With just nine days left before the trade deadline, Heat president Pat Riley is running out of time to decide whether his team will be buyers or sellers. Dave Hyde of the Sun Sentinel isn’t a firm believer in the current squad and cautions against overvaluing players who’ve seen their stock rise on the heels of Miami’s recent 13-game win streak.
Hyde writes that the decision to play and develop young players is an easier one to make when buried in the standings. Now that the Heat sit just two games back of the eight-seed in the Eastern Conference, it’s harder to make that justification.
Should Riley be convinced that his team is capable of making noise in the postseason – or is perhaps one player away from doing so – then he’ll have the rest of the week and a little bit of the next one to make something happen. The executive that landed Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning isn’t afraid of making big moves, Hyde reminds us, but his biggest decision this year may very well be deciding whether or not to pursue a move at all.
There’s more from the Heat today:
- Emotions are running high in Miami after the Heat dropped their second consecutive game after reeling off 13 straight wins, writes Shandel Richardson of the Sun Sentinel. In the club’s Tuesday night loss to the Magic, center Hassan Whiteside was temporarily benched for a lack of rebounding. “When a team hasn’t lost in almost a month, guys forget what it feels like to lose a game,” Whiteside said. “I think that pain came back and it was a thing we forgot about for a while.”
- If there was ever any doubt, Riley established that winning is more important to him than having a high draft pick. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the team president said as much when he spoke with season-ticket holders following the club’s 13-game win streak.
- The Heat ultimately let Dwyane Wade walk in an effort to retain cap flexibility for this upcoming summer, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel reminds readers in a mailbag, so don’t expect them to open their pocket books just for the sake of nostalgia. The team’s salary-cap resources have to be used responsibly heading forward, Winderman says.
Riley is figuring it all out in Miami, he can re-sign Dion Waiters to a bigger deal, keep Dragic around with Whiteside and Winslow coming back next season. All they really lack is a power forward and the free agent class for this summer is not really good for power forwards unless Riley thinks he can pry Blake Griffin away from LA which I doubt. If he can get Blake Griffin in Miami though with Whiteside,Winslow,Waiters, and Dragic that would be pretty insane.
We really are a light 3&D power fwd away from contention #HEATnation
*LEGIT
They already have Winslow who will be a combo of Ginobili/Tony Allen, no need for a small forward.
Every time I look at Pat Riley I think of like 1900s mobsters. Like Riley coulda had a role in The Godfather and no one would question it.
Riley is a mastermind in basketball, he coached the Magic Lakers, and the Ewing Knicks, two insane teams.
That’s pretty much how I felt about him when I was a kid, and he was coaching. He just had a larger thab life feel for me. Thought he had style, and was kind of intimidating
Still hope we trade Whiteside
You trippin
He was Whitey Bulger’s second in command!
I don’t think Riley is going to do anything this trade deadline unless a crazy trade gets presented to him(PG13) lol
I don’t know how I feel about making trades either cuz it could mess with the chemistry…What yall think??
I’d trade Whiteside, hopefully for a young piece and 2017 1st rounder. Then use the close to $60 million in cap space to sign free agents and build around Dragic and the young guys. Can’t get a guard like Dragic for that type of contract. Heat could also then turn around and trade 1-2 of their young pieces if a deal entices them to
You make no sense, why would Miami sign Whiteside just to move him? Its not his fault the Heat are not in the playoffs, they just have not been healthy.
Whiteside is a lazy stat chaser
Also don’t act like Riley wouldn’t move someone after signing them. He did the same with Lamar Odom when they got Shaq
We are soft at PF and SF. We Heat fans think about Winslow as a future superstar, but he hasn’t showed anything more than being physicial and some good defense. He’s shooting is awful, I hope he can develop his shot in the future, or improve finishing around the basket, some type of Jimmy Butler or Wade someone strong that can penetrate and get buckets.
Mechanics on Winslow’s jumpshot looked improved before he hurt his wrist. That’s when the shot started falling back to his old mechanics a little bit, and he started missing a lot more than before the injury. When he’s healthy, I expect to see continued improvement in his jumpshot. Justise is only 20. Way too early to label him