Miami Heat: 3 reasons this NBA Finals run is Pat Riley’s finest work

Miami Heat draft picks: Pat Riley’s diamonds in the rough

The Miami Heat have done a glorious job of finding and developing young players under Pat Riley’s leadership over the last couple of years.

Whether it be Duncan Robinson, an undrafted second-year player who was signed in free agency and had to earn a shot at a spot on the team thanks to a strong Summer League performance and then promptly turned out to be the best shooter in the NBA, or Kendrick Nunn, another undrafted player who was a standout rookie for much of the first half of the regular season.

Maybe Bam Adebayo is more your style, or Tyler Herro. Two undrafted players, and two players chosen in the low teens (14 and 13 respectively), and three of them are going to be starters in the NBA Finals. The drafting (and signing of undrafted players) and development of Heat youngsters has been among the best the NBA has to offer in recent years and this team is where it’s at as a result.

Miami Heat Culture

It’s almost a punchline at this point, but it’s hard to deny now: Heat culture is the real deal. Not every player is cut out to play for the Miami Heat, and those players who come to South Beach just don’t make it and it’s no secret when they don’t. There’s accountability on this team that doesn’t exist everywhere, and that flows from Pat Riley at the top of the organizational chart.

Without that “Heat Culture”, perhaps Jimmy Butler isn’t so eager to come to Miami. Maybe Duncan Robinson doesn’t flourish into the unprecedented success story he’s become. Surely Tyler Herro doesn’t step right in alongside Butler and Bam Adebayo as a shotmaking beast with not an ounce of fear.

You can’t credit everything that’s happened for this team to Heat Culture, but you can rest assured that without it, the Miami Heat would not be here.

Thanks to Pat Riley, they are here indeed.