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.
HEAT | DWYANE WADE
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.
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.
FLORIDA SPORTS BUZZ
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...
NBA DRAFT
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.
Pat Riley never did an online chat. Don Shula didn't know from laptops. Could anyone picture Jack McKeon putting down his cigar long enough to text-message?
HEAT
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.
MIAMI HEAT
It has become one of Pat Riley's best stories from his worst season. It starts with Riley looking over the ledge of his Los Angeles hotel-room balcony late one January night in the middle of a frustrating Miami Heat losing streak. Just when Riley is at his most depressed moment, he hears his wife's voice in the suite.
BASKETBALL
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.
Erik Spoelstra, who started with the Heat as a video coordinator 13 years ago, will succeed Pat Riley as head coach. 'He's a loyalist,' Riley said.
SAN ANTONIO -- He's a somewhat reserved kid from the South Side of Chicago, insulated from the threats of the streets by a family life that means the world to him.
OssaTron treatment? At least the phrase isn't as ominous as the more generic description: Shock wave therapy. That sounds like something related to a lobotomy, or a page from the Michael Vick School of Canine Discipline.
IN MY OPINION
Dolphins, Heat, Marlins and Panthers have played a combined 91 seasons, and here is where the current basketball record and the recent football record rank on the all-time list of our big-four pro sports: 90th and 91st.
