Riley: Heat not working toward Bosh’s return
By The Associated Press
Chris Bosh has more than likely played his final game for the Miami Heat, with the All-Star forward’s latest health setback apparently convincing the team that a return from multiple bouts of blood clots is no longer feasible.
Bosh failed a physical last week, keeping him from getting clearance to return to the court.
“Chris is still openminded,” Heat president Pat Riley said Monday. “But we are not working toward his return.”
Each of Bosh’s his past two seasons ended at the All-Star break because of blood clots, but he was planning to come back this season while on a regimen of blood thinners. This month, he even pronounced himself ready to play, saying nothing would keep him off the floor.
“There is not a next step for us,” Riley said. “It’s pretty definitive for us in our position.”
Bosh is not expected to even be around the Heat, at least for the foreseeable future. He will not accompany the Heat to training camp that starts today in the Bahamas.
With Bosh out of the mix, that means 11 of the 19 players who got minutes for the Heat in the 2015-16 season are no longer with the team. Of the starters from Miami’s final game — Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series in Toronto — only Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow remain, with Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng and Joe Johnson signing elsewhere this summer.
“Everybody knows how much CB means to me and his family,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday. “I love CB dearly. It was tough to watch CB and his family go through this the last couple years. Your heart just goes out to him.”
Clippers
Paul Pierce said this season with Los Angeles will be his last as an NBA player. Pierce made the announcement Monday in a posting on The Players Tribune. He turns 39 next month and said “it’s time to move on from the game of basketball” and that he will take time to savor every moment that this season brings. This will be Pierce’s 19th season in the NBA and he is 16th on the NBA’s career scoring list.
Knicks
A Los Angeles Police Department detective confirmed last week that guard Derrick Rose is the subject of an active criminal investigation over sexual assault allegations raised against Rose and two friends by a woman who is claiming the three men gang-raped her in 2013. The woman has filed a civil lawsuit against Rose and the two other men over the incident, and that trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 4. A LAPD detective confirmed the existence of the investigation in a letter dated Sept. 22 to the lawyer who is representing the woman in her civil lawsuit.
Wizards
All-Star guard John Wall will only participate in “bits and pieces” of training camp as he rebounds from offseason knee surgery. Coach Scott Brooks said there is no official timeline for Wall to be ready for game action. Brooks doesn’t know if Wall will play in any of seven preseason games before the Wizards open the regular season Oct. 27 at Atlanta. Wall said he’s feeling great but echoed Brooks’ mantra that he won’t hurry back too soon and risk reinjuring anything.
Cavaliers
Guard Mo Williams, 33, informed the team he is officially retired. Williams has waffled on whether he would return all summer and told the Cavaliers about his plans Monday shortly before the NBA champions held their media day. Williams played two stints with Cleveland. He was not in coach Tyronn Lue’s rotation for much of last season, but wound up playing in the Finals when Matthew Dellavedova struggled.