Dwight Howard is divorcing Orlando.

Chris Paul is contemplating litigation to get out of New Orleans.

The defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks have been forced to make major changes to their starting lineup.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ initial attempt at a free-agency overhaul was thwarted by NBA commissioner David Stern.

All around the league, rosters are in flux, new faces are being introduced and new chemistry is being established with less than two weeks before the start of the season. The NBA’s lockout and truncated preseason, which coincides with a shortened period for free agency, has turned the league into a tempest of discord. While chaos swirls elsewhere, all is calm on the shores of Miami.

“Give it time,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said on Sunday. “I’m sure there will be something right around the corner.”

Spoelstra’s wry comment came as an answer to a question about the Heat’s relative calm amid the dizzying swap meet taking place throughout the league before the season begins.

Perhaps superstition prompted the Heat’s young coach to sidestep the question. Why jinx it?

Unless something drastic upsets the Heat’s training camp, the team and its ultra-talented roster will coast to Christmas Day while other teams arrive there in fits and starts.

“Time is of the essence and we do have the core of our guys back and it helps,” Spoelstra said.

House in order

The Heat endured its growing pains last season, which now, in hindsight, is playing out like a bit of managerial genius.

The Heat’s house is in order while other major contenders have been dealt a house of cards by the lockout.

Consider: With only two weeks to prepare for a hectic, 66-game season, the Heat’s biggest free-agent move was bringing in a player (Shane Battier) considered one of the league’s most valued “glue guys.”

“We’re going to go much quicker in camp,” Spoelstra said. “A little bit less teaching of some of the minutiae that we had to do last year because we had so many new players.”

Unprecedented for training camps of the past, the Heat held a five-on-five scrimmage on its first full day of practice. Meanwhile, several coaches around the league still don’t know exactly who will be on their rosters when the season begins Dec. 25. Under the circumstances, a veteran team returning mostly intact is priceless.

Instead of wasting valuable time teaching Chris Bosh the Heat’s sophisticated defense, Bosh arrived to training camp bulked up and ready to play center in a pinch.

Team chemistry

Instead of waiting for the on-court chemistry to click between LeBron James and Udonis Haslem, the two already have learned each others’ tendencies.

“OK, so we’ve had almost six months off, but that experience is invaluable and oftentimes experience is what it is — it takes time to fast track it and we went through a lot of those growing pains last year and really made tremendous strides,” Spoelstra said. “We’re hoping that we what learned we’ll be able to recognize much quicker here and I anticipate that.”

On Saturday, Spoelstra reviewed “big-picture” concepts that the Heat used during the NBA Finals.

On Sunday, the Heat held two practices — a light session in the morning and a more strenuous workout in the afternoon.

Big advantage

Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks, the Heat’s opponent on Christmas Day, are waiting for disgruntled ex-Laker Lamar Odom to report to camp while offensive sparkplug J.J. Barea is likely headed out of town.

Advantage, Heat.

Now that the players and owners have agreed in principle to a new labor deal, we can finally look at the Miami Heat’s roster and salaries for 2011-12 and figure out what the Heat can do to improve, given the new CBA.

Miami Heat salaries according to Hoopshype.com:

* LeBron James(notes) – $16,022,500

* Chris Bosh(notes) – $16,022,500

* Dwyane Wade(notes) – $15,512,000

* Mike Miller(notes) – $5,400,000

* Udonis Haslem(notes) – $3,780,000

* Joel Anthony(notes) – $3,600,000

* Eddie House(notes) – $1,399,507

* Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) – $1,399,507

* Mario Chalmers(notes) – $1,091,100*

* Dexter Pittman(notes) – $788,872

* Patrick Beverley(notes) – $788,872

* Da’Sean Butler(notes) – $300,000

* Kenny Hasbrouch – $300,000

Analysis

If you add these salaries up, the Miami Heat have a combined team payroll of $65,313,758. This does not take into account that Zydrunas Ilgauskas has retired, rookie draft pick Norris Cole(notes) has not yet been signed and Mario Chalmers is a restricted free agent who will likely command a larger salary in 2012.

Still, Brian Windhorst reports that due to a few system-related concessions the owners made last night, the Heat will be able to sign Norris Cole, Mario Chalmers and still have access to a full midlevel exception of $5 million per year. According to Windhorst, teams over the salary cap, but less than $4 million over the luxury tax line—expected to be around $71 million—can use the full MLE. Effectively, the Los Angeles Lakers—$90+ million payroll—will no longer have access.

The Miami Heat are expected to target coveted, veteran center Samuel Dalembert(notes) with their salary cap exception.

More from the Yahoo! Contributor Network:

Ten Free Agents the Miami Heat Could Use in 2011-12

Miami Heat Point Guard Prospects: Iverson? Nash? Baron Davis?

Top 5 Reasons Dwight Howard will join the Los Angeles Lakers next year

LeBron James’ girlfriend blamed for Dallas Mavericks victory in NBA Finals

LeBron James Recruits Steve Nash and Jamal Crawford to the Miami Heat

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MIAMI—Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade says he is ready to compete for the United States in next year’s Olympic Games, ending uncertainty over his involvement in the team’s gold medal defence.

Wade said in July that he was unsure whether he would return with other players from the successful Beijing team and compete in London.

But in an interview with Reuters, Wade said he was in talks over his involvement but would say yes if he was asked to be part of the squad.

“I have had talks and obviously the talks will go further as this year goes on but I’ve told them that if they want me, I am there,” he said.

