Live blog: What Heat’s Pat Riley said at state-of-the-franchise media briefing
A live blog of Heat president Pat Riley’s state of the franchise news conference, as it unfolds, on Tuesday at Kaseya Center (and please keep checking back even few minutes for updates), which we will add to the bottom:
▪ On this year: “We had a great season this year. It was bizarre. It reminds me of one season I’ve been through - 1975 with the Phoenix Suns. It was quite a run from the eighth seed to the Finals.”
Riley then spent several minutes discussing the four “iterations” of the Heat -- including the era with Tim Hardaway and Alonzo Mourning, the initial one with Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal (“It ended up in a title, our first”), and “then the Big 3 came along; that first year, all we had was minimums” (with LeBron James, Wade and Chris Bosh) and then “Jimmy Butler said yes, and this is where we are.”
He said “we have a good young core of guys we didn’t have then - we have Bam [Adebayo] and we have Tyler [Herro], who have turned into stars and they’re young. We have a great base with Bam and Tyler. And we have a great superstar with Jimmy Butler.
“We have the best coach. I’m feeling good today. I don’t want to go through another pause. After our ride this year, it was an incredible year up and down. A lot of it had to do with missed games. I have not experienced a year like this in a playoff run. [After winning Game 2], I really thought against Denver, as great a team as they are, I thought this dream is going to happen. That was our last win. We had a great year.”
“We are building the fifth iteration of building a championship team. I have no other plans but to do that.”
▪ I asked if ownership has made a decision whether to ever surpass the NBA’s new second apron (once, more than once). The second apron is $17.5 million over the luxury tax threshold and comes with punitive roster-building restrictions, as well as a high tax bill.
Riley said there’s no decision on that but Arison is “committed to doing whatever it takes to fulfill the championship dream it’s been 10 or 11 years. We’re getting a little anxious. They’re committed to winning championships. We’re in the tax.”
He also said, “But look at it, Micky is a businessman. Now he and [CEO Nick] Arison are really basketball guys too, not just business guys. That has to be thought of and planned out, because you can get yourself in trouble if you do something early.”
If the Heat opts against being a second apron team this season, then re-signing Gabe Vincent or Max Strus becomes impossible without slashing other salaries. The Heat already has $176 million in salary commitments without factoring in free agents Vincent, Strus, Kevin Love, Cody Zeller and Omer Yurtseven.
▪ Riley said “running it back, yes” is an option. But “doing something that could help you with that last step, yes, if it’s a possibility or opportunity [too if it can happen] without setting you back. We are going to show some patience here.”
▪ Riley kept talking up Herro: “He gets bigger in the biggest of moments. We’ve seen it time and again, in the bubble and here. We’ve got two anchors in Bam and Tyler. We missed Tyler [when he was injured in the playoffs]. People don’t understand how lethal he is in those moments.”
▪ RIley said “the biggest difference in this CBA is at one time, there were just financial things. If you could play for a championship and we were willing to pay financial penalties, now it’s different, because you are not be able to sign a buyout guy [as a second apron team]. Now they’re going to penalize you [for going over the second apron].”
▪ Riley said “I would like to try to get [Butler] more support” - whether “it’s growth of Bam or Tyler” or something else. “I would love to be able to pick who I want that is the perfect complement to him, but it’s not that easy. I will work towards that.”
▪ He said Butler “has done everything he can do within his power. Last year, if he could take that three back [in Game 7 against Boston in 2022], he would have made it. He was incredible in the beginning [of the 2023 playoffs], and then welcome to big time game planning [against him]. I don’t think anyone game-planned Jimmy like Denver did.”
▪ He acknowledged the Heat’s shooting problems in the first half of the season and said “that trended up somewhat after the All Star break. We know we have that in us.”
▪ If no big move is do-able, “subtle moves will be enough,” Riley said. “Hitting the home run will be addition by subtraction. I plan on hitting big again. I’m not just [only] swinging for the fences right now because it could be reckless. I feel good about where we are, but I agree with you, we need to improve.”
He said “we’re not going to take a wrecking ball to this thing.”
▪ Riley said he didn’t want to trade “draft capital” to shed salary in February and implied that’s still the case. He said “there wasn’t anything” appealing at the trade deadline.
▪ Asked about the draft, Riley identified potential needs as “wing size and length and [finding] multiple position players, ball-handling players. You’ve got to be able to shoot the ball. If not, you’ve got to be real great at something else.”
The Heat has the 18th pick in the first round of Thursday’s draft and no pick in the second round.
▪ On Dwyane Wade being inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer: “I love him to death. He’s a forever guy. He’s so deserving. If I could do mine over, I would do mine over and say something different than what I said.”
▪ He said he texted Udonis Haslem the other day. “He’s special to this organization. I said chill out, spend time with family and friends and some day we’ll talk in the future about things.”
Haslem has said he would have interest in Heat ownership, with an active role.
▪ Riley said Love “changed the dynamic of our team. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be a huge trade” to achieve that.
This story was originally published June 20, 2023 at 1:03 PM.
