Over the past few months, Pat Riley and the Miami Heat have called for respectfully to consider the new dawn.
The 80-year-old team president was accused of Jimmy Butler of being upset and seeking trade. This is a season-confusing move.
Others like Charles Berkley believed Butler’s frustration was financial and the exit was inevitable in the end.
Miami’s Heat is undoubtedly weaker without Jimmy Butler, but the team has now safely reached the NBA playoffs via the play-in tournament.
And a key part of this was the contribution of the players Riley was traded after Butler’s trade.
A major move for the Miami Heat at the trade deadline was to trade Jimmy Butler for the Golden State Warriors.
Andrew Wiggins was a major piece that was in exchange for the heat, but Kyle Anderson and Dennis Schroeder also met, including the Utah Jazz and the Detroit Pistons.
PJ Tucker arrived from the Jazz, and the heat sent Dennis Schroeder, winning the Pistons from the Warriors.
Pat Riley used PJ Tucker and a second round pick to send him to the Toronto Raptors to get Davion Mitchell, whose contract is out of service.
Tucker was later cut off by a raptor and signed with the Knicks. But it worked out at all parties, with Miami landing the key player.
Davion Mitchell appeared as the key player for the Miami Heat in the final play-in game with the Atlanta Hawks.
Mitchell scored nine points in overtime to score a 123-114 victory.
The Heat made history and became the first team to advance from the 10th seed to the playoffs.
Miami is keen to sign Mitchell’s contract extension this offseason, and he is happy and wants to find and stay in the heat.
Head coach Eric Spellstra was impressed with Mitchell and compared him to Kyle Lowry.
Teammate Haywood Highsmith praised Mitchell’s “bulldog” style, and praised team leader Bam Adebayo for his speed and his passing.
Mitchell and the Heat enjoy the underdog role in the playoff series with the Cavaliers, and try to ruin the hopes of the Eastern top seed.
No matter what happens in that series, Mitchell is proving himself in Miami, and Pat Reilly still has it.
He was able to identify Mitchell as an important target, but helped save the Miami season, while giving up almost to win him.