‘We Control Our Own Destiny’

Alonzo Mourning isn’t surprised at all by the Miami Heat’s early-season success.

Despite the Heat going through a reload of sorts following the trades of Jimmy Butler and Kevin Long along with the early-season absence of an injured Tyler Herro, the Heat have once again emerged as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Miami is 14-8 and one of the top teams in the conference, with wins over the Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.

Mourning, one of the best players in Heat history currently serves as a vice president of player programs for the franchise. Miami has been one of the most successful franchises under the tutelage of Pat Riley, who has been the Heat’s team president since 1995.

“It does not surprise me,” says Mourning in a one-on-one interview. “Under the leadership of Erik Spoelstra, he’s the best coach in the NBA. He made a tremendous amount of adjustment this summer, picking up Norman Powell has helped us out tremendously. Obviously, we didn’t realize the impact that he would have immediately, the way he is playing for us.

“The long and short of it is, you know, we pretty much control our destiny if we stay healthy, God willing,” Mourning continues to say. “We stay healthy, I think nothing but good things will evolve from it.”

Alonzo Mourning On Miami Heat Possibly Making Trade To Bolster Roster: ‘I Leave That To Pat Riley and Spo’

The Heat have obviously historically been one of the most winning franchises in recent years. They’ve been to the playoffs six consecutive years and have won three championships since 2006, along with seven total Finals appearances.

Miami currently has a nice quartet of solid players in Herro, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins and Bam Adebayo. All of them have distinguishable roles, with Herro emerging as an All-Star for the first time last season while leading the Heat with 23.9 points per game following the midseason trade of the previous franchise face, Butler.

Meanwhile, Powell has picked up the scoring load in Herro’s absence, emerging as the Heat’s go-to scorer this season with 25.0 points per game. Wiggins is a former NBA champion, All-Star and ex-No. 1 draft pick, while Adebayo is one of the most established centers in the league as a three-time All-Star and a guy who has won two gold medals with the U.S. Olympic teams.

The Heat have long been linked to major names via a possible trade, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Milwaukee Bucks star’s name is currently swirling around in trade rumors as a result of the team’s recent seven-game losing streak. Antetokounmpo and his agent will be meeting with the Bucks organization to discuss his future with the franchise.

While the Heat remain as formidable as ever, the reality is they haven’t actually gotten over the hump since 2013, when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were together. That was the last time they won an NBA Finals series.

Since then, they’ve lost three consecutive Finals appearances. In fact, they were clearly outmatched in those series against their Finals brethren, getting swept by the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, losing in six games to 2020 to the Los Angeles Lakers and in five games to the Denver Nuggets in 2023.

It would seem acquiring a true franchise player is the key to getting the Heat over the hump. When asked if he sees Miami making a move at the trade deadline, Mourning says he’ll leave that decision to Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra, who has with the organization since Riley’s arrival three decades prior.

“I leave that to Pat Riley and Spo, I let them make those decisions,” says Mourning. “But right now, we look great and very thankful that we’re in a nice little groove right now.”

Alonzo Mourning Receiving Mia Hamm Award For Community Excellence

The 55-year-old is known for his long and illustrious NBA career, emerging as one of the league’s best defensive players in the late 90’s, while winning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards in 1999 and 2000. A former seven-time All-Star, Mourning not only keeps busy in his post-playing career by still being involved with basketball, he also does so with his charitable work.

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer has been involved with Athletes for Hope since 2006 as one of the founding members. It’s a national nonprofit organization that educates, encourages and empowers athletes to positively engage with their communities.

Athletes for Hope’s founding members also include Mia Hamm, Muhammad Ali and Andre Agassi.

This time around, Mourning is being honored for his work with the Mia Hamm Service award in Washington, D.C. this weekend. The award embodies the U.S. soccer star’s commitment to utilizing their global platform to help those in the United States and beyond.

“I’m deeply honored to receive the Mia Hamm Service Award for Athletes For Hope,” says Mourning. “Mia has always set the standard, both in her sport and in how she’s used her platform to serve others. This award isn’t just about athletic excellence, it’s about commitment to community. It’s about commitment to passion. It’s about having an impact to receive an award that carries Mia’s name means a lot to me personally, especially since we both are founding members of Athletes For Hope nearly 20 years ago.”

Mourning goes into detail of the work he’s done with the Mourning Family Foundation, which is located in Miami and has been around for a couple of decades.

“Being a part of the Miami Heat organization that has prioritized giving back to the community and being a part of their initiative and being an advocate with them has been extremely important,” says Mourning. “Also, founding the Mourning Family Foundation over 20 years ago here in South Florida, and having a 56,000 square feet facility with in school, after school summer programming and classrooms, computer labs, stem labs, dance studio, music studio, art studio, all the all these amenities.

“Health and wellness and what have you for the computer free of charge, for the community, graduating 100% of our kids from High School and 90% of our kids going to college and graduating,” Mourning continues to say. “All of that and very fulfilling and rewarding. I’m grateful and very thankful for the progress that we’ve made in the community over the years.”

Through his organization, Mourning also helps underserved students on how to manage stress and build confidence.

“CHAMPS (part of his foundation) now reaches literally over 270,000 underserved students every month across the country, it’s helping kids learn how to manage stress, build confidence and find hope, which is especially important given the youth mental health challenges we’re seeing every day,” says Mourning. “Athletes For Hope is also working to expand programs that support athletes’ well-being, leadership, development and community resilience, both here in the U.S. and globally.”