The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

You’ve seen them on television as they repeated as the National Basketball Association (NBA) champions in June. Now you could get the opportunity to see them in person when the Miami Heat come to town to stage their 2013 training camp at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island.

The Heat made the announcement on their website yesterday. Following Media Day on Monday, September 30, the Heat is scheduled to travel to Paradise Island to conduct two-a-day practice sessions in the Imperial Ballroom at the Atlantis Conference Centre October 1-4.

The Heat is slated to depart for Miami on Friday, October 4 and will begin their pre-season on Monday, October 7 when they host the Atlanta Hawks at American Airlines Arena. Their pre-season will end on Friday, October 25 in Miami. The Heat’s regular season is all set to open on Tuesday, October 29 against the Chicago Bulls in Miami televised on TNT.

While the sessions seem to be closed to the public, the Heat announced that media availability will take place following the first session only, with a viewing time to be updated daily. A media workroom will be set to within the conference centre, in Adonis rooms I-IV.

Coached by Erik Spoelstra, the Heat became the sixth team in NBA history to win consecutive champions, joining the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and the Houston Rockets when they defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the decisive game seven in the American Airlines Arena, in Miami, Florida.

Making up the championship team were Ray Allen, Chris Andersen, Joel Anthony, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Udonis Haslem, Juwan Howard, LeBron James, James Jones, Rashad Lewis, Mike Miller, Jarvis Varnado and Dwayne Wade.

The Heat’s current roster has been changed slightly with Miller being waived via the NBA’s Amnesty provision. He’s been replaced by seven-foot centre Greg Oden, who last appeared in a game during the 2009-10 season after going down with an injury. They also signed rookie forward Eric Griffin, centre Justin Hamilton and guard Larry Drew II as well as reacquired the service of forward Michael Beasley, who they originally drafted in 2008.

The Heat’s release further stated that they are pleased with the level of commitment that they have gotten from Prime Minister Perry Christie and Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe.

Greg Rolle, the director of sports tourism in Miami, Florida, said this is a big move on the part of the Bahamas government.

“One thing we wanted to do is to have some bold initiatives in promoting the Bahamas and the best way to do that is to go global,” he said. “We couldn’t find a better sports team to attract right now than the Miami Heat. These are the two-time defending NBA champions. They are right next door to us. So we welcome them to the Bahamas.”

And Ed Fields, Atlantis’ vice president of public relations, said the training camp “gives great exposure to our destination and it shows that the process is unlimited.”

“We are happy to to be able to host the two-time defending world champions,” he added. “We’re the host location and so we’re happy to have them. It’s very exciting for us,” said Fields.

He also noted that the Heat’s camp comes just before the resort gets set to host its fourth Battle 4 Atlantis collegiate basketball tournament November 28-30, featuring the University of Kansas, Villanova University, University of Tennessee, University of Southern California, University of Iowa, Xavier University, Wake Forest University and University of Texas at El Paso.