Pat Riley says Chris Bosh 'wasn't just written off' by Heat as tensions persist
Star forward becomes third member of the superstar Triad to leave the Heat with negative feelings
By
Matt Moore
•
3 min read
Pat Riley spoke of Chris Bosh's NBA career in the past tense on Monday, saying he believed Bosh's Miami career to be over due to the blood clot condition that resulted in a failed physical last week. It's also clear that tensions persist between Bosh and the team, after Bosh reportedly felt like the team was trying to clear his salary instead of what they claimed to be a genuine concern for his health which kept their doctors from clearing him to play.
Riley took serious exception to the way that Bosh had characterized the situation, and said as much Monday. From CBS Sports' Ethan Skolnick:
Riley repeatedly defended the doctors, objecting mostly to the portrayal that the Heat had "written off" the 11-time All-Star.
"He wasn't just written off," Riley said. "Was not. That may have been his attitude and perception of it, because he simply didn't want to believe what was out there. In spite of that, we did everything that we could... He was never just written off. That was a poor statement on his part, really poor, because it besmirched our doctors and our efforts to help find this protocol."
Riley also lashed out at media reports -- some fed by Bosh's side -- that the Heat were concerned largely about clearing Bosh's money from the salary cap. Bosh has three years and $76 million remaining on his contract and, if he doesn't play more than nine games between now and February 9, the Heat can begin the process of trying to clear him from their roster. They would still be responsible for paying him, with insurance covering roughly half of it.
"The only thing we care about, the only thing we care about, is his health," Riley said. "That's it. And everything that's been written other than that is wrong. There's never been any kind of cap (thing).... Whatever the cap ramifications are, they are there. But we never, ever, ever thought about that. If we didn't really care about Chris, we would have played him in the playoffs this year, and tried to get past Toronto and get to Cleveland. We felt we would have had a chance."
Riley said if "there was a level of mistrust" from Bosh, "I don't know what he's talking about. Because he just simply wouldn't agree with the opinions he was getting from a plethora of doctors. It wasn't just our doctor."
Source: Major takeaways from Pat Riley's transparent Bosh, Heat comments - CBSSports.com.
What's stunning here is how badly relationships have deteriorated between Riley and the three superstars he brought together in 2010 to form that super-team that wound up winning two NBA championships. LeBron James left with acrimony, with Riley making subtle jabs about James in a press conference and James making it known how he felt about Riley's attempt to pressure him into staying in Miami. Dwyane Wade, unbelievably, was in Chicago on Monday, in a Bulls uniform, getting ready for his first professional season in anything but a Heat uniform because Riley did not want to pay Wade big money at his age.
And now this situation with Bosh, whose departure wasn't the decision of the Heat but pure bad luck, even if all involved are fortunate Bosh's condition isn't considered life-threatening. Riley said Monday he emailed Bosh and hasn't heard back. There's bad blood there.
For three guys that were brought together in a special moment and accomplished great things for the franchise, all three now stand six years later with fractured relationships. The Heat like to talk of their organization as hyper-professional, but also as a family. But if that's the case, three of the most influential members have been banished and seem none to eager to return to the family table.
