MIAMI - It's all so different now for the Miami Heat. A franchise that won three NBA championships with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the last decade is now starting over in many respects.
James is gone and a champion again in Cleveland. Wade now plays for Chicago. Bosh and the Heat are estranged, with no hope of reconciling.
So from the outside, it would seem like a daunting challenge awaits Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Not so, according to Spoelstra's boss.
''This is not his greatest challenge,'' Heat President Pat Riley said. ''This is far and away from his greatest challenge. His greatest challenge was four years of the Big Three. ... This is a challenge for him, but it's one that I know he's excited about. He can go to the drawing board, start moving pieces around, cultivate his own philosophy with this team.''
Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson are the young core now for Miami, with Goran Dragic running the offense and veterans like Dion Waiters, Wayne Ellington and Derrick Williams brought in to help complete a very-new-looking Heat roster. A team that's barely two years removed from the NBA Finals and was a win away from the league's final four last season is entering this season with far more questions than answers.
''It's what you sign up for in this business,'' Spoelstra said. ''Competition is still everything. And this will be great competition.''
Riley said he's energized by this new chapter, albeit one that the Heat weren't exactly clamoring to see arrive. He revealed last month that he's entertained thoughts of stepping down in the last couple years, though is now committing himself to another rebuilding that he believes can soon be classified as a reloading.
''We want to win and we don't know what we really have,'' Riley said. ''But we love Hassan. We love Josh and Justise and Tyler and a lot of the other young players that we have. It's a wait-and-let's-see what happens, and then we'll go from there.''
