MIAMI—

This was about renewal, considering the last time the Miami Heat appeared on this court they exited Game 6 of the NBA Finals vanquished by the Dallas Mavericks.

That was on June 12. In front of more Mavericks fans than anyone could have anticipated.

Thursday, it was purely red, white and black for the team’s annual training-camp scrimmage.

“It’s been too long,” coach Erik Spoelstra said at midcourt before it started. “We are so glad to be back.”

Also back was the enthusiasm carried through most of 2010-11 and the playoffs.

“We’re going to have a heck of a time here in this arena this season,” Spoelstra said.

They did on Thursday night, with LeBron James running the break with Dwyane Wade, with Chris Bosh shooting 3-pointers, and with first-round pick Norris Cole playing with a pep that few recent Heat point guards have had in their step in recent seasons.

It was an impressive debut for Cole, who hardly seemed overwhelmed by playing alongside and against the Heat’s Big Three, with the scrimmage’s rosters changed each quarter.

“You can see how he changes the pace as soon as he’s in there,” Spoelstra said of Cole. “The pace was pretty good. Guys are going to have to get used to playing a little bit faster.”

Cole, who closed 7 of 17 for 21 points with four assists, relished the moment.

“I haven’t been overwhelmed so far,” he said. “Obviously there’s a lot more to go.”

The next step comes Sunday, in the Heat’s lone home exhibition of a two-game preseason, a 6 p.m. game against the Orlando Magic.

Despite the scrimmage only being open to season-ticket holders, the lower bowl was nearly full by the midpoint of the second quarter, a crowd estimated at 9,000.

While this hardly was the complete Heat, with Shane Battier, Mike Miller, Eddie House and Eddy Curry sidelined by injuries, with Battier listed with strained left quad, it offered a particular encouraging start for Cole, the speedy selection out of Cleveland State, who played with the maturity and confidence of a four-year collegian.

“Norris has been great since we got him,” said assistant coach David Fizdale, who coached one of Thursday’s two teams. “He’s really astute. He’s very mature.”

Cole not only played at pace, but was smart with his decisions and displayed the NBA 3-point range that Heat hoped he could develop. He even received “No-no” nickname calls after his assists and a “coming out party” tweet from Heat owner Micky Arison.

“Norris can play,” Bosh said. “I think he’s really going to help this team.”

Cole’s performance makes Sunday’s matchup against Orlando’s Jameer Nelson all the more intriguing.

“It’s been very competitive all week,” Spoelstra said. “Neither one of them are giving up any ground.

MIAMI—

Three days after opening training camp, the Miami Heat held their annual media day Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena, with coach Erik Spoelstra and team stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh cast in featured roles.

The media crowd was decidedly smaller than what James, Wade and Bosh attracted for last year’s media day at the University of Miami.

“Already this looks different than last year,” Spoelstra quipped during his interview session. “I remember the media session was four times what it is right now.”

The Heat’s exhibition opener is Sunday at home against the Orlando Magic. The regular season opens Dec. 25 on the road against the Dallas Mavericks.

What was said by Spoelstra, Wade, James and Bosh:

– Wade doesn’t see it as a make-or-break season for keeping the Big Three together, “no concern about that.” But, “If we don’t win a championship, yes, it’s a bust year. Last year was a bust year.”

– By contrast, Spoelstra bristled at the notion of losing the NBA Finals to the Dallas Mavericks as an epic failure. “We don’t view it that way,” he said. “That’s part of this journey. We have another shot at it this year. And that’s what we’re committed to, is giving ourselves another shot there, at the end.”

– Bosh agreed, “We still got two wins away from accomplishing our ultimate goal.”

– Yes, Bosh said, there is confidence. “I think we’re the best team in the league,” he said, “and we’re going to work like it.”

– Bosh, on either win title or total failure, “I think that’s pretty obvious. It was like that for us last year. There’s not else left for us to do but win it all.”

– Spoelstra, on the travails of last season, “We went through enough of that last season. Last year felt at times like it was two or three seasons in one with our group, with the amount we experienced.”

– Wade, on trying to quiet naysayers last season, “that probably wasn’t the right intentions for this team.”

– Wade downplayed James’ struggles in the Finals, “We lost the Finals together.”

– James on a new season, “You never really can often get over losing the Finals, but I think you have to move on because there’s a season now.”

– James continues his upbeat perspective, “It’s a different feeling coming into this year, honestly, for me, personally. I’m more alive, more being back to myself. . . . I’m at a good place right now. Not much bothers me anymore.”

– Bosh said there is a higher degree of comfort the second time around. “We caught ourselves in a lot of situations last season where we were really trying to figure things out,” he said.

