Pat Riley explains the Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh signings
When LeBron James joined the Miami Heat back in 2010, he turned the Heat into the league’s elite team, leading them to four Eastern Conference Championships and two NBA Titles. When he decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this month, the Heat responded by re-signing guard Dwyane Wade and big man Chris Bosh and then signing free agent forward Luol Deng to replace James.
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There was no way the Heat were going to let Bosh walk.
“He’s the most versatile big man in the NBA,” Heat president Pat Riley told Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. And that’s what the market was for him, and Micky [Arison] stepped up to the plate. . . . I’ll be damned if I was going to let him walk out the door.”
Riley is aware of Wade’s injury history, but believes Wade can get back to where he used to be.
“When it comes to Dwyane, we’re just going to see where we are with him,” he explained. “And we think with what he’s done this summer, there’s the possibility of Dwyane can return to where he was before he ceded a good part of his game to LeBron, and the same thing with Chris.”
Bosh averaged 16.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 51.6% from the field, 33.9% from three and 82.0% from the free trow line. Wade went for 19.0 points, 4.7 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 54.5% from the field, 28.1% from three and 73.3% from the free throw line. Deng averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 43.1% from the field, 30.2% from three and 79.1% from the charity stripe.