Miami Heat president Pat Riley wants to bring back the core players from the Heat's 2012-13 championship season as the team enters the offseason. During a 45-minute press conference, Riley said the team's main goal is to keep their group in tact despite luxury tax penalties being faced in 2013-14.
"We hope to bring all of our guys back," Riley said.
However, Riley answered the hypothetical question of whether he'd have different sentiments had his team lost to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 or Game 7 honestly.
"Probably," Riley said. "The whole set of dynamics would have been an absolute negative flood of energy. But it didn't happen. Would we have approached it differently? We probably would have been thinking differently. But I don't even want to think about that."
Riley said he was hoping for a miracle as the Heat were on the brink of elimination in Game 6. His team answered with a game-tying 3-pointer from Ray Allen with 5.2 seconds remaining to force overtime.
"We know how it would have been covered [had the Heat lost Game 6]," Riley said. "LeBron [James] scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and then all of a sudden had two turnovers in the last minute. I don't know how that would have played out the next day."
The Heat have won back-to-back championships and have reached the NBA finals every year since acquiring James and Chris Bosh, along with re-signing Dwyane Wade. The debate of splitting up the team died down after their miraculous comeback, which Bosh's rebound and assist to Allen in Game 6 played a key factor in.
Miami has already opted to exercise the option on starting point guard Mario Chalmers. The Heat will also see a return of James Jones and Rashard Lewis, who chose to exercise their player options for 2013-14.
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