MIAMI — Back in late March, Pat Riley felt like a proud papa.
At the trade deadline, he’d managed to acquire former All-Star Victor Oladipo and 6-foot-10 shooter Nemanja Bjelica without having to give up Tyler Herro or Duncan Robinson, two assets he said the Miami Heat couldn’t give up “because they could become truly great.”
“I think we kept everything that we needed in the cupboard, to cover our defense and our offense and special situations,” Riley said after the defending Eastern Conference champions dropped to 22-23 with a home loss to Portland in March. Miami would go on to win 12 of its final 16 regular-season games, enter the playoffs as the No. 6-seeded team and feel good about its chances in a series rematch it won, 4-1, last season against Milwaukee.
“We’ve got defenders. We’ve got shooters. We’ve got slashers.
