Riley: Heat will focus on current roster rather than free agents

It wasn't long ago that Pat Riley wanted to go whaling. This offseason, the Miami Heat president will seemingly take a different approach to building his team.

"I regret ever making that statement," Riley said in his season-ending presser of his comments about looking for a "whale" last summer, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. "The collective bargaining agreement is going to dictate a lot of things about free agency. ... Today it's a lot different than (2010). Any great player will have to give great pause to walk away from $65 million to $70 million to walk away."

The team hasn't had trouble attracting top free-agent talent. Florida is one of seven states without income tax, and Miami boasts a desirable quality of life. Just ask LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.

This time, however, Riley is focused on the core of his current roster, which had a strong second half of the season and narrowly missed the playoffs.

"We are going to focus on our guys, really focus on this group of guys. We have found something about three of these guys, I felt they had something but never really had the platform," Riley said. "We will always observe what's going on in free agency. We have that flexibility. When you have a draft pick and a lot of players on your team you like, you are in good position to move forward."