Riley and the Heat Not Necessarily Keeping Their Lottery Pick

by Marcel Mutoni

As Dwyane Wade and two other team reps stood together awkwardly last night, awaiting their teams’ fates, Wade did a thumbs-up when Miami won the second pick in the Draft Lottery.

D-Wade, presumably, was happy with the idea of playing with either Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley, depending on who the Bulls select first.

Not so fast, says Pat Riley.

“Unless there’s somebody like LeBron James or a [Kevin] Garnett, somebody you absolutely know is a superstar, then the second-most important thing to have is leverage,” Riley said. “We feel we have a lot of leverage with the pick.”

“Take a look at what Boston did last year,” Riley said about the trade of its fifth overall pick for Garnett. “I’m talking hypotheticals. I just want people to know, especially our fans, that we’re going to do our best to select a player or leverage that pick to get the best player for the team.”

Ah, Pat Riley. The man who oversaw one of the worst seasons in franchise history, now given a chance to resurrect his franchise through pure chance, and still willing to make Heat fans sweat it out until the bitter end.

Gotta love him. Or not.