Wade, LeBron, Bosh show teamwork on media day

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The question involved the road schedule for the Miami Heat's traveling circus, and as Dwyane Wade leaned forward to answer, he was barely audible in the big room.

Wade paused. "I think they cut my mike off," he said.

With midseason timing, two microphones simultaneously slid his way - from LeBron James on his left, and from Chris Bosh on his right.

"Thank you," Wade said. "I appreciate you passing the ball."

See? The Heat's new power trio shares just fine.

Though hardly in need of publicity, the threesome assembled for a 20-minute news conference Monday during Heat media day, hours before the team departed to begin training camp Tuesday in the Florida Panhandle.

Considering the scope of the event - 275 credentialed media, more than two dozen TV cameras - the mood was subdued. Unlike, say, Super Bowl media day, there were no VIPs in the audience to rival the celebrity of the players. There were no audacious questions or oddball outfits, either.

For the most part, the Heat merely seemed ready to go to work, even if they'll do it under a microscope.

"This team is not built for us to go below the radar," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That's a good thing. The expectations are there. We won't run away from it."

Some expect the Heat to win every game, thanks to an unprecedented free agent haul that united Wade, James and Bosh. All were among the top five picks in the 2003 draft, and all are All-Stars, but none has been in a situation like this.

"There are so many things being different, even this media day," Bosh said. "Everything is different from what we all have either expected or experienced."

The question about who will take the last shot won't be answered until the season starts Oct. 26 at Boston. As for the question of who was going to take the first question: It was Wade.

Sitting in the middle, flanked by the two Heat newcomers, he served as a moderator of sorts. At one juncture, reporters on opposite sides of the room tried to ask questions at the same time, and Wade interrupted.

"There are two people talking," he said, before nodding toward James. "I know he's confused, because I'm confused, and Chris is, too."

Wade restored order and kept his teammates involved throughout, such as when he defended the much-maligned celebration at the Heat arena after all three signed in July.

"We enjoyed it," Wade said. "And 13,000 fans in the arena enjoyed it. We did it for Miami. We didn't do it for anyone outside of that. I think it was fine."

He turned to James, then Bosh.

"Did y'all like it?"

They nodded.

"Good times," Wade said.

Bosh listened closely when his teammates talked and smiled easily, while James mostly stared ahead with a solemn expression, looking like he was ready to go on a 45-point binge at any minute. The reigning two-time NBA MVP tapped his fingers on the table, scratched his collarbone, stroked his mustache and laughed only once - when Wade teased him about leaving Bosh off his list of good ball-handlers.

James was more relaxed once off the podium and in a smaller room, facing only a handful of reporters and photographers. He and Wade said they'll continue such pregame rituals as baby-powder-rubbing, and Bosh joked he'll need to come up with a similar routine to complement James.

"I'll make something up," Bosh said. "I'll watch his chalk-throwing and getting the crowd ready, and I'll go to some other corner."

Soon the Heat were boarding a flight to the Panhandle, with the cameras and notepads in pursuit. Some 250 media credentials are being issued for training camp, despite the remote location.

Beginning Monday, the spotlight is on.

"You can't hide from it," Spoelstra said. "You have to embrace it. It's not a distraction, as long as it doesn't get in the way of our daily activities and practice and focus and preparing. That's part of this team. This team is different from what we had last year."

This team is different, period.