Speaking on Sirius XM NBA Radio, league insider Brian Windhorst issued this warning to the NBA in regards to Pat Riley and the Miami Heat:
“If you’re fortunate enough to be a type of franchise that can do that—you have clout and ability in this day and age of the NBA—and Pat Riley, even at 75 years old was on the cutting edge, and I believe they are dangerous going forward.
“They’ve got two All-Stars now. Bam Adebayo is an All-Star. Watch out over the 12-18 months as he might try to build one last superteam in Miami.”
This past summer, Jimmy Butler proved to the world that the Miami Heat was still a team people wanted to play for. The big market in South Beach, the iconic history and lore of the franchise, the looming presence of the legendary Pat Riley — these things were never out of play for the Heat and is the reason they’ve been able to rebound so well from the departure of LeBron James in 2014.
With an abundance of resources, the team isn’t looking to settle and rest on their laurels. They want to bring a dynasty back to life, and they’re already 2/3rds of the way there.
.@WindhorstESPN has a warning to the rest of the league on the Miami Heat: Pat Riley has big plans for this team #HEATTwitter pic.twitter.com/P97ofB88Cc
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) January 14, 2020
whether in free agency or on the trade market, expect the Heat to be very active in their pursuit of star-power. Their third-place standing in the East this year is evidence enough that the core they have is enough to compete for years.
If the league GMs were wise, they would heed Windhorst’s warning.
