Riley dishes on Heat’s strong start, discipline, possibility of future moves and more
Heat president Pat Riley said he’s happy with the team’s 9-3 start but remains open-minded to making a significant move if the right one emerges before the Heat has cap space to add a maximum-salary player in the summer of 2021.
“I’m pleased,” Riley said Tuesday. “ I am still cautiously very optimistic about this team. Health is a priority, as it always has been. We’ve been pretty fortunate there with the exception of guys getting sick. Let’s just see what’s down the road.”
But, he said, “I’m also always wary of what’s out there.”
Asked about winning while maintaining the flexibility of cap space in 2021, he said: “Right now, we’re in the present moment. We can manage all the flexibility that we need depending on how we see the team perform. I’m patient, but if something happens and it can make a huge difference, I’m all for it. If not, we’ll wait….
“The team is playing well. Spo [coach Erik Spoelstra] has done a great job. Right from the summer league, we saw something. Development, we saw more. Guys getting ready for training camp, we saw more. In training camp, we saw a lot. Preseason, we saw a lot. I said, ‘let’s get to the regular season, we saw a lot so far. Let’s just see what the next 20 games bring.’ I’m excited about watching the team.”
RIley did not want to address Dion Waiters or his ongoing 10-game suspension but said the fact he’s had to discipline players this season (Waiters and James Johnson) “is always disappointing. You’ve got a rear-view mirror and that which has happened is in the rear-view mirror. It’s been transferred to the front mirror. And you use the side mirrors to sort of adjust. Is that enough of a metaphor for you?
“There has not been a year in my career there has not been adversity and you deal with it. I’m not making this humorous or anything. It’s bad. It’s been dealt with. We’ll move on, as we have.”
Riley touched on other topics in a session with three reporters at the team’s annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway in Wynwood:
▪ Riley is pleased the team was able to stay competitive every year since the Big 3 era ended in the summer of 2014, without every bottoming out in range of 30 wins or fewer.
“We’ve done that,” Riley said of losing big. “We’re not going to do that. We never had to do that since 2008 [when Dwyane Wade missed time with an injury and Miami was 15-67]. I think we did that with some integrity.”
When it was mentioned that another team in town (the Dolphins) chose to tear everything down to try to become competitive, Riley didn’t mention the Dolphins but said of his approach: “You have to have an open mind to try to win and compete, find the best mid-draft players that may not have made it but like we did. We took Derrick Williams because he was the No. 2 pick in the draft. Dion Waiters was the No. 4 pick.
“James Johnson was No. 16 in the draft. Wayne Ellington was [28]. Guys who were sort of hanging. Then we brought [former Minnesota 16th overall pick] Luke Babbitt back. [Get a] certain amount of veterans and look for those kinds of players and you can put together a playoff team. And then you hope to get a star somewhere.”
▪ Riley likes this roster’s offensive versatility: “Without a doubt, putting the ball in the basket has been a big priority for us and for coach. I think we have those players who aren’t afraid of the moment when they get wide open or are contested. [We’re] making a good number of threes, [can] take [the ball] to the basket. They can do a number of things that give them versatility. If somebody can be a shooter, defender, playmaker, they can become a star.”
▪ When it was mentioned by a reporter that the pieces seem to fit on this team, Riley said:
“They fit until they don’t. Some nights, it looks like nothing fits. But right now, Spo has exactly what he needs for how he wants to play. We have a team that can shoot. We have a team that can score. We got a team that can run. Very versatile team on defense that can do a number of things defensively.
“When we signed Jimmy Butler, I knew we were going to be as good or maybe better. How much better would be dependent on other factors, the performances of other players. Was Meyers Leonard going to fit in? Our young players. The development of Bam [Adebayo] and Justise [Winslow]. You just go on and on. So yes, I’m pleased.”
▪ On young players — including three rookies — helping contribute to the team’s success, Riley said: “The emergence of younger players who are performing and opening eyes around the league is a byproduct of how the game is being played. Faster paced. Anybody gets the green light. I would have put a red light on the back pocket of a young player before you ever shoot a three.
“The game is so much freer, and the development of players has become so much better that younger players are beginning to emerge. You aren’t going anywhere without having some savvy, some experience, some veterans. We have a great blend of that.”
▪ With Goran Dragic, Derrick Jones Jr and Leonard able to become free agents this summer, and Kelly Olynyk having an opt-out clause, RIley said: “We have decisions that will face us this offseason if certain players do certain things. Right now, we’re in the present moment.”
▪ Of the Heat’s luck in recent years, Riley said: “Last five years, without getting into excuse making, we were hit by thunderbolt after thunderbolt. As soon as LeBron left — God bless him — Chris [Bosh] got sick. We didn’t get [Kevin] Durant. Dwyane [Wade] left. We didn’t get [Gordon] Hayward. Signed a bunch of guys. We were not in a desperation mode. That’s when we were sort of the mid-rebuild mode without going somewhere because I didn’t have any assets to go there because I gave them away for the Big 3. I would give them away again. It took time to create the capital — draft capital and monetary capital, health capital to do certain things.”
▪ Riley said having a first-round pick every other year is good enough if you’re a top-10 team.
“Let’s say a great team is 20 to 30 — you are in top 10 — let’s say you are there. I think a draft pick every other year is good. I never had a chance to really get a lot of lottery picks. I’ve been lucky to have great players.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 3:08 PM.
