Heat’s Pat Riley reflects on Butler exit, looks ahead at offseason: ‘We do have to make changes’
Miami Heat president Pat Riley spent nearly an hour looking back at what was and looking ahead at what could be on Friday afternoon.
In Riley’s first news conference since the start of last offseason, he looked back on Jimmy Butler’s ugly Heat exit and looked ahead at the Heat’s plan to improve a roster that has needed to qualify for the playoffs through the play-in tournament in each of the past three seasons.
“Well, I think we do have to make changes,” Riley said during his 43-minute season-ending news conference Friday in the Kaseya Center media room ahead of an important offseason. “There’s no doubt. There has to be some change.”
But even with the Heat finishing this regular season with a losing record for the first time since the 2018-19 season and just the sixth time in Riley’s 30 seasons with the organization, Riley was quick to shoot down the notion that major roster changes are needed.
Instead, Riley made it clear that the Heat plans to move forward with its leading duo of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. But the hope is to improve the roster around Adebayo and Herro this offseason after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
This time the Heat was swept out of the playoffs in humiliating fashion, as the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers won Game 3 by 37 points and Game 4 by 55 points in Miami for the two most lopsided playoff losses in Heat history. The Cavaliers outscored the Heat by a total of 122 points in the four-game series, making it the most lopsided playoff series in NBA history.
“We’re not reflective of that,” Riley said, referring to those two blowout home playoff losses that occurred two weeks ago. “I think those two losses were humbling and they might have put the final nail in on thinking that we got to tear everything apart and rebuild. But we’ve never done that. Thirteen times we’ve always found a way to rebuild a team that was respected, that was a contender and made the playoffs 24 times.”
The Heat will again try to rebuild and improve its roster this summer after a tumultuous season that included the Butler drama, a 10-game losing skid and a league-leading 22 blown double-digit leads.
“We probably won’t run it back,” Riley continued. “But players aren’t just going to show up. You have to make deals, you have to look at the board. You got to try to do something that’s going to benefit something with your team and your two key guys, if they’re your key guys and I think they are plus a lot of other players.”
Despite entering this offseason with 13 players already under contract for next season, no cap space and just $9 million away from the luxury tax line, Riley believes the Heat is in prime position to make a big move.
That’s because Miami has two tradeable first-round picks — three tradeable first-round picks if it agrees to a deal ahead of draft night — and has $60 million in expiring contracts this upcoming season.
“I think we’re probably in as good a situation from a draft pick, young player, favorable contract situation as we have been in a long time,” Riley said. “Especially at a time in the market that’s hard to plan because things will be spontaneous. But we’re going to work on trying to really, really find something that will help this team. It may take years. ... It’s a process. But I’m not going to deal with a long process and nor is ownership.”
If that process brings the opportunity to add an older superstar, Riley isn’t against that. The Heat expressed interest in 36-year-old Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant ahead of the February trade deadline and could pursue him again if he becomes available on the trade market this offseason for the right price, according to a league source.
“I think an aging great, great player who may not be able to carry a team, together they can rise to the occasion in the playoffs,” Riley said when asked if he’s willing to deal with another aging star in the wake of Butler’s messy departure.. “So for us, yes, if that player is the right name and the contract is the right length, I still think that an aging player can play. ... You have to figure out the right one, but I’m not against that.”
The Heat faces the challenge of rebuilding its roster this offseason while trying to avoid the luxury tax after finishing as a luxury tax team in each of the past two seasons. The Heat needs to find a way to stay under the luxury tax in at least one of the next two seasons to avoid the onerous repeater tax, which is triggered when a team crosses the luxury tax threshold in four straight seasons or four times during a five-season period.
“I think we’ll have to make an adjustment,” Riley said of that issue. “You don’t want to be in it four years in a row or four out of five. Otherwise it gets pretty punitive financially.
“I think we can handle that. This is not a priority. But it is in order to manage the financial part of the team and the roster, it’s important. ... I think we’ll probably try to get back out [of the luxury tax] and then get back in to reset it.”
At least one thing appears clear, though, Riley is sticking around as the team president to try to help the Heat again rebuild its roster. Even at 80 years old, Riley reiterated his commitment to the organization on Friday.
“[Heat owner Micky Arison] and [Heat chief executive officer Nick Arison] and I met, they’ve been very good to me,” said Riley, who just finished his 30th season with the Heat. “They said, ‘Carry on, Pat.’ I’m going to carry on and try to make this thing better.”
What exactly does Riley want to make better?
“Make the roster better, make the offense better, make the defense better,” he said.
While Riley spent most of his news conference addressing what could be ahead for the Heat, he took some time to address Butler’s contentious Heat exit.
According to multiple sources, Butler’s relationship with the team took a turn last offseason when Riley publicly challenged Butler to be available for more games, told him to keep his “mouth shut” and the Heat declined to give Butler a two-year, $113 million contract extension.
“I’m not going to apologize for saying no on the contract extension that we didn’t have to [give],” Riley said Friday.
What followed was a month-long drawn-out staredown between Butler and the Heat in January that included a trade request from Butler, three suspensions without pay issued by the Heat and an airing of grievances against each other along the way before the disgruntled Butler was eventually traded to the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 6.
“It’s over,” Riley said, closing the book on the Butler chapter. “He’s done. I wish him well. Good luck to him. And I hope deep down in his heart somewhere, he wishes us well, too.”
The Heat now moves forward with what Riley refers to as the 14th rebuild that he has been a part of since joining the organization in 1995. During that 30-year span, the Heat has made 24 postseason appearances while making seven trips to the NBA Finals and winning its only three NBA championships.
“We have a great front office and we make decisions together, we plan and we plot together,” Riley said. “So I’m going to live on my track record. That’s all I can live on. If you want me to give you the 13 times, we’ll be here for a long time. But we’ve done this before.”
