Pat Riley Says Miami Heat Looking For Best Player Available In NBA Draft

Team president Pat Riley gave an idea of what to expect from the Miami Heat in Thursday's NBA draft.

During a new conference Tuesday, Riley addressed what the Heat expect to do with the No. 18.

“I’ve always been a talent-first guy,” Riley said. “So, the draft will either be the best player available or positional need.”

When asked further about positional need, Riley said “I would say more overall wing size and length. That’s what everybody is looking for.”

The desire for more wing size likely stems from Miami’s struggles against the Denver Nuggets in the Finals. Riley followed by saying, “Multiple position players, especially ballhandling players or two-way kinds of players.”

His past selections in the draft have shown these ideas. Last year the Heat selected Serbian forward Nikola Jovic with the 27th pick. Next season, Jokic is expected to take on a bigger role after spending most of his rookie year in the G-League.

Following this approach, Riley has found recent success in the draft by selecting 2022 Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro at No. 13 in 2019 and two-time All-Star Bam Adebayo at 14th in 2017.

Later, Riley commented on what he views as some of the most essential skills in a prospect saying “You need real versatility. And you’ve got to be able to shoot the ball. If you can’t you’ve got to be really great at something else.”

Anthony Pasciolla is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He can be reached at anthonypasciolla36@gmail.com