Miami Heat: 5 Takeaways From Pat Riley’s End-Of-Year Press Conference

3. Winslow’s Future With The Team

Late in his presser, Riley became indignant over a question regarding Winslow and fellow 2015 draftee Josh Richardson. After clarifying how highly he thought of both, he went into further detail pertaining to his second-year small forward:

"I have been around players like [Winslow] for a long time. He is more than a shooter — he’s a player, he’s a warrior, he’s a defender. He’s got tremendous energy, he cares about winning. He always tries to make winning plays… I took a look at a lot of those guys, like Justise, who came in as one-and-done guys… I think Kawhi [Leonard] averaged eight points a game his first year. Six years later, he’s averaging 25. We’re measuring [Winslow] after 75 games. And I think that’s unfair… give him a chance. He ain’t going anywhere… He’s a winner, we’re glad to have him."

Is this a case of a team official talking up one of his guys in order to get his value to go up? Possibly. Or, at this point in time, maybe he really considers the former Duke Blue Devil untouchable.

To me, this evokes memories of 2003-04, the season in which the Heat were a team of surprising upstarts, like rookie-year Wade, Lamar Odom and Caron Butler. They rode youthful exuberance and a borderline-elite defense to a 42-40 record, when most thought they were headed straight for another high lottery pick. (Sound familiar?)

The young core’s future looked very bright back then, too. So what did Miami do the following offseason? Simply trade every young piece (besides Wade) for O’Neal. Two years and one championship later, the decision was more than vindicated.

If Riley sees an opportunity to trade for a star, he won’t hesitate to do so. Just look at his history for proof.