Pat Riley recently talked about his career and everything that has happened with the Miami Heat lately. The Heat, who lost their franchise player Dwyane Wade last summer, had one of the most sensational seasons this year. However, they couldn't make the playoffs, which was disappointing considering they were one of the best teams in the NBA in the second half of the season.
Wade is gone and the Heat are not in the postseason, yet Pat Riley wishes he has done some things in a different way. Heat fans are still disappointed that Dwyane Wade left the team, and Riley isn't too happy about it either.
Even though many people think that Riley wanted Wade gone, it is actually quite the opposite since he wanted Wade to stay, and he wanted to give him a competitive team to play with.
Riley wishes he picked Wade over Bosh
Summer of 2014 was merciless with the Miami Heat as they lost LeBron James, who decided to return to his former team, Cleveland Cavaliers. This unfortunate departure left the Heat unprepared, as James hadn't revealed his plan to leave Miami until the very last moment. As a consequence, things began to fall apart and Pat Riley did his best to save the team from a complete collapse.
Riley's first move was signing Chris Bosh to a five-year contract worth $118 million. Bosh, who threatened to sign with the Houston Rockets, was a valuable piece of the team, and losing him was not an option.
Since the Miami Heat spent a lot of money on him, they couldn't offer a big contract to Dwyane Wade, as they needed to fill out remaining roster spots. Now, three years later, Pat Riley wishes he would have said no to Bosh and given a maximum contract to Wade instead.
Bosh's contract turned out to be a failure
Since receiving the big contract, Chris Bosh has dealt with health issues and he has played in only 77 games since then.
His contract turned out to be a failure for the Heat as Bosh missed 70 percent of games. Right now, Bosh is still on the Heat roster, but he will most likely have to retire as he has a life-threatening condition.
On the other side, Dwyane Wade had two great seasons for the Heat, yet he received only a $15 million contract in 2014.
A year after, he received $16.1 million, and he led Miami to the second round of the playoffs. Last summer, Wade felt disrespected by Riley as he wasn't offered a big contract, and he decided to sign with the Chicago Bulls. However, according to Riley, all he wanted is to have a competitive roster around Wade in Miami, as he wanted him to finish his career with possibly another championship.
