West Palm’s Keiser U. to host training camp

MIAMI — The Miami Heat will return to Palm Beach County for training camp for the third consecutive year.

The difference this time is instead of spending the first week of October in Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University, as has been the case the past two years, the Heat will move up to West Palm Beach for sessions at Keiser University.

Logistics kept the Heat from an anticipated return to the Bahamas for camp for a third time, with the FAU gym undergoing renovations. The decision not to return to the Bahamas came in advance of Hurricane Dorian, with the Heat now working to assist in relief efforts there.

Keiser is located on the campus that previously was Northwood University, where legendary coach Rollie Massimino closed out his career.

After holding media day at American-Airlines Arena on Sept. 30, the Heat will move up Keiser for sessions the balance of that week, through Saturday Oct. 5.

The camp sessions are closed to the public, with no public scrimmage planned during the Heat’s time at the school.

The Heat then will hold their annual Red, White and Pink intrasquad scrimmage to benefit research for breast cancer on Oct. 6 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

“Keiser University is excited to host the Miami Heat at our Flagship Campus,” Keiser Chancellor Dr. Arthur Keiser said in a statement. “We look forward to hosting this world-class organization.”

The Heat open their five-game preseason schedule Oct. 8 at AmericanAirlines Arena against the San Antonio Spurs and open their regular season Oct. 23 at home against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Heat held their 2016 training camp at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas, with the past two at FAU.

The Heat also held camp at FAU in 2015, after holding their 2014 camp at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has said he prefers getting away from Miami in order to facilitate bonding.

“It’s an opportunity for us to be around each other for all the in-between times. I like that the most,” he said.

“We’re going to practice. We’re going to do that always. But when you’re away, you’re able to [do] some other things.”

The Heat’s move north continues a tradition of preseason work in Palm Beach County, with previous training camps held at FAU, Palm Beach Atlantic University and what then was known as Palm Beach Community College.

After starting the team’s Big Three era with training camp with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh at the Hurlburt Field Air Force complex in the Florida Panhandle in 2010 and ending it with camp in the Bahamas in 2013, the Heat mostly have taken preseason retreats away from AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Heat have held training camp at a variety of venues over their first 30 seasons. Their first camp, in 1988, was at the University of Miami.

Heat president Pat Riley for decades has taken his teams on the road for training camp, with his Los Angeles Lakers training in Hawaii and his New York Knicks often holding training camp in Charleston, S.C. The Heat’s ties to Palm Beach County, however, predate Riley’s arrival, when previous management had the team’s camps in Lake Worth.

The Heat have 18 players under contract and are allowed to carry 20 during the preseason before a mandatory cut to a maximum of 15 by the start of the season.