HEAT President and Head Coach Pat Riley recently announced that he will be returning to coach HEAT for three more seasons. HEAT Insider was at Riley's conference call as he discussed his future, health and off-season moves.

Pat Riley: “First things first, I'm going to make an announcement. I have decided that I'm going to coach another three years; the term of my contract. And that's why it's taken so long for me to make this decision. I don't want to be a ‘one and done' guy every year. (After having) conversations with Micky, I have three years left on my contract and I will coach those out. I will try to coach those out unless someone else makes a decision on me. That's a commitment that I want to make to the organization.”

Was that a difficult decision to make?

PR: “Yes it was. There were a lot of dynamics (going into my decision). I wasn't sitting around playing games with anything. I put a lot of thought into it. I just set my son up in an apartment; he is out of the house. We are taking my daughter, Elisabeth, up to college next week, so it will be the first time my wife, Chris, will be alone. She has had the children around, people around for years, so I gave that a lot of consideration. We talked a lot about it. We finally came to the decision that this is what I love doing and is also what's best for us right now. So I'm going to keep moving forward with it.”

Is it a coincidence that Shaq's contract is up in three years and Wade's option comes up in three years? Is that why you chose that?

PR: “No, it's purely coincidental; I never tied my contracts to theirs. It really is purely coincidental, but that may be the run, the life, for this particular team. Obviously we are going to want to sign Dwyane to an extension somewhere, we hope. And also, as we have planned, like we have done in the past, is that this is going to be a huge room team for us. And we hope that over the next three years of Shaq's tenure here and Dwyane's really in the prime of his life that we are going to be a contender and then after that, we will re-evaluate the whole situation from the draft to free agency and be a room team.”

Are there thoughts about re-signing James Posey or is that unlikely?

PR: “We are in conversations right now, but the reality is the reality. Micky is not reluctant to pay the tax. This is not about paying the tax or being a tax team. Anytime you are a tax team, you don't have to pay the tax until next July, but you do have to find a way to get under the tax by the trading deadline. Sometimes if you are way over the tax, you might be forced to give up valuable assets, money and players, to room teams that have exceptions to get under, if the money means that much to you. But Micky has always said if there is a player or players that he feels can really change the team, he is not worried about paying the tax, but we don't want to be a big tax team.”

Mickael Pietrus seemed enthusiastic. Can you give us an update? Is that something that is being pursued?

PR: “It's the same thing with ( Anderson ) Varejao. The restricted free agent, it's not a waste of time, if you are willing to pursue that. If you are willing to pursue that at a number that you feel the team that has that right will say ‘wow', not only do we not want to do that, we can't afford to do that. Or you might be a team that would pursue a restricted free agent and offer someone so much money that just to force another team to do that, to match the offer, take them over the cap. That is not our philosophy with restricted free agents. They are going to match him. And we felt that they would match him at the mid-level. And so the only way its going to happen is with a sign and trade. We have talked about a lot of different possibilities with them and that is the one thing about restricted free agency that is beginning to draw away at the players. They are really not free agents and I do believe that the whole restricted free agent thing is going to be addressed at the next collective bargaining agreement. You are either a free agent or you are not.”

Can you talk about Eddie Jones?

PR: “I told Eddie I wanted him back at our exit meeting. I definitely wanted him back on the team. He was told that. We didn't talk about money obviously at that particular time and his agent was aware of that right from the beginning. I offered him the 1.8 (million) bi-annual exception, after he was offered the 1.8. He didn't sign the deal, but I offered him the 1.8 for two years. For some reason he moved on. But it wasn't because we didn't pursue him. It was probably one of the main reasons that I went and pursued and took a hard look at Penny Hardaway, because I think Penny, at his age now and obviously a tremendously different frame of thinking and stage in his career, he is in great shape, a playmaker, a veteran. He knows he is not who he was at one time, as did Eddie, so we bring a veteran free agent in with our perimeter players who I think will also help. He has been great with Daequan (Cook) and with Jeremy ( Richardson ) and all the guys thus far...”

