Heat team president Pat Riley addressed the club’s present and future during his yearly season-ending press conference today, as Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald details.
Following a surprising NBA Finals run within the 2020 restart season’s Orlando “bubble” campus last year, expectations were high for Miami this season. However, many of the team’s key players battled injuries and COVID-19 exposure, and the Heat suffered a first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the Bucks. The loss of forward Jae Crowder in free agency, plus some compensatory signing missteps, also contributed to a disappointing 2020/21 season.
When asked about how he wants to build around the team’s two best players, wing Jimmy Butler and big man Bam Adebayo, this summer, Riley kept things fairly open-ended.
“We’ll see,” he said. “We are going to have a lot of [cap] room if we want to use it. You can’t continue to defer your room… We like our core.”
Here’s more from the presser:
- It sounds like Riley fully expects to replicate the success the club has enjoyed in recent seasons when scouring the market for undrafted rookies. The Heat traded away their first-round draft pick for 2021. “We will get a couple good players out of this year’s draft, I’m sure,” Riley said.
- Riley was questioned about Adebayo potentially rounding out his offensive game by developing three-point range soon. “It doesn’t need to happen quickly,” he said. “[Head coach Erik Spoelstra] likes to use Bam with a stretch five or four. You might have to change. You might have to think about what’s next thing in the NBA to require you to stay with that kind of play. I’ll leave that to Spo and we will talk about it.”
- New Heat guard Victor Oladipo, an unrestricted free agent this offseason, had an underwhelming tenure with the team, appearing in just four games after being acquired from the Rockets at the trade deadline. He was felled by a quadriceps injury that required season-ending surgery. “When we made the trade, we knew there was a risk,” Riley acknowledged. “He’s like any other free agent on the team who sustained an injury; he will be rehabbing with us until he’s healthy enough to get out of that cast. … We will monitor him, work with him, and then see what happens in August when we sit down to talk to him.”
- The 76-year-old Riley would not address his long-term outlook with the club as team president beyond the upcoming season. “I’m getting ready for the [draft combine] and then the summer league,” Riley said. “I’m ready to move forward and try to make this team better. For all of our fans out there, it was so great to see the place packed and I’m really disappointed our fans didn’t get to see what the Heat really are like.” Riley is one of the most decorated personalities in NBA history, having won once as a player, once as an assistant coach, five times as a head coach, and three times as an executive.
Heat
No Kawhi, no future
Celtics will trade away Walker to upgrade the roster
They will be better than Heat next 3 years
Possibly but 3 years is still a long time. A lot can go wrong and right for either clubs.
Celts have been a major failure considering the talent they have had at different points over the last 5 years. All those draft picks and talent and never amounted to anything.
I don’t see it. Only way to trade Walker is to attach a couple picks and dump him to OKC or
the Knicks with no salary in return then throw it all at and injury prone Paul, Lowry or Conley. I think Utah and Phoenix will do what they can to retain thier guys and while I like Lowry I don’t think he’s any better than Walker at this point in thier careers.
The Celts will REALLY want to get rid of Walker and his contract, but another team is expected to WANT the now limited Walker and his outrageous contract … Uhm … Why? (yes, of course if they give enough away to the other team to dump Walker … Well, that’s what you get for making a lousy signing … I’d ask the Celtics to add a first round pick and R. Williams for a player on my team that we don’t want).
I don’t know that he will actually leave the clippers but when they rightfully don’t even come close to sniffing a championship this year I bet he lets Riley get in a room with him in August and anything can happen then ! Maybe for once The Whole no state income tax in Florida ( probably not ) as opposed to California or New York will actually make a difference
Noel that’s what Silli is about, not the article.
Riley can abandon his “Miami culture” by recruiting Mr.Load Management, or do what he said he would in this presser and article that has not yet been addressed by posters.
People always criticize Kawhi for the load management, but we will see a ton of it with other players like LeBron, AD, Klay, and Curry.
