Gilbert Arenas did not hold back on his criticism of Heat president Pat Riley over the recent drama involving star forward Jimmy Butler. The former All Star is joining a chorus of ex-players, such as Demarcus Cousins, who are blaming the Heat president for the franchise's current situation. Miami now seems to be in an unwinnable with a player who's led them to two NBA Finals' appearances.
Arenas went at Pat Riley's legacy, noting that the legendary coach/executive's championships have been won by superteams, whereas the rosters that the NBA legend coached or managed that were not stacked with talent, never won anything. Arenas additionally went on to blast Riley for failing Jimmy Butler in a full blown rant on the Gil's Arena show.
“You can’t pretend you’re bigger than LeBron! LeBron leaves, this ship crashes! Jimmy comes gets you to the chip, if he tells you bring me one more star, mf bring him one more star. Cause if he can get you to the championship with this, bring him one more star. For you to pretend that you are the Heat Culture and you can do this? You're lying because when he's leaves, nobody’s coming there, you got south beach in your favor, and you treat it like it’s a f*cking prison!”
The Heat are at a crossroads with the face of their franchise
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While Gilbert Arenas is known for making a lot of irrational takes, there is some sense to this rant. Ever since their run to the NBA Finals in 2020, the Miami Heat have largely kept the same core in tact over all these years. Despite this group's ability to consistently overachieve, the franchise's three titles came when it had multiple Hall-of-Fame players on the roster.
It's fair to say that the franchise has not surrounded Jimmy Butler with enough talent to consistently contend for an NBA Championship. However, to counteract Arenas' point, Butler's trade request out of Miami largely revolves around the fact that the franchise won't extend the aging forward. And it's fair for Riley to hesitate on that extension.
Miami is building around its young stars, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, who are 24 and 27 respectively. As young core pieces like Jaime Jaquez Jr and Nikola Jovic continue to improve, the franchise is looking more toward the long term future of the team, rather than trading away all of its assets to accommodate Jimmy Butler. The two parties, therefore, seem to be on different paths when it comes to the urgency of winning now.
Overall, the relationship between Butler and Pat Riley has been fracturing since the Heat president scolded the six-time All Star this past offseason. What was once a match made in heaven is heading towards a now inevitable split. There's blame to go both ways but overall it's a shame that this successful partnership is heading towards a bitter end.
