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Queeniepop
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Riley: Offseason focus on point guard
By Ira Winderman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 2, 2007
Even before meeting with his players Tuesday, Heat coach Pat Riley, in his dual role as team president, had established a clear-cut offseason priority.
"Right now, we probably, more than anything, need point-guard help," he said.
It is a focus that outweighs the impending free agency of forwards James Posey and Jason Kapono.
"I have to keep my options open," Riley said.
After spending a season defending his rotation of Jason Williams, Gary Payton and Chris Quinn, Riley acknowledged the public face was not always the private approach.
Riley said the Heat spent the middle of the season looking to bolster itself at point guard.
"We thought very hard about it," he said.
In mid-February, the Heat thought it had its answer, a trading-deadline deal with Dallas for Anthony Johnson, a capable scorer who could have helped offset some of the team's all-too-common scoring droughts.
"We worked very hard to try to spring something loose in a trade," he said. "The guy that went to Atlanta, they wanted a first-round pick from us."
The Heat was unwilling to budge on what turned out to be the 20th overall selection.
Instead, the Mavericks sent Johnson to the Hawks for a second-round pick that turned out to be No. 34.
Riley passed on lesser options such as Jeff McInnis and Jason Hart.
In the end, that left him with Williams limping to the finish with a foot injury that limited the 31-year-old to 7-of-28 shooting in the playoffs. Knee, quadriceps and abdominal ailments robbed the playmaker of a quarter of the regular season.
Beyond that, Achilles, calf and abdominal ailments left Payton a shell of himself, with the 38-year-old guard limited to 32 total minutes in the four-game playoff ouster to the Bulls.
And once Dwyane Wade went down at midseason with a dislocated shoulder, it robbed the Heat of the fallback option it had relied on during its 2006 championship run.
"I really like Chris Quinn and I didn't think Dwyane was going to get hurt," Riley said. "Gary was fine until his injuries. I really had four options there."
The irony of the renewed focus is the team is in the same position that led to Williams' arrival during the roster overhaul in the 2005 offseason.
According to owner Micky Arison, the team decided at the end of 2004-05 that it was not financially advisable to meet the free-agent demands of Damon Jones and Keyon Dooling. So Jones was allowed to depart to Cleveland for a four-year, $16 million package and Dooling was lost to Orlando for a three-year, $10 million deal.
But now, with Payton on the verge of retirement, Williams entering the final year of his contract and Wade hardly up to full-time ball-handling responsibilities, there again is the issue of finding the right distributor for Wade and Shaquille O'Neal.
The options in free agency, especially in a Heat price range that effectively rules out the likes of Chauncey Billups, are limited to second-tier types such as Chucky Atkins, Steve Blake and Smush Parker.
The trade market could present Earl Watson, Luke Ridnour, Sebastian Telfair, Brevin Knight or possibly Dooling, who has the right to opt out of the final year on his Magic contract.
The draft hardly would appear to be Riley's first choice for such a significant position and the options in the Heat's No. 20 range are limited to scoring types such as Texas A&M's Acie Law and Oregon's Aaron Brooks.
The other option would be converting Williams' $8.9 million expiring deal into a veteran point guard with a lengthier contract such as Atlanta's Speedy Claxton, Indiana's Jamaal Tinsley, New York's Stephon Marbury, Philadelphia's Andre Miller, Phoenix's Marcus Banks, Sacramento's Mike Bibby or Minnesota's Mike James or Marko Jaric. Beyond Miller or Bibby, none of those other options appears particularly palatable.
No matter the approach, expect a proactive focus at point guard after the hard lessons learned this past season.
"I thought," Riley said, "I was covered enough." I would definitely do it. Or Francis. J-Will (expiring deal) and Kapono in a sign and trade for Marbury or Francis and Nate. Or J-Will, Doleac and cash, #20 pick or Dorell Wright for Francis/Marbs and Nate. |
