South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Has expectation exceeded reality for Riley and Heat?
MIAMI — Pat Riley thinks big. It is what has made him an icon in Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
He refuses to settle. Tell him no at your own risk.
Where others saw challenges, Riley saw opportunities with Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal, even LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
After a while, doubting became a fool’s mission.
But the flip side of such anticipation is disappointment, which turned out to be the case when Kevin Durant and Gordon Hayward came to market in free agency, when Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler became available in trades.
For the most part, Riley acolytes have done right by their boss when such gambits were termed failures in outside quarters. To win big they have emphasized, you have to think big.
But the result often becomes unreal expectation, anticipation of quick fixes, an easier way out.
The Heat are in a tough spot at the moment, hard up against the salary cap and even luxury tax. Given James’ 2014 departure, Bosh blood clots and the false hope of 30-11 at the end of 2016-17, it is not difficult to see how the Heat got here. And it simply might not be anybody’s fault. Life happened.
But at some point, the past no longer can stand as the gauge.
Times change. Rules change. The cap and tax change.
Riley? Not so much.
Which is why, when questioned about where the Heat stand, he again turned to past Heat moves that yielded significant dividends. “I just go back to Eddie Jones and Brian Grant,” he said. “Both of those players at the time we ended up doing sign and trades with. We didn’t have the room for either one of them and we ended up trading for them.
“So if a player really wants to get somewhere, then all of a sudden all they have to do is make that known. It possibly can happen, but that’s what’s going on in the league now, is players are really choosing and they’re bypassing the real security that they can get and picking out where they want to go. ... We’ll have opportunity at that possibility.”
And yet, when Irving wanted out of Cleveland in the 2017 offseason, he had the Heat at the top of his list of desired destinations. He would up being dealt to the Boston Celtics.
And when Butler wanted out of Minnesota in September, he made clear the preference for a move to South Florida. He instead was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers.
To a degree, Riley is correct that the Heat, even amid these recent uneven seasons, remains a desired landing spot.
“It isn’t just a quick trip to South Beach and going over to Ocean Drive,” he said. “The weather and the state taxes are great but they want to come to an organization that has a chance to win and I believe we have proven that in the 23 years that I’ve been here.”
And they still might.
But cap space matters, with Riley coming around to the potential reality of being able maximize room for only one prime free agent in 2020.
And trade assets still matter, with the Heat seemingly light in that regard, as well, unless the young talent is taken to market.
As for draft assets, Riley said, “I think we have an arsenal of picks.” Except with the Heat owing their unprotected 2021 firstround pick to the Los Angeles Clippers, their 2020 and ‘22 first-round picks are ineligible to be dealt at the moment. As for the second round, the Heat only own one such pick over the next five drafts.
Again, this is not doubting the man or the franchise. And there is plenty to be said about seeing possibilities where others only see pain.
But there also is reality. And that now stands as one of Riley’s ultimate challenges.
Because second to the pain of losing is the pain of unmet expectation.