Pat Riley held a press conference early Wednesday afternoon to discuss everything and anything regarding Miami Heat basketball. The Heat President had a lot to talk about; the offseason and the future of the Heat, including Chris Bosh. Bosh has missed 67 games over the past 2 years with a re-occurring blood clot issue that kept him out of the Playoff for the Miami ball club. Led by Dwyane Wade and his cast of talented rookies and veterans like Joe Johnson, the Heat were pushed to the 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs, where they fell short in Game 7 to the Toronto Raptors. Despite their elimination, the season was far from unsuccessful as the Heat finished 3rd in the East with Chris Bosh missing the majority of the 2nd half of the season.
The following clips are clips from the press conference (Via Fox Sports Florida):
Pat Riley On The Health Of Chris Bosh
Pat Riley On The Young Talent & Core Of Miami Heat
The Importance Of Goran Dragic To Pat Riley
Notables Quotes and Highlights from the press conference (Via The Miami Herald):
“When we got to that point this year, we approach it in a way where we can get Chris back on the court. That’s his desire. That would be our desire [for him to play] but it will have to be done in a way we all feel good about. It’s two years in a row. It definitely has hurt the team, but more so than anybody, he’s the one who’s suffering through it… Up to the All-Star break, he was our best player.”
“On impending Hassan Whiteside: “He’s obviously our No.1 priority, period. You don’t have to look further than that. While there might be players out there in free agency, our No. 1 priority is Hassan Whiteside. He’s 26. He’s a game changer.”
“I would like to keep the real core of the team together and build from there. You know we’re always looking for a whale [meaning superstar], if there’s one out there. we have the flexibility to do that. It changes things. That is the difficult question for me. How far have we come and how good are we? That really can’t be answered. That can only be answered hypothetically if Chris was healthy. Then you would have a real idea of how everything fit.”
“I told Dwyane today, I think this is the best season he’s had prior to the Big Three. This was better than any season he had when he was with the Big Three, even though we went to the Finals four years in a row and won two championships. He had to disperse his game a little bit for everybody else.”
“We have great internal leadership. Great growth from our young guys. Our veterans can play. We have a good mix.”
Pat Riley obviously understands how he wants to frame the future for the Miami Heat and how to move forward from this season. With Justice Winslow and Justin Richardson as the young rookies that they will begin to develop, and Goran Dragic showing off his all-star caliber play in the Playoffs, all that remains is the free agency questions surrounding Heat Center Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside has received interest from multiple teams including the obvious ones like the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, who are practically praying for a Center to help their cause. Riley’s main focus will be re-signing Hassan and he’s made that evident. Pat Riley is one of the well-respected people in the NBA and his re-assurance means he knows what he’s doing with this basketball team.
