Podcast: Pat Riley says Miami Heat will be ‘proactive’ to improve. What does he mean?
Pat Riley’s annual “State of the Miami Heat” address at the end of the season is always an event because of how candid and insightful the president tends to be.
This year was no exception.
On a new episode of the Heat Check podcast, David Wilson and Anthony Chiang, the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer, are back to parse through Riley’s comments and what they might tell us about the upcoming offseason in Miami.
The money quote from Riley: “You have be, I think, very proactive in looking at how you’re going to improve.”
The “dragon,” Riley said, hasn’t left 77-year-old executive’s body since the Heat’s season ended with a 100-96 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals and he’s dead set on bringing another championship to Miami.
He knows the Heat is close after All-Star forward Jimmy Butler had a shot to win Game 7 in the final minute last month and will be a contender even if he stands pat. His challenge, he admits, will be figuring out if it’s the best course of action.
It’s a debate raging all across South Florida now: Should Miami run it back or make a drastic change and swing big for another potential star.
The easiest path to improvement is getting star post player Bam Adebayo and guard Tyler Herro to both take another leap, and Riley challenged both of them to improve Monday. What do they need to do to improve? Wilson argues they both need to try to imitate two of the NBA’s best players.
The more headline-making path to improvement would be a big trade, and Herro and fellow guard Duncan Robinson give the Heat the chips to make a deal happen. Chiang, however, doesn’t think anything is imminent, even with All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell reportedly unhappy with the Utah Jazz.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
