Miami Heat Keep Chris Andersen, Mario Chalmers; Dwyane Wade — National Basketball Association News & Rumors

Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers with head coach Eric Spoelstra. Dwyane has to be our leader. “He’s fully accepted that responsibility”. Wade also gushed about Amar’e Stoudemire’s veteran presence, explaining that he’s loud and wants to be heard, but confirming that it will be good for the Heat. He said every year under managing general partner Micky Arison and team president Pat Riley is about finding a way to contend for a title.

Keith Benson: Pros – Good size at 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, played well during summer league; Cons – Minimal NFA experience, Heat are deep in the front court.

Along with the veterans that have been added, the number 10 overall pick in this year’s draft was Justise Winslow, who somehow fell right into Miami’s lap.

Clearly, Wade knows “how to do it” when it comes to putting on a show. He doesn’t sound bothered. “I haven’t done what really breaks your body down”, Wade said. It was supposed to be the first time that this season’s projected starting five of Bosh, Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and Hassan Whiteside were all on the floor together. “I talked to them at the end of the season”.

The Heat would be wise not to put all of their eggs in the Durant basket. I started out fast and then injuries [came] and we didn’t have the 100-percent help that you need to succeed. “Coming off of last season, it’s a great challenge”. I only have to focus on the team, on basketball and my family. While on paper the team seems talent-laden, there might be an adjustment period that could hurt their chances at success early on.

“But we like what the summer brought us”. Miami will practice at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida eight times between Tuesday and Saturday. Dragic will be the engine of the increased pace in Miami this season, and he will likely spend much of camp trying to get the rest of his team up to speed.

It’s a big part of why you can only take what you hear from teams about their offseason workouts with a grain of salt: the reality is usually far from different from what’s discussed. “He’s in tremendous shape”, Spoelstra said.

Bosh insisted the first Heat practice of training camp carried no extra significance to him, not after his 2014-15 season was cut short by a blood clot that was potentially life- and career-threatening. But his shooting dipped by nearly 7 percent over the previous year, he missed 20 games largely because of hamstring issues and his assist-to-turnover ratio was the lowest it had been since his rookie year.