Paul Pierce dismissive of Pat Riley’s comments about Heat being “close” to a championship
In the midst of a health crisis that has caused an unprecedented stoppage to the NBA season, Heat president Pat Riley this week tried to keep Miami Heat fans interested and engaged with upbeat and innocuous comments about the state of his franchise.
He probably didn’t expect a 10-year All Star to take issue with those comments on national television.
Paul Pierce, the former Boston Celtics star and now an ESPN analyst, was dismissive of the Heat president’s remarks the day after the Heat released a video in which Riley said, among other things, “I want to build another championship team and we’re close. Maybe we need another player. Maybe we need less. I don’t know. The point is we’re right there and we’re a contender, and I’m proud of that.”
Pierce, appearing on The Jump, said:
“If the Miami Heat is close, that means every team in the NBA is close. I don’t think they’re close. Let me tell you when you’re close. You’re close if you have a top five player playing on your team. That is the main ingredient. I say this and I’ll always say this with the exclusion of the Detroit Pistons who won in the early 2000s.
“Think about the contenders today: the Lakers, who have an MVP candidate, Milwaukee, with Giannis [Antetokounmpo] an MVP candidate. Houston Rockets, with James Harden a top five player. Those three guys are top five players. The Clippers; they got Kawhi [Leonard] and Paul George, a top five and top 10 player.
“Those are the only four teams I believe that can win the championship this year because that is one of the main ingredients. You can go back as far as 20, 30 years and see every championship team or team that has been a champion has had a top five MVP candidate on their roster. No disrepect to Jimmy Butler; he’s good but he’s not on these other guys’ level.”
Former NBA center Kendrick Perkins, perhaps the strongest Heat advocate among ESPN studio analysts this season, shot back:
“I’ve got to ride with Pat Riley on this one. You think of the Miami Heat and the team they have right now is the 2004 Detroit Pistons. They didn’t have a top five MVP candidate.
“When I am looking at this Miami Heat team, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they came out of the East this year. Not me. I thought they had the pieces. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they beat the Bucks in a seven-game series. Are they close? Yeah, I think they’re close.
“I’m a big Erik Spoelstra fan. I think he’s one of the best coaches in the league. He’s one of my all time favorites in my eyes and when I’m looking at this Miami Heat team, you do need an elite player.
“Do you need a top five player? No. I think they need an elite scorer. If they can pull off a trade and keep Bam [Adebayo] and Jimmy, and get back a Dame Lillard, that gets them over the hump.”
Here’s our Thursday piece on the Heat’s draft options expanding and noteworthy Tyler Herro comments.
Here’s my Thursday piece with Nick Saban’s chat with me and three other reporters about new Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa and Raekwon Davis.
Here’s my Thursday Dolphins piece with a 6-pack of notes on new running back Matt Breida.
