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The crew that failed in the postseason is gone. Now comes a younger team that might not even make it that far

By Chris Ballard

Thanks to veggie shakes and cleaner living, Mourning says he feels great -- but has his game fully recovered?  David E. Klutho Enemy Lines An opposing team's scout sizes up the Heat "This team wins a majority of its games because of Pat Riley , because it prepares as thoroughly for the regular season as it does for the playoffs. Then in the playoffs, when other coaches with better talent are able to prepare as carefully as he does, the truth about his team comes out. ... Miami's talent is not good enough to contend, even if Alonzo Mourning comes back. You wish every player had Mourning's drive and work ethic, but he needs to work more on basketball and less on conditioning. I think he was a more skilled player when he was at Charlotte. Now he just tries to overpower you. ... Brian Grant and Eddie Jones are costing Miami $172 million, and you can't even say they're the best in the East at their positions. They're good, solid players. Grant turned out to have more skill and a better 15-foot jumper than people thought, but I think Jones was a disappointment for Miami. He's a little soft, and he doesn't fit into Riley's approach. ... The Heat had trouble scoring last year -- Miami was 24th in field goal percentage, 27th in points -- and it's only going to get worse without Tim Hardaway and Anthony Mason. ... Ricky Davis is an athletic guy who could help, but you have to wonder if Riley is going to give him the freedom to improvise, to make mistakes and learn from them. ... I don't mean to sound so negative. I've got a lot of respect for Riley, and I would never bet on him missing the playoffs. But the truth is out after the whipping Miami took from Charlotte. In the end the Heat is going to disappoint."

Every day this summer the quart bottle would be there, waiting in Heat center Alonzo Mourning's refrigerator when he returned home from his workouts. Reddish-brown and milk-shake-thick, the goo consisted of ground-up carrots, celery, beets and parsley, blended with a dash of apple to "get rid of the twang," as Mourning puts it. At first he would pinch his nose and chug the juice like some 6'10", 261-pound second-grader trying to gulp down his cough medicine, but now Mourning takes his time. "Don't get me wrong -- it's not a delicacy, it's an acquired taste," he says. "But it's great; it flushes your system out, flushes right through your kidney."

'Zo's daily veggie cocktail -- call it Z8 -- is part of his new hyperhealthy lifestyle, one designed to minimize the effects of focal glomerulosclerosis, the chronic kidney ailment that sidelined him for all but 13 games last season. Gone are the beers, cigars and pizza deliveries, replaced by low-fat, low-sodium meals prepared by his personal chef and nutritionist. These days, a late night means staying up for the 11 p.m. SportsCenter. "My whole life has changed because of this," says the 31-year-old Mourning, "but it's changed for the better because I feel so much better. I want to get back to the same level I was at two years ago, and I remain confident that I can."

His optimism is echoed by the Heat's players and coaches, who marvel at how he's asserting himself defensively and predict that 'Zo will approach his All-Star form this season. But listen carefully, and it's not hard to hear quiet desperation in their voices. After a first-round playoff sweep by the Hornets and the most complete off-season overhaul in team history, Miami needs Mourning to return at full strength to have any hope of contending in the East.

With the departures of Tim Hardaway, Anthony Mason, Bruce Bowen and Dan Majerle, the Heat will rely on players like fourth-year forward Ricky Davis and second-year gunner Eddie House. "I've gone seven years here with veterans and big-money players, and we won a lot of games during the regular season, but something happened [during the playoffs]," says coach Pat Riley. "Why not go with youth and athleticism?"

Leading Riley's youthquake will be inconsistent third-year guard Anthony Carter, whose career highlight remains a crazy over-the-backboard shot he hit against the Knicks in the 2000 playoffs. Despite a three-game series against Charlotte in which he totaled 18 points, 11 assists and 10 turnovers, Miami signed Carter to a three-year, $12 million contract in July. Over the summer he arrived at the AmericanAirlines Arena practice floor at 7:30 a.m., two hours before his teammates, and hoisted 600 to 800 shots in hopes of honing his suspect jumper. Carter has much more hard work ahead if he hopes to replace Hardaway. "Tim was our floor general, a coach on the floor," says Mourning, mournfully. "And, to be candid with you, Tim had the balls, man. Each and every time he'd come up and take the big shot, regardless of how he was shooting that night. All that stuff took time to develop, and now we have to start a new process with AC."

To ease Carter's transition, the Heat signed 35-year-old point guard Rod Strickland to a one-year, $1 million deal on Monday. Riley will also use free-agent acquisition Kendall Gill as a point forward and run plays through shooting guard Eddie Jones, who looks healthy after returning from off-season surgery on his left shoulder. Up front, if Mourning can stay in the lineup -- and it looks as if he will be able to play about 25 minutes a night throughout the season -- power forward Brian Grant should be able to return to his natural position. Another free-agent pickup, LaPhonso Ellis, will swing between the three and four because, as he puts it, "God has equipped me with the ability to stroke it from the outside as well as be able to go inside."

Divine intervention and parsley-flavored shakes aside, the Heat is not equipped to do more than sneak into the playoffs.

Issue date: October 29, 2001

Click here to look back at CNNSI.com's preseason Heat preview.