Miami Heat looking to add youth to the side – NBA Update
The Miami Heat’s President of Basketball operations, Pat Riley, recently confirmed what many had reported - the Miami Heat are looking at youth this offseason.
The Heat opted for a veteran squad the previous year when the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh was formed. It seemingly served them well as the experience of the roster helped the Heat fight adversity in the
early part of the campaign and arrive at the playoffs in good shape.
However, even as the Heat were dispatching the likes of Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls, their players were getting more and more battle weary. In a team that rotates around the Big Three, the lack of energy in the rest of
the unit hurt Miami in the NBA Finals.
The Dallas Mavericks stretched the court and used the energy and freshness that the likes of Jose Barea and Jason Terry brought from the bench to great effect against a tiring Heat side and in the end walked away with the NBA World
Championship.
Even though it was a great accomplishment to reach the NBA Finals at the first time of trying, the weakness still had to be dealt with. Pat Riley is as shrewd a basketball analyst as any and he has already started work on redressing
the fact.
Miami Heat’s draft pick, point guard Norris Cole, was the first step in the direction. The quick guard has been brought in to give the team some much needed pace and penetration that was lacking with Mike Bibby running the show
last year. Bibby meanwhile is not expected to return.
Riley is determined to present a young outlook for the Heat next season and therefore veterans like Erick Dampier, 35, Juwan Howard, 38, Jamaal Magloire, 33, or Mike Bibby, 33 are not going to be offered new deals.
The Heat have nine players signed for next season, including the Big Three, and they have extended a qualifying offer to Mario Chalmers, the young guard who shone in the Finals. Rest assured Riley won’t let the young player leave
and will match any offer other teams give him.
Eddie House and James Jones have player options for next season and will in all probability avail them, meaning that the Heat’s player count would go up to 12.
Riley said the spots were left open in the roster deliberately so that if the opportunity arises, the Heat can sign some young players in the free agency,
"There's going to be two roster spots left, maybe three, that we want to save to make sure that when free agency comes, that we have an opportunity to fill them with young, energetic, veteran players," Riley said.
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