The Miami Heat missed the NBA postseason for the first time in four seasons, but team GM Pat Riley met with reporters on Monday to express how optimistic he was about next season.
The team is expected to return a healthy Chris Bosh and resign newly-acquired point guard Goran Dragic.
There's another reason Riley is hopeful about the team's future, and it involved taking a swipe at former Heat great LeBron James.
Pat Riley on the draft: "No more smiling faces with hidden agendas, so we'll be going in clean."
— Joseph Goodman (@JoeGoodmanJr) April 20, 2015
Shots fired! Riley is of course referring to the fact that James bolted on Miami in favor of a return to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. What Riley seems to be objecting to isn't so much that James left per se, but that he kept his cards so close to his chest and misled Miami into thinking he was staying.
If you recall, the Heat even let LeBron make their first round draft decision for them (he wanted UConn's Shabazz Napier), which is a pretty crappy thing to do if you're going to just then bounce on the franchise two weeks later. Besides creating controversial headlines, Riley's main objective right now is to lock up Dragic to a long term deal. Luckily for Miami, the former Phoenix Suns point guard seems amenable to that scenario.
Goran Dragic: “I’m a free agent but I like this organization. I hope to stay here.” — Joseph Goodman (@JoeGoodmanJr) April 12, 2015
Check out a portion of Pat Riley's end-of-year presser below:
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