Pat Riley and the Miami Heat have dealt with quite the off-season. After a shocking five game dismantling at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs during the NBA Finals, the Heat lost LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency just a few weeks later.
That hasn’t stopped Riley from building his roster back up and moving forward. The team re-signed Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, and brought in All-Star Luol Deng to replace James. After officially announcing Chris Bosh’s new contract earlier today, Riley spoke with some media and had plenty of quotables, including that he felt mislead about LeBron’s free agency. Ethan J. Skolnick of Bleacher Report has more from Riley.
Pat Riley just spoke 2 writers. Went into FA process "w/the thought & the notion" LeBron was coming back. Still, says he didn't feel misled.
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) July 30, 2014
Pat Riley, on whether he plans to b shaping team long-term: "Yes. I do. It’s fired me up, basically. I don’t like to get beat on anything."
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) July 30, 2014
Pat Riley on LeBron's decision: "Like Micky said, both of us were shocked. But you know, you recover."
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) July 30, 2014
Riley says plans w/Bosh were ripped up when LeBron left: "I’ll be damned if I was going 2 let him walk out the door. I’m gonna tell u that."
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) July 30, 2014
More Riley: "I don’t get hurt. Very rarely do I get hurt. My wife will hurt me. My daughter might hurt me. And my son. But this is business"
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) July 30, 2014
Wow. It sure sounds like James heading back to Cleveland has re-invigorated Riley. While losing the four-time MVP will sting Heat fans, they should be excited to learn that it will motivate Riley to make the team better than ever.