Tag Archive for: Pat Riley

Miami Heat suspend Dion Waiters before zero tolerance season

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“I let the culture slip.”

With those words — spoken after last season by Miami Heat president Pat Riley — you knew the next season would be different. Riley felt burned after he gave much-criticized lucrative long-term contracts to non-stars in 2016 and 2017 and then those players returned the reward by slacking on their conditioning.

And before it even begins, this season is different.

First, Riley banished James Johnson from training camp not for failing the conditioning test — he passed — but for failing to meet Riley’s special weight requirement.

Now, Dion Waiters, who had weight issues last season but got himself in better shape this offseason, has been told he isn’t “in Heat shape” by Erik Spoelstra (we posted that video), and has been steered toward a bench role as Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro have gotten preseason starts.

And he’s been openly unhappy about it.

So now he’s been suspended for one game.

Notice the language.

“Number of unacceptable incidents.”

Remember Waiters telling Ira Winderman that he wasn’t cool with coming off the bench, even after he flourished in that role against Charlotte in the third preseason game?

Remember this from Spoelstra about what he wants from Waiters, which Waiters then somewhat contradicted right after?

Here was Waiters:

There was some speculation that Waiters was away from the team for three days this week after Charlotte game because of a disciplinary action, though my sources did confirm an actual personal issue unrelated to his unhappiness.

Even so, it doesn’t seem to be stopping.

Here are some tweets that tell the story:

 

Instagram always remembers, and this doesn’t appear that it is going away anytime soon. Unless Waiters ends up elsewhere:

We know how this goes.

Just ask Hassan Whiteside. In Portland.

Heat Camp: the best of Miami’s first day of training

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Heat Camp is on its way!

And we are as excited as you to follow how the Miami Heat works towards a new season that comes with lots of expectations.

I made the trip to West Palm Beach for the opening of Miami Heat training camp at the former Northwood University — which is now Keiser. The media saw only the last couple of plays of the scrimmage before Erik Spoelstra and the players were made available.

Here are my observations from both Twitter accounts…

 

 

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will be around a while

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If you ask Erik Spoelstra, he’ll tell you he could have been fired three times.

At least three times.

Once when the Miami Heat were recruiting LeBron James and Chris Bosh, after Spoelstra had taken his first two Heat teams to the playoffs — but first round exits. If James had demanded Pat Riley or someone else be the coach, what would Riley have done?

Another time, when the Heat started 9-8, and held a players’ only meeting in Dallas.

And of course, when the Heat — mostly due to James’ meltdown — lost to the Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals.

But he hung in, and he’s still here, now the second longest-tenured coach with one team in the entire NBA, a few days ahead of Rick Carlisle and a few years behind Gregg Popovich. Spoelstra has been outspoken about how quickly teams give up on coaches — it’s about the only thing he’s outspoken about. He, however, has never had the problem. And he won’t, after the Heat did this officially on Saturday:

Woj and Erik Spoelstra are represented by the same agency, so it’s not a surprise it was spilled that way. Coach contracts are one of the Miami Heat’s most closely-guarded secrets.

Spoelstra has seemed weary the past couple of seasons, and it’s probably been about more than his new baby. He had to play a lot of guys for contractual reasons. But now he has a true star again in Jimmy Butler, someone who shares his sensibilities. The roster is much less cluttered. And Hassan Whiteside, and all the moping, is gone.

What will be interesting now is to see how involved Spoelstra will get in personnel matters. He’s had more influence in recent years, but the Heat have about eight cooks stirring that pot.

Either way, he’s here to stay — and the Heat are better for it.

Pat Riley: “Jimmy Butler is a top 10 player”

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Pat Riley weighed on the new Miami Heat players right after Jimmy Butler’s introductory press conference.

For him, and for many of us, Butler is a top ten player in today’s NBA.

But he talked a lot about many other things.

Check out his most relevant quotes from today’s appearance:

 

Join us on Monday September 30th when we cover the Miami Heat Media Day at American Airlines Arena. Five on the Floor and Cinco Razones Deportes Network members will be there bringing you the highlights of the day we were all waiting for, since the Miami Dolphins and the Miami Marlins are just terrible nowadays. Do not worry. Your Miami Heat coverage is right here!

The Heat have their Hero and Herro together

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The Hero and Herro.

Well, this was refreshing.

As the Dolphins tank away everything but their toilets at the Davie practice facility, we’re getting closer to the no-tank team in town getting rolling again.

The Miami Heat open training camp on October 1st.

The Dolphins will likely have lost four games by then.

So it was a welcome sight to see new alpha Jimmy Butler back in the United States after his extended European vacation — and even better to see him working with the Heat’s new kid hope, Tyler Herro.

Warm and fuzzy yet?

And no, that’s not Dion in the middle, as some suggested.

What is the best part of this photo, other than the Heat’s present and future together?

The attitude.

I have high hopes for the Heat season, and we have the Hero and Herro.

A Heat team with an uncluttered roster and a chip on its collective shoulder?

Sign us up.

Especially in light of what’s happening with South Florida’s other pro teams.

Need something to wear?..

Go to our merchandise section and check out our no tanking tee.

