MIAMI - On the first day of training camp, Pat Riley said his Miami Heat had, "regained the fire" and, as proof, said the players had committed themselves to the off-season's training program.On the second day, Antoine Walker, Smush Parker and Earl Baron were suspended a day by Riley for not meeting his conditioning standards. At 0-6 in the preseason, small forward Dorell Wright was benched after shooting 10-of-35.

And in the first five games, the Heat plays Detroit, San Antonio and Phoenix, a start Riley calls "nightmarish."And so the question remains whether the Heat's storybook championship season of 2006 would best have stopped there. Who's the small forward? Can Hardaway really be counted on?The aftermath of that championship season was that many players, led by O'Neal, felt they could minimize the regular season. Who, for instance, thinks a 35-year-old O'Neal should be playing maximum minutes this regular season when the playoffs can be a two-month marathon?