Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hyde: Heat trade short of big deal
SACRAMENTO — As he attempted to make sense of what he already knew and digest what still was to come, Goran Dragic paused for a breath.
“We all know the Miami Heat, Pat Riley and those guys,” the veteran guard said. “They want more.”
So, like his teammates, he braced for more.
Already, Justise Winslow acknowledged he had been traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, now on social media wearing a Grizzlies cap.
Already, Dion Waiters and James Johnson had cleared out of the locker room, with no need for the equipment staff to launder their uniforms for Friday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings.
Already, former Golden State Warriors
forward Andre Iguodala had taped an interview stressing the excitement of both his non-playing purgatory with the Grizzlies being over and his Heat career about to begin.
And now, Dragic’s teammates were buzzing about the team not only adding Iguodala, but also potentially more at Thursday’s NBA trading deadline.
That, indeed, turned out to be the case, with the Heat also getting veteran forwards Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill from the Grizzlies in the deal that sent Waiters to Memphis and Johnson to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Like Dragic, that had center Bam Adebayo recognizing who he was working for, how good with the Heat never will be good enough for Riley, General Manager Andy Elisburg and the rest of the Heat front office.
So he, too, attempted to offer perspective, even as his friend/teammate Winslow was gone, just as his friend/teammate Josh Richardson had been dealt during the offseason as part of the package that landed Jimmy Butler from the Philadelphia 76ers in a sign-and-trade transaction.
“He’s obsessed with winning,” Adebayo said of Riley. “You can’t blame him for that. You can’t be mad at that. You can’t be upset at that. We’ve all got that type of DNA in here.
“It’s not just from the guys who got
traded, it’s from all of us. And at the end of the day, he’s got to make the big decisions and he’s making decisions right now to try to get us another championship.”
For Butler, this was what was promised, with it now up to the players to deliver.
“They want to win now,” he said of the front office. “That’s what I was told and that’s what they’re doing.
“I think they know what everybody is capable of in this locker room, myself included. We know that we can compete with the best of ’em, so moving forward we’re expected to continually do that.”
While taking time, at times such as this, to also reflect.
“I think around this locker room and this organization, we have the utmost respect for Justise and what he did while he was here,” Butler said. “And he’s still a brother to us. We can’t wait to see him, and we do wish him the absolute best.
“But you know, moving forward, with the new pieces we have, we still have the same goal in mind, and that’s to win a championship. I think everybody around here agrees with that and knows that Coach and Pat and Andy, this whole organization is going to do the best they can to make sure that happens.”
Bolstering their chances is Iguodala, who won three championships with the Warriors.
“We’ve got a lot of pieces,” Butler said. “He’s definitely going to add to that.
“So myself and everybody else, it’s another somebody we can lean on.”
Having himself been acquired in a midseason Heat trade, in 2015, Dragic said it is essential Iguodala be integrated as quickly as possible.
“We need to embrace him,” he said. “Everybody needs to give him information and talk to him, so he adapts as soon as possible. And from there on, he’s a vet in this game, he knows how to play basketball, so I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”
When the Heat left for this five-game trip, the attitude was one of being an unexpected contender in the East. Now the ante has been elevated.
“Our mentality was always to get to the playoffs and have the highest goals,” Dragic said, “but now it’s even more with this team.”