 

The Miami Heat seems to be the only Miami professional team that is not tanking (the Panthers are from Broward, so do they count?), and we will definitively be very close to the team, as usual, but this time, going very often to the arena, to provide you with interviews, live analysis before and after games and a lot of Alf complaining. Please check out Five on the Floor and Cinco Razones Deportes Network (for Spanish listeners). We will have a blast!

The Jimmy Butler trade is now a Juwan-like mess

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There’s this perception that things comes easy for the Miami Heat, because of the historic coup of 2010.

That’s not really true, though.

Alonzo Mourning’s kidney disease, right as Pat Riley had given him an enhanced supporting cast.

Chris Bosh’s blood clots, on the very day Riley traded for Goran Dragic for pick-and-pop perfection.

And, of course, way back when, the time Riley said he had to go to a proctologist to get the 10-foot pole taken out of his rear, when David Stern took Juwan Howard away because of a salary cap technicality. The Heat did rebound well by scooping up Dan Majerle, and making some contending runs.

So here we are once more.

We thought Jimmy Butler was being sign-and-traded to the Heat, and he still might be, but there’s now a major snap. The Dallas Mavericks, the third team in the deal, weren’t on the same page as Miami. And reporters in Dallas say, because of it, the Mavericks’ current critical role in executing the overall deal is over.

At first, it appeared Goran Dragic was going to Dallas, though Dragic’s agent had not been informed.

But then…

And so…

This from the resident cap expert who focuses on the Heat:

 

More from other reporters, including the national guy who is most connected in Dallas:

But this is already so far down the road…

We will continue to update.

But the Heat appear to be stuck. They simply cannot allow the trade to be called off. Too much damage will be done to the fan base, but also to the players.

How do you bring your guys back now?

What do you tell Miami?

We, um, messed up?

The Miami Heat are acquiring Jimmy Butler

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It took the length of a pregnancy term.

It took lots of lists — most of which were wrong early — about where Jimmy Butler wanted to play.

It took Butler getting traded to Philadelphia, away from Tom Thibodeau.

It took a remarkable farewell season from his buddy Dwyane Wade that impressed Butler mightily.

It took Pat Riley getting back on the beam.

We’ll find out what else it took, other than Josh Richardson, soon.

But for now, we know this:

Jimmy Butler is now the best player on the Miami Heat.

He wanted to be here. He didn’t want Houston, even though it was close to home. He didn’t really want LA. He didn’t want to be a third option in Philadelphia.

He wanted to be here.

He’s here.

And he’s here for a while, at a rich price, though not for five years at $191 million as it could have been.

The cost? We’re getting that. But it will definitely include Josh Richardson.

 

And we’re hearing the Heat aren’t close to done.

There was always a plan, and a plan after the plan. There was a belief that if Butler wanted to move to Miami, players and money could be moved.

How good will the Heat be?

Hard to say.

But they matter again.

I’ll be on WSVN-7 between 11 and 11:30 p.m. tonight.

Highlights of Heat’s draft night & Riley’s presser

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Alphonse Sidney (@Alf954) and I were at American Airlines Arena for the Miami Heat’s 2019 draft, and stuck around until past 1 a.m. to tape a couple of podcasts and hear from first-round pick Tyler Herro (by conference call) and Heat president Pat Riley.

Here are some of the highlights, tweet by tweet:

 

 

More to come….

 

Miami Heat draft Tyler Herro, fans not thrilled

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Sekou.

KPJ.

Bol Bol.

Three high upside players, which the Miami Heat need.

Even Brandon Clarke, the so-called safest pick.

Plenty of players thought to be Heat options were available at No. 13.

Pat Riley, however, went back to his alma matter, for a player — swingman Tyler Herro — who was projected in the 20s until recently.

Miami has done good work in the draft the past four years, so maybe this works out.

Herro was certainly happy.

But the initial reaction was mostly skepticism.

Early polling on @5ReasonsSports had about 75 percent of the fans against it.

Nor was there much excitement in the main bowl of AmericanAirlines Arena, where the Heat were hosting a draft party.

 

More on a podcast posting soon, plus comments from Herro and Pat Riley.

Miami Heat’s draft night gets busier

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Refresh our memories.

When is the last time the Miami Heat were the team giving up cash considerations?

Maybe it’s happened recently, but it doesn’t come to mind. The Heat have been in cost-saving, more than cost-adding, mode since the middle of the Big Three era — but apparently they like some of the prospects in this draft enough to pony up a little.

Here’s the trade they just made:

What’s interesting about this deal is that the Heat have done such an incredible job of developing undrafted players of late that it hasn’t seemed necessary to stockpile second round picks.

But apparently, the Heat scouts are intrigued by the depth in this year’s draft. And they also may see a need. The team’s depth, particularly in the backcourt, has already been thinned by the cost-related subtractions of Rodney McGruder, Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington — plus the retirement of Dwyane Wade.

Look for coverage from American Airlines Arena — on this website and on podcasts — from myself (Ethan Skolnick) and Alphonse Sidney. That will include a recap of Pat Riley’s remarks, which now figure to occur early Friday morning, when everything is over.