If you are wondering if and when Pat Riley may finally be sending that long carefully crafted email to Dwyane Wade know that it looks the 12-time All-Star will be receiving it soon.
"I have finished it. I really have finished it," Riley said Monday in a conversation with a handful of Heat beat reporters. "I have it in my saved drafts. I just have to hit send. That's all. I will. I love Dwyane."
Wade, who left to the Bulls this summer when the Heat didn't necessarily meet his financial demands, told us two weeks ago when he was in South Florida for his final community event before leaving for Chicago that he still hadn't received the email from Riley.
What will the letter to Wade ultimately say?
"I don't know if you can put these two words together -- metaphoric hyperbole," Riley said. "He's going to have to read through the lines. But then he'll get the point at the end."
Riley, 71, insisted Monday the story of Wade and him not seeing eye-to-eye is a bit overblown. He said he wasn't involved in any of the negotiations with Wade for the last two years and ultimately Wade was saying no to the Heat, not him.
"In 13 years being with him, I can't remember any time in any one summer where we talked or I bumped into him," Riley said. "I never bothered our players during the Big 3 era. They only had two or three months off.
"The only time I would ever get in touch with a player in my entire career was always around Aug. 1 when your biological clock gets ticking and I would give them a friendly reminder. As head coach I used to send them three letters. That's Spo's job now. But I would just remind them to start thinking about getting ready. That was the only contact I ever had with them."
Riley reiterated what he said back in July that he does ultimately regret not contacting Wade before he decided to sign with the Bulls.
"I don't think a lot of people understand I was not involved in those negotiations at all for two years," Riley said. "I was involved with [his agent] only in 2014. And we couldn't come to a deal. So, it was turned over to the boss -- as it should be.
"The kind of standing that Dwyane had, he had the right to talk to the owner. And, that's the way it went for the two years. I had talked to his agents, people that I needed to talk to. But as far as during that time, during free agency, the draft, summer league, no I did not make a call to him. That was being handled. As I said, I was floored by the decision. I wish I would have [called]."
Wade and the Bulls make their only visit to AmericanAirlines Arena on Nov. 10.
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