Pat Riley and the Miami Heat were the juggernaut of the Easter Conference during the “Big 3” era. Four straight runs to the NBA Finals and two championships to show for is an incredible stretch, one that Riley did not want to see end. When LeBron James left Miami to return to Cleveland, it set in motion a sequence that would ultimately restart the Heat. Riley put a lot of hard work into creating those “Big 3” rosters and to see it fall apart so quickly obviously led to angst. He details how that era in Heat history ended in a long piece via ESPN.
James taking his talents to the Rust Belt of Cleveland meant much more to Riley than simply having glaring hole to fill. “I was silent,” Riley says. “I didn’t say anything. My mind began to just go. And it was over. I was very angry when LeBron left. It was personal for me. It just was.” But Riley, unlike Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, kept his anger inside. “I had a very good friend who talked me off the ledge and kept me from going out there and saying something like Dan Gilbert. I’m glad I didn’t do it.” Riley is referring to Gilbert’s famous comic-sans letter to LeBron on the night he bolted for South Beach, a move that damaged Gilbert’s reputation around the league.
Once James declared his intentions, the wheels of the collapse started to turn. Chris Bosh, who was also a free agent in that summer of 2014, wanted to reopen negotiations and bargain for more money. Bosh threatened to sign with the Houston Rockets, further leveraging Riley to pony up more dollars. Pressured to not lose two stars in once summer, he gave in and signed Bosh to a max contract. Instead, he says he wished he gave that max money to fan-favorite Wade.
“I know he feels I didn’t fight hard enough for him,” he says. “I was very, very sad when Dwyane said no. I wish I could have been there and told him why I didn’t really fight for him at the end”. Riley had to make a decision: either overpay his aging star or let him walk, endure the backlash, and start to rebuild the team. He chose the team.
When he did not get the max contract, something he felt he earned, it left a sour taste in Wade’s mouth. He took a smaller contract to allow James and Bosh to sign in Miami and make the trifecta a possibility. James’ departure led to Bosh angling for more money, which disallowed the Heat to follow through giving Wade a max contract, ultimately playing a part in his exodus to Chicago.
It all happened so fast for Pat Riley and the Miami Heat. To say he could have handled things differently is a very fair assessment. The almost instantaneous shift from the “Big 3” era to this current pseudo-rebuilidng phase goes relatively unnoticed, but it left Miami in quite the lurch. The unceremonious end to James, Wade, and Bosh’s tenure in South Beach does not represent what it meant to Riley.
“You never think it’s gonna end,” Riley says. “Then it always ends.”
