HEAT Insider: Pat Riley Press Conference

On Monday, HEAT President and Head Coach Pat Riley kicked off Miami HEAT Media Day with an in depth press conference about the upcoming season. HEAT Insider was there to bring HEAT fans the behind-the-scenes experience.

Heading into training camp, what would you consider the most pressing issue?

“We’re not going to give them their playbook until next week. That should tell you tell you something about the first week – it’s not about the X’s and O’s. It’s really about establishing, from day one, the energy and effort that we need to concentrate on the things we do, all the details. We think we’ve developed a program this week that will get us in better shape, get us ready mentally.”

What are you doing for a number three scorer?

“We have enough guys who I feel can score. We have two of the best players in the league with Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, and we have a lot of players who I feel if they’re healthy, can fill in. Jason Williams, Udonis (Haslem); we have enough. We have enough energetic young guys who I like, I believe in and who I feel good about giving them a chance. Dorell (Wright) had a great September, but we will see.”

This year there are a lot of spots that have yet to be solidified. Is that a good thing heading into training camp – to have guys motivated to compete for those open spots?

“Last year we brought back a championship team. I thought they deserved a try at repeating. We came back with an indifference. Was that born 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.”

Have you seen any other signs that the players are taking a different approach heading into this season?

“I can feel it especially with our nine young guys who are hungry. I always tell this story. I’m going to bore you again with this story: Udonis Haslem, when he came to our first free-agent camp, he was a know-nothing, no name, no reputation guy who had been to Europe, came back and came to our first free agent camp. From the first day that I started him in the preseason, he had never been out of the starting lineup. 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 today, ‘Don’t worry about the name of the back of the jersey who you’re competing against.”

What are you expecting from Antoine Walker?

“The same thing that we always expect from him. He’s versatile, but he needs to get off to a better start (this season). He wasn’t the only one. Pretty much all of our perimeter players got off to a bad start (last season). He needs to be, right out of the gate, solid. At 6-9, we all know what he can do when he’s on, and we all know what he can do when he’s not.”

When Dwyane Wade gets healthy, what is going to be his number one priority?

“Dwyane’s been working (a lot at night). He comes in (with his trainer) three hours every night. He’s cleared to do just about everything but have physical contact. He’ll do a lot of drill work. We hope that doesn’t exacerbate any of his injuries. 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.”

What should you expect from Shaquille O’Neal this season?

“I think you have to be realistic about it. He’s now going into his fourth year with us. I think at 36-years old, this summer, he has done everything he could in just about every aspect of training to make sure he was right. He’s in real good condition. He has more flexibility than I think he has ever had. I think that’s one thing we had concern about, that once you get older you lose flexibility. He killed his conditioning test. Matter of fact, he did more than what he was supposed to do. I feel good about that part. We just have to wait and see about performance. I expect him to play at least the way that he did last year. I think he’s still capable of that.”

With Dwyane Wade out, can Shaquille O’Neal still carry a team?

“We’ll see. He did last year for a while. As a matter of fact, we got off to a real good run right after Dwyane got hurt. We sort of secured certain things, although we didn’t get what we wanted to, obviously, with the home court advantage, but he played very well during that time.”

Can you talk about Anfernee Hardaway?

“He can play. He’s lost a lot of weight. He really wants it, truly. He really does. If you’re ever around him, he’s very serious about this. This is not just a comeback attempt to collect a paycheck or to hang out; he really wants to play. He loves the game. He’s done everything he needed to do to get back. He’s lost 25 or 30 pounds from what I saw last summer. But he can just play. I watched him make plays that he used to make. He’s not the athletic, young Penny I remember when he scorched us for 42 and 41 in the playoffs when we played against Orlando, but he can play.”

Can you talk about Dorell and his role this year?

“Dorell is in great condition. He had a great summer from that standpoint. He’s long. He’s athletic. He’s been shooting the ball well, but he does a lot of everything. He’ll blocks shots and he’ll get 15 rebounds. You don’t have to run plays for him. He’s the kind of guy who can score points in transition. He’s a great cutter. He got a chance to play a couple of weeks last year during an injury crisis that we had, and he played pretty well. He has an opportunity and this is his opportunity. I think he can really help us. It’s time for him to blossom.”

You have mentioned the conditioning of the players. Does that imply that you’re trying to open up the offense this season?

“We definitely need to get easy ones, but you’ve got to run in order to do that. We’ve tweaked our transition offense a little bit on makes to try to open it up a little more. You’re either going to run hard to get lay ups or you’re going to walk it and post up. I don’t want any in between. We do have guys who can run. These young guys can run. Jason Williams can push it. Brian (Chase) can really go. He’s a combination of Spud Webb, Mugsy Bouges and Earl Boykins.”

Have you found your “specialist” on the team?

“I would definitely love to have Jason Kapono back. He’s not a specialist, he’s a real good player. And Pose (James Posey), but we couldn’t afford it. That’s the way it was. I never considered them being a specialist; I talked to them about their special gifts. I have too much respect for both of those guys and Eddie (Jones). All of them did have a specific role. They wouldn’t have been role players unless they can do a lot of other things too.”

Do you feel you have more interchangeable parts this season?

“I think so. I think the versatility is there with Smush (Parker). He broke in in Cleveland and got a great opportunity in LA. I said to him, “There’s another level you can go to.” He’s long. He has a great stroke. Playing in the triangle offense, I don’t know how that equates to being a spot up three-point shooter. It could be different. Players who weren’t high percentage three-point shooters all of a sudden shoot a few percentage points higher around Shaquille and Dwyane. We have a number of guys who can do that.”