Brian Grant walked up and down the aisle of the Miami Heat charter last week, thanking each of his teammates for helping the veteran center come full circle in Miami.

Three seasons ago, Grant and guard Eddie Jones were the final answers to a team built to win a championship. One playoff disaster and two draft lotteries later, each became an albatross.

"I thought, why isn't this working? Maybe I'm the problem,'' Grant said. "Then I hear these young guys saying, 'You do a lot for us. You may not give us the numbers, but you do a lot in other areas.'

"It always came back to me that I am important to the team, that I do contribute. I get emotional thinking about it because this is a great bunch of guys.''

As the Heat prepares for its first playoff series in three seasons starting Sunday against the New Orleans Hornets, nobody is more appreciative than Grant and Jones, the veterans whose arrival signaled one of the darkest periods in team history.