How does the make-up of the team now as of now?

PR: “At the small forward position, we are with Dorell Wright, Antoine Walker, and Jeremy Richardson. We are probably going to experiment with other guys there. We are also with J-Will, Smush Parker and Dwyane Wade when you want to go small. There are a lot of different combinations. But I keep telling you its only August 13. We are not done. We've got a long way to go. There are a lot of discussions going on and it's not only about free agents.”

And Gary Payton?

PR: “I've left him two messages (but I missed his returned calls), so I do want to get in touch with him. He and Monique got re-married, renewed their vows and I sent him three cases of Crystal . I want to talk to him before I make any statements. The guy is a veteran player, has been around a long time, I just want to have a conversation. I haven't talked to him since the exit meeting. I don't know what is really on his mind.”

Smush Parker says he expects to compete with Jason Williams for the starting point guard position.

PR: “That position is wide open, and I don't say it's wide open because of a lack of respect for Jason. It's that we need to have a guy, and Jason and I have talked about this, who is out there at least 70 games a year I hope, and somebody who can practice everyday. Jason has worked extremely hard. We send therapists up there every two weeks to make sure he is progressing and he says he is in great health right now. Based on what has happened the past couple of years at that position, we need stability night in and night out. So it's going to be wide open competition there. And a lot of it will be based on who is healthy and who can stay in every game. And if Jason is healthy enough to compete every day in practice and every game, then it will be a great battle.”

Have you been told about Dwyane's progress?

PR: “I met with him on Friday and we had a great conversation. He had his surgery May 15, add six months to that. So that's all, based on what the doctors say and we are going to stay with that until Dwyane and the doctors tell us he is ahead of schedule and right now we are only in the middle.”

Can you address your health?

PR: “I'm in great shape. I get up at seven o'clock every day, I just made a commitment that the first two hours of every day are going to be about getting my blood moving, watching my diet.”

When we look at the Eastern Conference with what's happened, where does the Miami HEAT stand among the Eastern Conference?

PR: “We are right up there with the rest of them. Don't let last year's exit change anything about that. I absolutely agree with what Danny Ainge did up there; he basically did what we did down here. He took all the assets and gave them away for two great players. Now he has to put some guys around them. But there is no guarantee. Rashard Lewis ended up going to Orlando but they lost Grant Hill and Darko Milicic. Grant Hill had a hell of a year last year. I think Rashard is going to help Orlando , but I think Stan will probably help them more than any player they acquire. As far as Zach Randolph going to New York ; yeah, they have an up and coming team, but they didn't make the playoffs last year. There are no assurances there. The teams that were on the rise last year: Cleveland , Chicago , Detroit . I don't know, I don't think they (made any moves this summer). They got a year older. Washington was really hurt last year, so you can't get a gauge on them. Our best player was 50 percent. But that is the reality. We weren't a very good team last year. That doesn't mean that we can't be who we were when we won the championship. I understand all the prognosticators who say we are taking a step back, rather than taking a step forward. There are a couple of teams in the East who have gotten some good players, but they have given up a tremendous amount of assets to get them. We still feel like we are still in the game and we are looking real hard at doing some things that are going to help this team. You know me, we are not going to stop, and we will find somebody.”

What does the HEAT have from a roster standpoint?

PR: “I'm happy going to training camp with what I have. If there was a depth chart and I were to give you a starting lineup, I would be happy to go to opening night with Antoine Walker, we forget that he was a starting forward when we won a title. Antoine Walker, Shaquille O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, Dwyane Wade and a healthy Jason Williams; then you have Zo, Dorell Wright, Earl Barron, Wayne Simien, Michael Doleac, Penny Hardaway, Smush Parker…I mean we have a team that we can start the season with. We also have 14 to 20 million dollars in one-year contracts, if I wanted to add them up and go out and do something. There is a possibility that something could happen that would enhance our team. Maybe even Dorell Wright steps up and starts. He was the number four rated reserve small forward and off guard in the league last year. So I just had too many veterans ahead of him last year. That's why I didn't play him. That could have been a mistake.”