The Miami Heat are one of the six teams that have been granted an audience with Kevin Durant once free agency kicks off on July 1, and they should have plenty to sell. They have a great coach in Erik Spoelstra, an organization that’s competitive every year, one of the strongest cultures in the league, and you get to live in Miami (plus the whole no-state-income-tax thing). But part of Pat Riley’s pitch, according to ESPN.com’s Michael Wallace, is centered around the future of Chris Bosh, who has missed much of the last two seasons with recurring blood clots. That’s an incredibly dangerous thing to bring up in these meetings.
Pat Riley’s pitch to Miami Heat free-agent targets will include an optimistic view of Chris Bosh’s potential return to the court next season and the long-term stability of coach Erik Spoelstra, league sources have told ESPN.com.
Bosh is making progress in his recovery from recurring blood clots that have cut short each of his past two seasons, according to a source with knowledge of Bosh’s condition. Both Bosh and the Heat continue to work toward the goal of having the perennial All-Star power forward available for the start of training camp, sources said.
Only Bosh and the Heat’s doctors know what his health status is, but making promises about his future to free agents is an incredibly dicey proposition. Bosh missed the second half of the 2014-15 season after the initial discovery of the blood clots forced him to start taking blood thinners. The Heat thought the issue was in the past when training camp kicked off this season, but Bosh pulled out of the All-Star Game in Toronto at the last minute when the clots reappeared, and missed the rest of the season and the playoffs.
Since the blood clots have been a recurring issue, there’s no guarantee that Bosh will ever be cleared to play again. Even if he and the Heat insist that it isn’t a life-threatening condition, there is too much risk involved to be able to make any guarantees about his status. They’re either making promises about his future to free agents that they can’t know they’ll be able to keep, or they’ll rush Bosh back to deliver on those promises, which could have dangerous consequences.
Either way, it’s not a good situation.
(ESPN)
