Heat’s Pat Riley hints at make or break season for Jimmy Butler-led core

When talking about the current era of Miami that started when the team acquired Butler, it has been a successful one that has led them to two NBA Finals appearances, but still without a championship, There have been bumps in the road and now heading into the sixth year in this chapter of the Heat, Riley believes it will be a “telling” season according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“Six years, yeah, this is a telling year for the team. It should be,” Riley said Thursday. “They’ve been together for six years. The core has been together for six years, they’ve all gotten better.”

“Everything changes, I think, for the better with continuity and the fact that we believe in this roster,” Riley continued. “Does it mean that if we don’t win this year or if we don’t go deep this year, there are going to be massive changes? No, it doesn’t mean that. But they should know that this should be a crucial year for them. They want to win. They’ve been [to the NBA Finals] twice, but they want to win.”

Heat’s Pat Riley on keeping the core together

People have critiqued Riley and the Heat for being unable to add significant pieces to the team in a “whale” of a superstar, but the basketball icon is confident in his current roster. Riley believes the Hear’s biggest obstacle is staying healthy which has been addressed according to head coach Erik Spoelstra as said on media day and which Riley calls an “anomaly.”

“I wasn’t comfortable in just saying, ‘OK, I’m going to give up on this team this year because we’re a play-in team,” Riley said. “If you get in, you get in and then you go from there. Two years ago was an anomaly and we ended up in the Finals. I’ll take the anomaly any day. But we do have a very good team.”

Riley mentioned the problem of player availability like in his viral end of season press conference last May which also included talk of Butler’s contract extension or lack thereof.

Heat’s Pat Riley on the importance of player availability

Still, Riley does have a point in terms of health as the Heat ranked near the top of the league in missed games and had over 30 different starting lineups where as the president mentioned, there wasn’t many games played with the big three of Butler, Adebayo, and Herro.

“We don’t know about this team because you can’t have Tyler and you can’t have Bam and you can’t have Jimmy play 30 games,” Riley said. “So it would be like me saying when I was coaching that Magic [Johnson] and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and James Worthy, well they only played 30 games. From that reality standpoint, we need everybody. I hope and pray that we can be healthy this year to do that.”

Included with the aforementioned three stars is Terry Rozier who was acquired before the trade deadline last season and has been seen as the acquisition that can put them over the top.

Pat Riley on the Heat stacking against the rest of the East

When Riley was asked about how his team stacks up against the rest of the East since the top teams have acquired top talent which garnered a confident take on his team.

“Everybody gets better. Everybody makes their move,” Riley said. “We’ve done it three or four times and made big trades or signed big free agents and said, ‘I think it’s time to go for it’ or we plan for that. What Boston has done is incredible. They have a team that has broken all records, not only in how they play the game but also financially. They’re shooting for the moon here. And what New York did, [Knicks president] Leon [Rose] is going for it. He’s going for it, making these moves and these trades. So they have a great team. Philly, you never know with Philadelphia. They’re a little bit like us, they need to be healthy all year long.

“But I believe in this team, I truly believe in these guys,” Riley continued. “Bam, Jimmy and Tyler, to some extent maybe Terry have to be better. It’s always about can you produce more, can you be more, can you be together more. I’ve seen the improvement. … So I think we have a core of really, really great players who need to find another level of greatness. This is their time. So take the challenge.”

At any rate, fans will get to see if the Heat are up to the challenge when the regular season starts on Oct. 23 when they face the Orlando Magic, but they have one more preseason game against the Memphis Grizzlies on the road Friday.