Pat Riley and the Miami Heat drafted Dwyane Wade with the fifth pick in the legendary 2003 NBA Draft.
Now Riley, appearing on “The Why with Dwyane Wade,” a co-production of iHeartPodcasts and Wade’s 59th & Prairie Entertainment, told Wade why the Heat selected him:
Dwyane: “I mean, I know I wasn’t the first pick in the draft, but I was the Heat’s first pick in the draft that year. What did you see in me as a fifth pick that [made] you take that chance on me as a player?”
Pat: “Well, at that time, we were really desperate. We had Caron [Butler], I love Caron. He was a guy that fell in the draft. He was supposed to be picked fourth, he went 10th…So we draft you. We got another guy that came in with you that year. But when I saw you in Milwaukee, we’re playing the Bucks, and I had to go across the street from the hotel and get on a bike, and they had the game on. And so I’m watching the game and I’m pedaling my ass off and trying to get a sweat and all that. It’s cold as hell. And I just saw something special. And I say this because greatness stands out. It just stands out. And there are a lot of great players running up and down that court. Great athletes, great players, other players who are very good…But you just stood out, Dwyane, and you dominated. And – I didn’t know how big they were – I said, his hands are huge, the length of his arms, all the things that I think great athletes need in this game to dominate. I don’t care what sport it is, you know you had it. But I saw the fierceness also there so I was sold at that time.
The Heat recently announced that they are building a statue of Wade that’s expected to be unveiled in front of the Kaseya Center this fall. Everyone from Riley to Erik Spoelstra, to Bam Adebayo paid tribute to the Heat legend as the news broke.
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