Don’t see them resigning Oladipo. Can’t bank on a guy who may need more time to heal. Or could change as a player. Better off getting Lowry letting Dragic go. And finding depth in FA.
Imagine if he had an evil twin named Rat Piley who was just a big pile of rats dressed in a Heat hoodie and they only liked baseball.
Still waiting on options and non guaranteed contracts, but obviously, besides health, and just not going cold against a team that didnt necessarily play great defense against them, and kind of lucked out on certain guys missing bread and butter looks, the Heat need to address someone that can guard the guard spot, another wing piece, which especially matters depending on Andre Iguodala and/or Trevor Ariza, another piece at the 4 that can defend, and preferably knock down shots,and if they can have some size that would be helpful, and a big that can space the floor, and hopefully give them adequate defense to replace Olynyk, especially after not using Bjelica in a matchup they needed him in, for whatever reason…
Obviously depends on what happens with their young guys, and who they potentially trade/dont keep. Curious what they do with guys like Achiuwa and Okpala, besides the obvious guards. Those guys could go in a trade, and they weren’t used for some reason in a matchup where they may have been useful, so moving them or not, those positions may be more important than they already are. I personally would still consider trading Tyler Herro, as I would have a few months ago. If o had to keep 1 of him or Nunn, I would keep Nunn, but depends on what either could get in a trade, or who else they might grab, and if they keep Dragic. I really want Dragic to end his career with the Heat, so I’ll be really sad if he goes, but it might depend on what else happens
I really hope they dont lose Duncan Robinson. He is extremely important. You can probably find a way to either spread out that shooting, or maybe develop other pieces, but I feel like he is very valuable, and I wouldn’t want to trade him for anything but specific valuable pieces. Hopefully they can offer him enough to take away the risk of someone giving him a wonky deal, outside of just money, that makes it tough to match. The Heat has Max Strus on a 2 way deal, and he is interesting to potentially fill some of that spot, but I think it’s worth keeping Duncan Robinson barring a really significant roster change.
Not necessarily in order, but I could see a few of these guys being real options/potential targets, assuming status. Some of those guys are obviously easier to get…I personally doubt Kawhi Leonard moves, but obviously he would change a lot of the scenarios. That being said, I think the same needs would still exist, so the idea of lower cost options at those spots could be nice. I would imagine the Heat would also consider retaining flexibility, as not offering years may have cost them this year, so they could be holding out for someone worth going after to give that up
Paul Millsap is still an obvious target, among others, Serge Ibaka could be nice if he leaves the Clippers. If Marc Gasol became available, he would be so perfect, but I doubt he leaves the Lakers. Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Josh Hart, Tony Snell, Torrey Craig, Josh Richardson, Sterling Brown, Rudy Gay, Justise Winslow, James Johnson, Solomon Hill, Frank Ntilikina, Shaq Harrison, Lonzo Ball, Isaac Bonga, Kelly Olynyk, Noah Vonleh, Bobby Portis, Harry Giles, Thon Maker, Frank Kaminsky, Moe Wagner, Dwight Howard, Jeremiah Martin, Kris Dunn
Something not written here but Riley said at the presser… the Heat are “mentally exhausted”…. He’s right. So are the Lakers, Celtics, and Nuggets… all of whom look sluggish or already eliminated in the playoffs. The teams that spent the most time in the bubble didn’t have a fun 2020-21 season… that’s for sure. The NBA screwed those teams.. they should have waited one more month and made the season 60 games.
You mention the last four teams… was the 2020 NBA playoffs more like a:
a) bubble
b) circus with no tent
c) studio for a TV production
d) tryout like before they got promoted
e) moneymaker
f) prison, medium-security
g) asylum
As a Heat fan, I dont agree with any of that. I think there are significant explanations for everything that happened with those teams, especially rotation wise. Heat had energy defensively
Oladipo could end up in two places on a prove it deal where he’d walk in and start as the roster is currently constructed for next year: LAL and NYK.