Miami Heat president Pat Riley held his end-of-season news conference on Friday, nearly two weeks after his team’s elimination from the NBA playoffs in a four-game sweep versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Following a tumultuous season during which team management feuded with Jimmy Butler over a contract extension and eventually traded him to the Golden State Warriors, the Heat finished as the No. 10 team in the Eastern Conference at 37-45 and had to get into the playoffs through the play-in tournament.
“There’s no doubt that what happened with Jimmy had a tremendous impact on our team,” Riley told reporters. “There’s no doubt about it.”
However, Riley had no regrets about not giving Butler the extension he wanted and felt no need to apologize — whether to Butler, Heat players, or the team’s fans — for how the situation developed.
“No, I’m not going to apologize for saying no on the contract extension when we didn’t have to,” he said. “And I don’t think I should. I will always say that to the players, if I was coaching, ‘Keep your mouth shut, and I’ll see you next training camp.’ And you get back on the court.”
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Riley acknowledged that players are different now than when he coached and such an approach might not work anymore, as it has for him in the past. However, he prefers to move on from the Butler situation after addressing it for what he apparently hopes is the final time.
“It’s over. He’s done. I wish him well,” Riley added. “Good luck to him and I hope deep down in his heart somewhere, he wishes us well too.”
This story will be updated.
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