Team page/schedule | Stats: Preseason | Roster
Last year: 50-32, second in Atlantic, 3rd in conference
Coach/GM: Pat Riley/Randy Pfund
Arena, first game: AmericanAirlines Arena (16,500); Jan. 2, 2000
All-time franchise record/NBA titles: 498-536/0
Notable: Heat's first win last year was Riley's 1,000th

THE ROTATION
Pos	Player	Key Stat	Skinny
PG	Rod Strickland	303 ast	What does this say about Anthony Carter?
SG	Eddie Jones	17.4 ppg	Seems to have hit his potential already
SF	LaPhonso Ellis	82 games	Good player doesn't board, but can score
PF	Brian Grant	718 rebs	Solid 15 and 9 guy fits in great
C	Alonzo Mourning	13 games	Really huffing and puffing in preseason
6th	Anthony Carter	.406 FG	Not a star, which Riley finally recognizes
7th	Kendall Gill	.331 FG	Defensive ballhawk gets lots of steals
8th	Sam Mack	--	3-point bomber and nothing else

		The Heat needs a consistent year from Alonzo Mourning. But in addition, Rod Strickland was a big acquisition. Anthony Carter is hurt with an abdominal strain, so Strickland may start and never yield the position. That keeps Carter as the backup, where he has excelled. With Ricky Davis and Kendall Gill at small forward, and LaPhonso Ellis to go with Brian Grant at big forward, and Eddie Jones in the backcourt, the Heat have enhanced their chances. They may not be in the same class with Orlando, Milwaukee or Toronto, but Miami will be in the playoff mix.

By Peter May
Special to ESPN.com

It was moving time in Miami this summer. Pat Riley got the order from on high to move the payroll downward and, as a result, a lot of players are elsewhere this season.

It was a veritable diaspora. Three starters from last year's team are gonzo. None, as of yet, has brought anything back. A valuable reserve is gonzo, again, without compensation. Tim Hardaway ended up in Dallas and promptly ripped Riley for being a control freak who had brutal practices. (Uh, tell us something we don't already know, Tim.) Bruce Bowen, starter at small forward, took less money to play in San Antonio. Anthony Mason, the Heat's MVP last season and a first-time All-Star, still has yet to find work as a free agent. And Dan the Man Majerle returned to the Land of the 12-Month Tan for a second stint with the Suns.

Now, bear in mind that these departures came after the Heat had been vaporized by the Charlotte Hornets in the playoffs. The No. 6 seed Hornets won three games by an average of 22.3 points and held Miami to an average of a shade more than 78 points a game -- a record. And the Heat have downgraded since then!

Riley got marching orders to lower the payroll to avoid the luxury tax next season. That's like putting a super-charged Porsche on the Long Island Expressway at 5 p.m. on a Friday. The result has been to keep Riley's three big-timers (Alonzo Mourning, Brian Grant, Eddie Jones) and surround them with a supporting cast of grizzled vets and NBDL candidates. Can you win with only three players? The Lakers did it with two. But they're two of the best in the league. None of Riley's top three were even the best player on their own team last season. Who is going to score for this historically offensive-challenged team?

Who's Who
It's one thing to lose some important players. It's another thing to lose them and get nothing back. But that's what has happened so far. Hardaway yielded a trade exception, but the problem there is that anyone coming in has to be paid and the Heat are right at what most perceive to be the Luxury Tax threshold. The exception is good for a year, though. Majerle and Bowen left as free agents. Mason is unwanted, which says a lot about him, about Riley, and about the state of things. The additions of note are Kendall Gill, who fleeced the Nets for $7 million last year and then got hurt, and LaPhonso Ellis, who has a history of injury, but was healthy and played well last year at Minnesota. Anthony Carter is the starting point guard, which scares no one. Rod Strickland is better and might take his job. The rest of the bench, which features three-point marksman Sam Mack, fresh off the scrap heap, might as well be in Asheville.

	FANTASY SLEEPER
	Sam Mack, SF -- The Heat have long produced fantasy sleepers who make their living beyond the three-point arc. Voshon Lenard and Dan Majerle jump to mind. With a starting job in tow, Mack looks like the latest offering. Given 30 minutes a night, Mack will bust 2-3 treys. If specialists don't have a place in the fantasy game, then explain Shawn Bradley? --Brandon Funston

The Big Question
It's an easy one. Everything hinges on the health of Mourning. If he can play and play like he usually does, the Heat may be able to absorb the personnel losses. But that is a huge if because we're going through uncharted waters. If for some reason Mourning can't go, or has to take time off for treatment of his kidney disease, the whole thing could fall apart. Unlike last year, there's no one around to carry the inside load, which is what Mason did so ably last season. Grant and Jones would then be hard-pressed to keep it all together and what's left is pretty unimpressive. You simply can't make such a drastic cut in payroll under such dramatically uncertain conditions.

Best Case Scenario
If Mourning is healthy, competitive and is able to play at an All-Star caliber clip, the Heat will make the playoffs with 43-47 wins. But even with that, and the expected contributions from Grant and Jones, it's hard to see this team any better than third at best. But Riley has never had a losing record as a coach and his teams always make the playoffs. He's not interested in anything less and he remains as good a coach as there is.

Worst Case Scenario
You have Krakatoa potential here. If Mourning is disabled for any protracted period of time, it's all over. There simply isn't enough left to make a convincing case for a playoff team. Jones is also coming off shoulder surgery and who knows how effective he'll be? If the above happens, you can forget all those playoff series and start heading for Secaucus after a 30-35 win season.

OVERRATED	UNDERRATED	TEAM MVP
Anthony Carter. Just what has this guy really proven?	Brian Grant. When healthy, he's a dependable rebounder and scorer.	Eddie Jones. It was Anthony Mason, but now Jones must step up.