Pat Riley thinks Miami Heat don’t really need to add a centre to their roster – NBA Update
Ever since the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh was put together, talks of what this star studded team needs more started emerging rather than what this combination could achieve cohesively as a team.
In their first year together, Miami went all the way to the NBA Finals before losing out to the Dallas Mavericks. However in their second year back, LeBron cemented his position as the top player alive in the game and helped his
team reach their goal of bringing home a Championship.
But despite winning it all, the talks of adding a true centre to Miami’s line up still surface every now and then.
Pat Riley, the president of the basketball operations at the franchise and the mastermind behind the success of the South Beach giants, however thinks that even though Miami needs a big man, they are more than capable of performing
without one.
“We definitely are going to continue to look for somebody in that spot, but unless there’s an injury, we really don’t need a centre,” he said in an Riley said during an appearance on WQAM.
Miami currently have Joel Anthony and Dexter Pittman as the only two players at the centre position and could use a true big man. Anthony might have played a great part in the two years of dominance Miami have had, but is not renowned
for his dominating displays on the offensive glass. On the other hand, Pittman is merely a backup who can only play for a few minutes in the game.
With not much size available on the roster, the Heat have been more intent playing with smaller and quicker lineups, and in a bid to strengthen that style of play, they added Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis in the free agency.
Miami could add any of veterans still available in the free agency, which includes the likes of Darko Milicic, Chris Andersen, Jermaine O’Neal, Ben Wallace, Lou Amundson, Joel Przybilla and Andray Blatche but Riley, believes that
Bosh is more than capable of filling up the void.
“We signed Chris, basically, in my mind, fully in my mind, not in the back of my mind, he was probably going to be our centre in critical situations,” Riley said. “And, so, Chris Bosh is a power forward, he’s a Tim Duncan-type
player, but when you watch the San Antonio Spurs play, Tim is in the middle. That’s all there is to it.”
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