National Basketball Association

Riley, Heat operating from position of strength

Published Jun. 25, 2010 4:01 a.m. ET

foxsports

Pat Riley emerged from the Miami Heat draft room very early Friday morning, content in the belief that he just acquired three good players.

Here comes the Heat president's chance to land some great ones.

``I think we've got a pretty good idea what we're going to do,'' Riley said.

With more salary-cap space than any team in the NBA, the Heat are in position to make the biggest splash when free agency finally begins Thursday at 12:01 a.m. While other teams - most notably New York, New Jersey and now, after some draft-day trades, Chicago - also are loaded with spending cash, it's Miami with the deepest pockets.

So not only can the Heat offer Dwyane Wade about $127 million to stay - and he's said countless times that he wants to stay if the roster is upgraded to a championship-contending level again - but they can also woo LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer or another highest-tier player of their choosing, and even then still add a whole slew of other talent.

``I want to build a team and it takes five guys to build a team,'' Riley said. ``And whatever kind of room we've created, it's to build a team. And we have the ability to do that. There's going to be a foundation, a core foundation, and there's going to be whatever that foundation will support.''

He paused for a moment, then added, ``I don't care what anybody else does. I've been at this for two years now.''

True, this decision to rebuild the Heat almost from scratch - entering the draft, Miami had only Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers locked into deals for next season - was born in 2008, when Riley traded away Shaquille O'Neal, then shut down Wade with more than 20 games left in the season because of injuries. That was the year Miami finished 15-67, and Riley coached for presumably the final time.

Riley won five titles as a head coach, earning him a spot in the Hall of Fame.

What he does during the most-awaited free agent period ever, however, will surely go down as part of his legacy, win or lose.

``We've stayed with the plan,'' Riley said. ``And now, in another week, we'll go out there and see what the market's all about and where the pieces end up landing. We've thought a lot about it.''

The Heat started the offseason overhaul with three second-round pickups, starting with center Dexter Pittman from Texas, shotblocking forward Jarvis Varnado from Mississippi State, and forward Da'Sean Butler - the West Virginia star who tore a ligament in his left knee during the Mountaineers' national semifinal matchup against eventual NCAA champion Duke.

Butler was ranked No. 21 on the Heat draft board. Pittman was 25th, Varnado 28th.

``We feel like we got three first-round picks,'' Riley said.

Ah, but they're not.

At least, not financially.

Every dollar counts for Miami right now, which is why Riley traded Daequan Cook and the No. 18 pick to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, a move that freed up around $3 million in salary-cap space. Second-round picks cost less to sign than first-rounders, another plus for the Heat. And the need for as much cap space as possible has led to speculation that Miami was trying to move Michael Beasley, the No. 2 pick in the 2008 draft, with eyes on carving out another $5 million or so in cap room.

Not happening, Riley insists.

``I'm sure anybody would take him, so as soon as that story got out, I must have gotten 25 calls from people thinking, 'Wow,''' Riley said. ``But that's not going to happen. We want to build around him and Mario, add those players to the guys we just drafted and add those guys to the core that during the period of free agency will bring us. That's what it's about.''