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Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Heat: No Zo, no title chances
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Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason / 1999 | Roster
Last year: 52-30, first in Atlantic, 2nd in conference
Coach/GM: Pat Riley/Randy Pfund
Arena, first game: AmericanAirlines Arena (19,600); Jan. 2, 2000
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 448-504/0
Notable: Riley has won 16 division titles in 18 years
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THE TOP EIGHT
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Pos
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Player
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Key Stat
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Skinny
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PG
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Tim Hardaway
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.386 FG
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Can barely walk, but he still fires it up
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SG
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Eddie Jones
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2.7 spg
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Best defensive two in the East can score
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SF
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Anthony Mason
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8.5 rpg
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Might play 40-plus minutes a game
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PF
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Brian Grant
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5.5 rpg
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Here's his chance for 15 and 10 nightly
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C
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Duane Causwell
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25 games
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Well, he's no Zo, but he is 7-feet tall
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6th
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Anthony Carter
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4.8 apg
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Will be counted on heavily to distribute
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7th
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Dan Majerle
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7.3 ppg
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Still a key man with his range, defense
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8th
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Todd Fuller
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2.7 rpg
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On fourth team in four years for a reason
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The loss of Alonzo Mourning is huge. It's going to be a struggle for the Heat to replace a player and leader of Mourning's caliber. But Pat Riley is an innovative coach who gets everybody to play well. A player like Todd Fuller, who has never met expectations, could have a great season. In one preseason game I saw, Fuller played quite well. They need a big year from Fuller, Duane Causwell, Brian Grant and Anthony Mason to compensate for Mourning's absence if the Heat wants to contend in the East.
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By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com
The Good
They've finally blown up that old team that just couldn't get
it done in the playoffs. It might have been a great regular-season club
and winners of a bunch of Atlantic Division titles. But it just proved
too short on talent when the postseason started. Before the Alonzo Mourning announcement, the rebuilt version
had a chance to be better for this season -- and when the real season starts in May. On paper,
the additions of Eddie Jones, Brian Grant and Anthony Mason look like a
huge upgrade over Jamal Mashburn, P.J. Brown and Voshon Lenard. The Heat
have always featured defense under Pat Riley. With their new players,
they had -- and still have -- a chance to again be a top-five defensive team, if not be even
better. Jones is a premier perrimeter defender and a big upgrade from
aging Dan Majerle and Lenard, while Mason can guard bigger players in
the post. Grant is a high-energy type who will dive for loose balls and
is destined to be a hit with the fans. But, alas, without Mourning, who will miss the season with a kidney ailment, the good is very much tempered.
The Bad
It's already happened. The worst-case scenario was if Mourning couldn't play. Now, all bets are off for this team. They don't
have another franchise talent up front who can defend, score in the
post, draw double-teams, etc. And those players just don't grow on
trees. Mourning's their star and if he's not on the court, Riley is
powerless to do anything. Jones has always been a better fullcourt
player at the offensive end than when he has to play in a 47-foot
walk-it-up game. With all those big guys stationed down low -- Mourning,
Mason and Grant -- the question would have been how Jones would be able to get to the
basket without driving smack into taller defenders. In Charlotte, he
always struggled when Derrick Coleman, Elden Campbell and Mason were
clogging up the interior. The Heat doesn't have a long-range shooting
threat who can stretch the defense and give Jones some alleys to the
goal. The bench -- never a big deal for Riley, but still important -- is
non-existent. Tim Hardaway was re-signed, only because the Heat had no
one who could step in and handle the point guard duties. Hardaway's got
a bone-on-bone situation in one of his knees, so he'll be doing a lot of
limping once again. Mason heads into the walk year of his contract, so
he should be a perfect citizen. But look for him and Riley to bump heads
on occasion, as happened in New York.
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THE BIG QUESTION |
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Pretty simple at this point: Can the Heat overcome the loss of one of the most dominating players in the league? Can Grant step up his game and make up for the rebounding? What about Fuller? Is this when he finally makes a difference?
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Whose team is this?
Need you ask. It's Riley's and will always be his team
until he goes permanently into the front office. According to Jeff Van
Gundy, Riley's former aide, there are only two unfireable coaches in the
NBA today: Phil Jackson and Riley. Although you have to credit Riley
with upgrading his talent when it was necessary to make big changes, you
can argue whether Jones and Grant are worth $93 million
apiece. Grant has been nothing more than a role player for his career,
while some NBA scouts don't believe Jones is the kind of player who can
carry a team.
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| Grant |
How they'll play
Like they always do, even with Duane Causwell and Todd Fuller manning the middle instead of the reigning defensive player of the year. They'll be hell on wheels at the
defensive end, just like last season, when they were ranked No. 2 in
field goal percentage defense (42 percent). They'll still be a walk-it-up team,
running halfcourt sets. But there will be nights when they won't be able
to hit 80 points. The good thing is, on the nights when their shots
aren't falling, to a lesser degree than before, they'll still be able to shut people down with their
defense.
Projection
It all depended on Mourning's health. If he could give them his
usual All-Star caliber season, they could win 57 games and be tops in
the East, maybe even run off with it. They've improved, while Indiana
and New York have taken big steps back, and Orlando didn't have the
size/rebounders to match up with Miami. But without Mourning, they'll be anywhere from fifth to eighth in
the East. Yes, they'll still make the playoffs. One, they're in the
East, where 40 wins will get you a postseason berth. Two, Pat Riley
teams don't do lotteries.
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