Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley speak

A couple days ago Pat Riley spoke to the media for the first time about the whole Michael Beasley situation.  Riley said that the team is in daily contact with Beasley, and are "confident....very confident" that not only will he be in camp, but have a very strong sophomore season.

"I was told this by somebody: Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future," Riley said. "You can't put yourself above and beyond anybody. We all have periods where things haven't gone our way for whatever reason, and we've all had an opportunity to grow. Because of what's happened in the past, we hope there's growth spurts for him."

For obvious reasons, Riley can't get into specifics about the kind of treatment Beasley is receiving.  Either way, the youngster is getting exactly what he needs.  He needs to start believing in himself again and realize that he is very young, that many many young people make mistakes, and that all will certainly be forgiven and forgotten...in time. 

As for Dwyane Wade, he also made some interesting statements this week.  He's basically said that he is not going to negotiate with the Heat for a new contract until after the season is over.  There is still so much uncertainty with Wade and the possibility that he may opt out of his contract after this season, this may not be as bad as it seems. 

We all knew that he wanted to see the franchise make moves and try to 'win now'.  Well, we know that Riley and the Heat think they have a very good team with the players on their roster right now, so is it unreasonable for Wade to wait and see if that is the truth?  One thing that IS a certainty is that Riley will do everything in his power to keep Dwyane in Miami.  You can absolutely count on that.  Here is what Wade told the Miami Herald yesterday on the subject:

"Yeah, that's no longer a conversation we're really having right now," Wade told the Herald. "We've talked about it all summer. We know where they are -- they know where we are. We both want the best. But the focus is only on trying to get better than we were last year. And then we'll get back to the table and look at everything."

"Me buying a place in Chicago, that's supposed to mean more than what it is," Wade said. "I just sort of laugh at it, all the speculation."

Seems like he just wants to see where the team is at before making any decisions.  It's understandable.  I still have yet to see him come out and say anything about leaving, exploring other options, 'how nice it would be' to play in his hometown....nothing.  He has simply not signed an extension.  Yet.  While places like ESPN will lead you to believe that Wade is leaning towards leaving, there has been nothing that Dwyane has actually said that would cause me to think he wanted to leave.  He just wants to make sure he is playing for a great team that is a championship contender.