giving Toronto a few days of rest and time to prepare for its second post-season appearance in as many years."

" Toronto's Magic moment arrived when Devin Brown buried two clutch free throws to cap a controversial ending in Philadelphia. And so begins the Raptors' playoff run, which became official last night moments after Toronto picked up its game in the second half to beat the visiting Miami Heat 91-75. "