– Lockout? What lockout? James said he’s just glad to have any schedule, “I don’t care if we had 66 games in 66 days. I’m so happy to be back.”

– James, on Spoelstra, “Our relationship will continue to grow. It’s much better today than it was the first day of practice last year.”

– Spoelstra declined to discuss the possibility of adding a veteran point guard, with Chauncey Billups possibly to come free. “At the same time, I know the personality of my boss,” he said of Pat Riley. “He is always pushing. Pat’s proven he’ll pull the trigger.”

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.

Instead, he spent the day at middle school, trying to glean something positive from just another day in the ongoing NBA lockout. The Heat coach shadowed a principal and sat in on classes, part of a daylong series of events the team put together at a school about 15 miles from the arena where Spoelstra should have been working.

“I miss it. We all miss it,” Spoelstra said. “But it’s fun to be out here and see all the kids excited about this program that we feel so strongly about.”

NBA teams have tried plenty of community outreach events during the lockout in an effort to stay connected with at least some segment of the fan base, and the Heat have other initiatives planned as well, assuming the lockout drags on for a while longer. Thursday was the 126th day of the lockout, and the NBA has already canceled all games through the end of November.

Whenever it ends, Spoelstra will likely be ready to get to work fast. He and his staff took some vacation time after Miami’s loss to Dallas in the NBA finals, but since August the group has been studying film of both the Heat and other clubs, along with getting on the road to see how a handful of coaches — some at the college level, sometimes even from other sports — organize their various programs.

“We’ve had a lot of time to do that this summer,” Spoelstra said. “Try to get better and stay active, keep engaged and do what we can to not only improve as coaches — you don’t get this opportunity very often to study other philosophies — but also find ways to improve on what we did last year.”

Heat assistant coaches and staff spent time on the school’s outdoor courts Thursday running kids through drills. Inside, students got a chance to record radio and TV interviews and read off teleprompters, write articles and press releases, get conditioning tips from the team trainers, maintain a website, paint a mural on the school wall, even study moves the team’s dancers use during routines.

“Kids start to think about cool jobs and initially you of the cool job being the star player in the commercial, a visible job,” Spoelstra said. “But really, there’s so many opportunities that are cool to young students and some of the things they learned today about social media, about music, about (public relations) … some of them will probably be standing there like you guys, holding a camera or asking questions.”

The Heat sent their broadcasters, some executives, in-game staff and other employees to the school to talk to kids about various careers in sports. Players were noticeably absent, of course. Because of the lockout, the Heat cannot have any unapproved communication or interaction with players, or even speak about them publicly.

So when asked about a comment Dwyane Wade made this week on the SiriusXM radio show hosted by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, where the 2006 NBA finals MVP revealed that he believed the Heat failed to win the 2011 title because they were playing to spite their naysayers, Spoelstra could not respond in any way.

Asked a different way, without mention of Wade, Spoelstra could answer.

“We got better every single month and not every team can say that,” Spoelstra said. “We came together with nine new players with a big goal, but we also wanted to make sure that we’re progressing and working to get better. I think that’ll help us this season, the fact that we spent almost nine months together on that journey and the journey didn’t end. It’s just beginning.”

He also delivered a simple message to fans anxious for the lockout to end.

“Be patient. We’re close,” Spoelstra said. “We all miss it, but we’ll all be back at this soon. And our fans mean the world to us. That’s why we’re trying to get out in the community as much as possible, to connect. It’s not the same as playing, but our fans are our lifeline. They fuel us, the players and the staff. We’ll be back at it.”

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Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MANILA, Philippines – Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was delighted when he was informed of the record breaking television ratings for the 2011 NBA Finals, which aired on ABS-CBN.

The Finals saw Spoelstra’s Heat lose in 6 games to the Dallas Mavericks.

Despite their loss, Spoelstra was thankful for the support of the Filipinos.

“It’s not a secret that there are some people in America that are rooting against us,” he said. “So with other people rooting for us, our guys really responded to that.”

“I let them know a couple of times during the year that we had a lot of fans that might not be coming from the US, but outside Florida and in places you might not expect,” Spoelstra added.

“To all the fans in the Philippines who are following and supporting the Miami Heat, we truly appreciate it,” he said.

He also assured all the Heat fans that the team is ready to bounce back from their setback in the Finals.

“We will be back tougher and stronger next year,” he promised.

“We need your support, considering we don’t have a lot fans in the States,” Spoelstra added. “But they all know how popular they are here, and we can’t thank you enough.” – Report from TJ Manotoc, ABS-CBN News