Wade’s Miami Heat team mate LeBron James has also said he will play in London while reports have suggested the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant is also ready to feature.

Wade, a seven-time NBA All-Star, will be 30 next year and one of the older players on the likely U.S. roster but he said that did not worry him.

“Just one more hurrah from me. London would be a great experience and would be a great ending of my Olympic career,” he added.

The 2008 U.S. team featured Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul as well as two players who later became Wade’s Miami teammates—Chris Bosh and James.

Team persuasion

Wade, who also played on the bronze medal winning team in 2004, said some of his Olympic team mates had persuaded him to come back for another shot at gold.

“I enjoyed Beijing, I actually thought when I was on the gold medal stand that this was it, this is the best way to go out, I thought I was going out on top.

“Some of my team mates from the previous team convinced me that we have got to come back and try to do it again, so a lot of guys want to really come back and do it again,” he said.

Wade top-scored with 27 points as the U.S. defeated Spain 118-107 in the 2008 final, earning the team the nickname of ‘The Redeem Team’ after their disappointing bronze four years earlier.

While Chicago-born Wade cannot wait for the current NBA lockout to end and allow him back on court, he said there was something unique about the Olympics.

“It’s a special thing—because everyone puts their pride and their egos aside and comes together for one common goal,” he added. “It was special (in Beijing) and hopefully we can do it again.”

Wade spoke to Reuters at the launch of his new ‘Hublot King Power Dwyane Wade’ watch. — Reuters

MIAMI—

When it comes to the criticism LeBron James endured in the wake of the Miami Heat’s NBA Finals failure against the Dallas Mavericks, Kobe Bryant has two words:

“Back off.”

Amid reflecting on his own team’s postseason demise against Dallas, the Los Angeles Lakers guard had pointed words during an ESPN interview for those who have pointed a critical finger at the Heat forward.

“I think people need to lay off that kid, that’s what I think,” Bryant said of James. “I’ve gotten to know him pretty well, playing with the Olympic team, and I think they just need to back off him and just let him play and let him live his life and let him make his decisions and let him mature as a player.”

Bryant said he could relate to what James has had to endure in the six weeks since the Heat came up two victories shy of an NBA title in the Heat’s first season with the roster remix of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

“It’s tough to be under the microscope like that all the time,” Bryant said. “So, I would like everybody to just back off of him and just let him play.”

Bryant’s Lakers were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the Mavericks, and he said what forward Dirk Nowitzki, guard Jason Kidd and owner Mark Cuban accomplished should not be minimized.

“I’m happy for Dirk. I’m happy for Jason. I’m happy for Jason and all those guys and Mark, they’re very deserving of it,” Bryant said. “They played with a sense of desperation that we couldn’t catch up to. And when we finally figured out things that we wanted to do against them, they shot the lights out and knocked out us.

“It’s as simple as that. But we’ll be back.”

As was the case for the Heat, the Lakers simply were overwhelmed by Dallas’ 3-point shooting.

“They were unconscious,” Bryant said. “They’re definitely deserving to win.”

iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat

WHEN Erik Spoelstra flew in via Philippine Airlines from Los Angeles—with a one-night stopover in Hong Kong—the Miami Heat coach had quite a few things in mind.

In his third trip back to the Philippines since taking a high-profile coaching job with the Heat, every trip back to his mother’s homeland has had all the makings of a homecoming.

“There are the relatives I rarely see,” he thought. “And a several hundred thousand others who have opened their arms to me.”

“He’s become a symbol of the capabilities of Filipinos all around the world,” noted NBA Asia’s Senior Director of Business Development Ed Winkle of Spoelstra.

And there was NBA Fit, the program that he has committed his life to. “It’s not just a commitment,” he cleared. “It’s a life that you commit to.”

It was a warm thought. But Spoelstra also had to brace himself with a slew of questions about the previous campaign of the Heat that ended in defeat to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.

In perhaps the most high-profile coaching job in the NBA now that Phil Jackson retired from the Los Angeles Lakers, Spoelstra, in Manila for a week for the second year of the NBA Fit program, related that there are a lot of key learnings in the pro league.

“I think it’s just as important that one practices what he preaches. In a stressful and demanding world, you have to make the right decisions in what you eat and drink. It’s so easy and tempting to reach out for junk food but it doesn’t help you. That helps you become mentally and physically sharper and focused to deal with the NBA grind.”

Spoelstra, a fitness buff, joins the Miami Heat workouts, something that assistant David Fizdale recounted during their visit last year, “resonates well with the players. He can back up the talk.”

The third year head coach of the Heat underscored that the previous campaign of the Heat where superstars Chris Bosh and LeBron James joined resident star Dwyane Wade in Miami, was simply the beginning of a journey.

“There are things you learn during the season—how to block out the ‘noise’ from the outside, how to deal with adversity, how to motivate people… and that goes for myself and the coaching staff. Not just the players. But it’s going into a season with a clear goal of what you want. Once everyone commits to that then everything else follows. But the journey isn’t over. It’s just beginning.”

The NBA Fit is the league’s global health and wellness program that encourages physical activity and healthy living for children and families. It is fully endorsed by the Department of Health.

 “We had such a great response to last year’s program,” added Winkle of NBA Fit. “People like the program and it helps that we have an excellent role model in Erik at the forefront of the program.”

NBA Fit will hold a development camp and celebrity challenge at the Araneta Coliseum on August 5, a clinic at the Mall of Asia on August 6 and Fun Run at the Bonifacio Global City on August 7.

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In Photo: Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra is committed to NBA FIT.

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