Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade comes to the defense of team president Pat Riley and the rest of team management
The Miami Heat have a huge offseason coming this summer.
After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and being a middle-tier team for most of the last three seasons, the fans are getting restless. They want team president Pat Riley to return to being "The Godfather" during free agency, back when he used to lure top talent to Miami.
From Shaquille O'Neal to Chris Bosh to LeBron James, Riley has earned a reputation for landing "whales," as he likes to call them. While fans are complaining, Heat legend Dwyane Wade has a message to them.
Stay patient.
Wade basically told the fan base to chill and let Riley, general manager Andy Elisburg, CEO Nick Arison and owner Micky Arison do their thing.
"Pat, Andy, Micky, Nick, if they see an opportunity, they're going to strike," Wade said on his WY Network. "That's what they're going to do. But they're not going to strike just because you, as a fan, is impatient and you want them to strike. They've been to the Finals seven times since I was drafted. They're fine."
Wade, who arrived in 2003, helped lead the Heat to their first championship in 2006 when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks in six games. Wade was named MVP after having one of the best Finals in NBA history.
The Heat then made trips to the Finals from 2010-2014, winning back-to-back titles in `11 and `12 under James, Bosh and Wade. Most recently, they made surprise runs to the championship series but couldn't close the deal with Jimmy Butler in charge in 2020 and 2023.
That brings us to this summer. With names like Giannis Antetokounmpo out there, the fans are clamoring for Riley to make a splash move. Wade just wants them to relax and let the Heat brass handle it.
"But we want them to strike," Wade said. "They're fine but we want them to strike. We want Bam, we want these guys to get the help we feel like they need to be able to compete in the East. You see it open. You see opportunity. They're not striking for no reason just because you want them to. All you fans are impatient."
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com