Give Riley some credit

When Pat Riley shook-up his roster last summer after being two minutes away from a trip to the Finals, many raised their brow. When Miami got off to a poor start this season and watched Stan Van Gundy step down, even more questioned Riley's moves. But after watching the Heat/Pistons series one has to tip their hat to Riley.

While getting this team to gel as a unit was always the primary concern on the ego driven Heat squad, the timing could not have been better. Riley really found some flaws in last year's squad and fixed them quite nicely.

First, although Eddie Jones played solid defense and could take the ball to the hole, his value was limited due to playing next to Wade. Since Wade can get to the rim at will, there really wasn't a need to have Jones. What Riley needed was a dependable perimiter threat who could feed off Wade as he broke down the defense. Insert Antoine Walker who excelled during this series with hitting wide open 3 point looks.

Another area of concern for Riley was at point guard. Sure Damon Jones could hit an occasional three and sometimes get hot, but he couldn't run an offense and his defense is below average. What Riley looked for was a bigger guard who could match-up at the point while pushing the ball and attacking the defense. Insert here, Jason Williams who had a very solid series against MVP candidate Billups. Not only did Riley get a point guard who can penetrate, but lost virtually nothing in terms of 3 point shooting from the Jones to Williams swtich.

Lastly, Riley knew he had some young bench talent in Dooling and Butler, but they were green in playoff experience and it showed at crucial times in the series last year. Not only that, but Miami did not have a viable perimeter defender on last year's team. Insert James Posey, who posseses playoff saavy, clutch 3 point shooting, lock-down perimeter defense, and energy off the bench.

The additions and subtractions Riley made were soley to beat the Pistons and they worked perfectly. Although the Pistons simply ran out of steam and struggled in the series, Miami had a lot to do with it. Credit Riley for taking an objective look at his team's weaknesses and needs in the off-season and making moves that would provide him the opportunity to topple the mighty Pistons.

DP