Jimmy Butler continues to be alive within the playoffs proper now along with his new workforce, however Pat Riley clearly has no regrets about how he dealt with that entire scenario.
The longtime Miami Warmth president Riley spoke with reporters on Friday for his end-of-season information convention. In the course of the session, Riley bought a query in regards to the ex-Warmth star Butler and responded with some harsh feedback.
“I’m not going to apologize for saying no on the contract extension [for Butler] after we didn’t must,” Riley replied. “And I don’t suppose I ought to. I’ll all the time say that to the gamers. If I used to be teaching, [I’d say], ‘Hold your mouth shut, and I’ll see you subsequent coaching camp.’ And also you get again on the court docket.”
Riley did additionally replicate on the numerous good occasions and successes that Butler had with the Warmth throughout their five-and-a-half-season run collectively and added on the finish that he wished Butler effectively. You may watch the total clip of Riley’s remarks here.
In his feedback, Riley was referencing his two main bones of competition with Butler that helped result in their cut up. For one, Butler, 35, was seeking a max contract extension from the Heat (which they finally refused to offer to him). For one more, Butler made some controversial feedback after Miami bought swept out of the primary spherical by the Boston Celtics final season whereas he was injured. He claimed that the Warmth would have received that collection if he was wholesome sufficient to play, which led to Riley publicly firing back by saying, “It is best to hold your mouth shut.”
The Butler-Miami saga ended up getting extremely ugly toward the end, and the six-time All-Star was ultimately away traded to the Golden State Warriors forward of the commerce deadline final February. Though the partnership between Butler and the Warmth had clearly simply run its course, it seems that there are nonetheless some lingering unhealthy emotions between the 2 sides (particularly when you think about what Butler had to say about Riley weeks after the trade).
