1 Never trade good players for future draft picks
1-A: ?! As numerous commentators mention and recent CBA history proves, this is a horribly outdated commandment. Free agency is dead in the NBA. Commissioner Adam Silver fixed the game with the current CBA to prevent the formation of super-teams by uppity players who demanded trades to go play with their friends or to chase a ring. The salary cap "aprons" are draconian: cross the second "apron" and an org loses its ability to add anything to its roster. The intended consequence is to force teams to build through the draft (with players at low rookie salary slots). I vehemently oppose what Silver did, but it's reality. Curse the darkness or light a candle. Pat Riley chooses to curse the darkness. The result is draft picks in the 10's or lower. Virtually no chance to draft a superstar. Virtually a guarantee of 44-38 indefinitely. If you don't trade "good players" for first rounders, ditto.
2 Never give up on a season
2-A: !! Absolutely no tanking. Fight, fight, fight through all 82.
3 Do not accept taking a step back with the hope that it could lead to better days ahead
3-A: !! No loss is acceptable, there is never a silver lining (see last night's L to Beans). A lost season is never, ever acceptable.
4 Go all in for an all-time great player but be very selective about pursuing other good players
4-A: ! However, the org. did not follow commandment 4 in the Giannis Antetokounmpo pursuit. That because of commandment 8 below. You are not "all in" if you refuse to trade a very good player for a 31-year old hall of famer.
5 Do not make a trade simply for the sake of making a trade
5-A: I can't grade that commandment without having examples of what it means in practice. It sounds good, making a trade just to make a trade sounds mindless, but that is all I can say.
6 Don’t give up on a roster prematurely
6-A: Define "prematurely". Like commandment 5, this one sounds good--depending on how you define prematurely. There was a sense in the last Jimmy Butler years, a sense that I shared and that JBIII shared, that giving up on the roster was overdue. Riley began his post-2024 overview by mangling his meaning of "change". He ended up giving it the meaning of "availability". There was nothing wrong with the players on the roster, they (particularly Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro) simply had to play more games. This was consistent also with another of the commissioner's CBA rules that "stars" couldn't miss: one, nationally televised games; two, Silver Cup games; three, more than seventeen regular season-plus games and be eligible for player awards (MVP, DPOY, ROY, etc.). There is an intertwined issue with prematurely: 601 Biscayne overvalues its roster. That is my opinion, it is also the opinion of some cognos and at least one current general manager this season. Examples: i. The org. hung on to a disastrous draft pick, Justise Winslow, far too long. I took one look at about five mins of Winslow's tape while at Duke and concluded "He can't play." Similarly, I read about Kel'el Ware's time in college at Indiana and thought drafting him was at least a "?". A si.com lede captured this commandment in practice succinctly:
The Miami Heat simply don’t have enough
When the past reminds you of reality
7 Don’t try to sell high on players
7-A: ? What do you want to do, sell low? That makes no sense. Look at what Oklahoma City got by trading Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and Paul George in their prime. They got a passel of draft picks that set them up as a perennial contender and plausible dynasty.
8 Bam Adebayo is essentially untouchable
8-A: ?? Riley would not trade,
Bam:
0 NBA titles
0 MVP
0 All-NBA
0 Defensive Player of Year
5 All-Defensive Team
1 All-Defensive First Team
3 All-Star Team
0 All-Star Game MVP
for,
Giannis:
1 NBA title
2 MVP
9 All-NBA
7 All-NBA First Team
1 Defensive Player of Year
5 All-Defensive Team
4 All-Defensive First Team
10 All-Star Team
1 All-Star Game MVP
9 Maintain roster/payroll flexibility if possible
9-A: ? Void for vagueness ("if possible"). In practice, in 2025/26 the team is 16th in the league standings, 15th in total cap allocations, and 16th in cap space ($43M over). So I guess we're flexible to be 16th.
10 Don’t worry about losing a free agent for nothing
10-A: ?? This commandment and commandments one, five, and seven are all consistent in inanity with each other. Why would you let Gabe Vincent and Caleb Martin go for nothing? Why would you not even try to get something for impending free agents? Because we don't value draft picks, we don't make trades for the sake of trading, we don't even try to sell high when we know we're not going to keep a player, we don't worry about losing a player for nothing. Circular reasoning: we don't because we don't.
