Riley puts the heat on his players

MIAMI: There is a renewed determination about the Miami Heat as they begin their pre-season training camp this week, and coach Pat Riley is convinced that last season's disappointments are behind his team.

The Heat were NBA title winners in 2006. But as defending champions last term they failed to even make the playoffs.

"Last year we brought back a championship team. I thought they deserved a try at repeating. We came back with an indifference," Riley told reporters this week.

"Was that borne out of being a world champion? That's what I took from it. Nine of the 18 players we brought back last year didn't meet their conditioning goals.

"This year, just about everyone passed their conditioning test and met their conditioning goals for this camp. There is a different attitude, there is a different approach," he added.

There are also plenty of new faces, even if the Heat lost some big names and were unable to make the top drawer trades they and their fans had been hoping for.

More hunger

James Posey, Jason Kapono, Eddie Jones and Gary Payton have all left the team while Dorell Wright, Jeremy Richardson, Devin Green, Marcus Slaughter and draft pick Daequan Cook are all in training camp.

There is, says Riley, less experience but perhaps more hunger in the nine new faces who have arrived.

"It's those kinds of players that give me hope that one of the nine will make it. I love that in these players; they're hungry, they're talented, they've been beat up a little bit.

"I love the challenge of trying to find one or two of them that can help us. I told them, 'Don't worry about the name of the back of the jersey who you're competing against,'" he said.

Such is Riley's determination that things be different this time around that he even had his side training on court at one minute past midnight on Tuesday - the first minute that it was allowed for the players to be officially in practice.

New faces

But while the new faces are injecting the 62-year-old Riley with enthusiasm and may explain why he opted to agree to be in charge of the team for the next three seasons, it is the established names who will decide how far the Heat can go in reclaiming their crown.

Center Shaquille O'Neal says he is in great shape while Dwyane Wade, who missed the final stages of last season after undergoing knee and shoulder operations, should be back after the opening two weeks of the campaign - with Riley saying he expects more out of him defensively.

"Dwyane is definitely going to have to become more of a leader at the defensive end of the court. I know we rely on him from an offensive standpoint, but we can't use the offensive load as a crutch to not defend the way we need to defend.

"He's a fourth quarter defender, but we need it all the time. He and I have talked about this.

"He can be the most extraordinary defensive player in the league. We need him to do everything. It's just a matter of discipline and focus, but I have to rest him a little bit more.

"If you want your best offensive player to play the other end of the court as well as he plays the offensive end, then I have to be more conscience of his minutes and his load," he says.

With the city of Miami enjoying a grim time in baseball and the NFL, the pressure is on Riley's team to give fans in the Florida city something to get excited about.

Agencies

(China Daily 10/10/2007 page23)