Riley pushes for playoffs, insists he values draft, targets 2020 offseason

MIAMI — Miami Heat president Pat Riley has presented a plan for the team that includes fighting for a playoff spot this season, clearing maximum salarycap space for the 2020 offseason and valuing draft picks going forward.

Having largely remained in the shadows, his only public comments on the team since the start of the season offered during civic and charity events, Riley sat down with Fox Sports Sun host Jason Jackson for an interview that touched on the state of the team, an interview released Wednesday by the Heat.

In his most forwardthinking comment, Riley spoke of a major freeagency splash in the 2020 offseason, one, by the current math, that likely would have to come by moving on from the contracts of Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic.

“In 2020, we’ll have a lot of room,” he said of when the contracts of Dragic and Whiteside expire, with those players holding player options for 2019-20. “We’ll also have the possibility to have enough room going after two max contracts, and we’re going to do that. So we’re planning that 2020 will be the room year.”

But he said, despite filling out the Heat’s cap with the 2017 long-term signings of James Johnson, Dion Waiters and Kelly Olynyk, that adding a quality piece in the interim could be all that is needed for a major leap by his team’s young core.

“We’re chasing a playoff spot and we’re young, and then we’re going to be chasing some players that could come in,” he said, with the Heat likely limited only to salary-cap exception money this coming offseason. “If we could get one or two players to come in with this group, this young group, then I think the sky’s the limit for this team in the next couple of years.”

For the moment, Riley said there would be no turning back from a playoff push, even with the Heat holding their own firstround pick this June.

“It’s absolutely essential that they grow with experience, but not only experience with the playing time, but they get to the playoffs,” he said of his young core. “And they can experience in the playoffs maybe something that could get them to another level. You make your mark when you get to the playoffs.”

He identified that young core as Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson and Bam Adebayo, also mentioning Derrick Jones Jr. But he also pointed out the relative youth of Waiters, 27, Olynyk 27 and Whiteside 29.

“We have a lot of young players,” he said, “a lot of young assets.”

And a significant challenge at the moment to advance to the playoffs.

“We’ve never, I have never, thought of anything else other than we want to be a playoff team,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re fighting for spot No. 8 or 7 or 5 or 3 or the top spot or your fighting for a championship. You’ve got to be chasing something that’s positive.”

That said, he insisted he does not discount the draft.

“People think I don’t believe in draft picks. They’re so wrong. Draft picks are very important to us,” he said.

The Heat hold a firstround pick this year after their 2018 first-round pick was one of two dealt to the Phoenix Suns in 2015 for Dragic, with the team’s unprotected 2021 first-round pick also dealt.

In addition, the Heat have traded away each of their second-round draft picks through the 2023 draft except for 2022.

Riley also said the disappointing home record is a particular source of frustration, with the Heat taking an 11-18 home record and six-game home losing streak into Wednesday night’s game against the visiting Golden State Warriors.

“When I drive to the games and I see our fans walking across Biscayne Boulevard, going up the steps of AmericanAirlines Arena, they all got their gear on,” he said. “It’s like they’re going to a concert. And they expect a great product down on the court. And that’s why it disappointments me when we lose at home, because I don’t want to send them out of this arena feeling bad, like I feel.”