--Miami has picks No. 43 and 60, both second-round selections, in the June draft. The Heat traded its first-round pick, No. 18 overall, to Minnesota in a package that included F Antoine Walker to acquire C Mark Blount and G Ricky Davis. That's why there's no draft buzz in South Florida. Team president Pat Riley has kept his options open regarding a possible trade into the first round, but the conventional wisdom is the Heat is more likely to make a splash by adding a veteran rather than a rookie.
--Orlando G Rafer Alston, who had a reputation as a somewhat difficult player, credited the Heat for giving him a fresh start to his career. Alston played on the 2003-04 team along with F Lamar Odom, another player with a reputation for being difficult. That team -- which featured rookie G Dwyane Wade and finished 42-40, losing to Indiana in the second round of the playoffs -- was coached by Stan Van Gundy, Alston's current coach with the Magic. "They played me every night, 30 minutes a night," Alston said. "And it's weird because I remember actually being in Miami and some of us wouldn't make any other team. Where I am now, teams wouldn't mind trading for me in a heartbeat."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Him and I share the same concerns about the young people in this community." -- G Dwyane Wade, speaking of himself and C Alonzo Mourning. Wade is in his second year of joining Mourning in The Summer Groove, the annual week-long charitable event formerly known as Zo's Summer Groove.
