Erik Spoelstra has interest in running the Miami Heat when Pat Riley retires.

Spoelstra was asked about it during an interview with Adrian Wojnarowski.

"Short answer would be, I'm a Pat Riley disciple, and, like I've said, he's always pushed me and nurtured me for the next steps," Spoelstra said during the interview recorded in Southern California. "So, yes, that I'd love to have that opportunity years down the line from the Arison family, because I believe in them so much as human beings. They're such good people and family oriented."

Spoelstra said he is comfortable in his current role Under Micky Arison and Nick Arison. Spoelstra already has a seat in all organizational meetings with Riley and Andy Elisburg.

"Pat, he's going to go on, hopefully for a while," Spoelstra said. "I think he's younger now than he was when he was coaching. And he's such a visionary. The way things are set up right now, look, I want this to be the set-up that it is right now.

"I feel involved. Every meeting that's important, that deals with the organization and personnel, it's usually just four of us that get in a room, Pat, Nick, Andy and myself. And if it really gets to a level, then Micky will. I couldn't ask for anything more. I don't feel like I need more right now."

Riley signed a five-year extension with the Heat a year ago.

When LeBron James left the Miami Heat for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the camp of Chris Bosh wanted to reopen a deal they had just finished. Bosh's camp knew the Heat had extra money available.

Bosh threatened to sign with the Houston Rockets but ultimately signed a five-year, $118 million max contract.

Wade signed a two-year deal with $15 million in 14-15 and $16.125 million in 15-16, which allowed the Heat to sign Luol Deng. Wade opted out and re-signed a one-year, $20 million deal for 15-16, but was unable to come to terms with the Heat in 2016 and signed with the Chicago Bulls.

Bosh, meanwhile, hasn't played for more than a season due to recurring blood clots.

Riley now wishes he would have said no to Bosh's max deal and given all of that available money to Wade.

When LeBron James called Pat Riley to inform him he was leaving the Miami Heat to rejoin the Cleveland Cavaliers, Riley took it personally.

"I was silent," Riley says. "I didn't say anything. My mind began to just go. And it was over. I was very angry when LeBron left. It was personal for me. It just was. I had a very good friend who talked me off the ledge and kept me from going out there and saying something like Dan Gilbert. I'm glad I didn't do it."

When the Heat met with James that offseason, Riley felt it wasn't sincere. Maverick Carter wasn't in attendance and James kept glancing at a World Cup match during the presentation. Riley went so far as to ask them to mute the television.

Riley and Andy Elisburg also brought Miami's two championship trophies that they won with James and an easel to present free agent options. When Riley read the room, he instructed Elisburg to leave the trophies and easel in the hall.

Riley now understands why James had to leave.

"He went home because he had to go home," he says. "It was time. It was really time for him to go home, in his prime. If he's ever gonna do anything in Akron again, this was the time to do it. Otherwise, he'd have had a scarlet letter on his back the rest of his whole life."

Pat Riley reiterated his stance from the preseason when asked about the status of Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat.

"Down the road," he said, "we don't have Chris' services."

Bosh has two more seasons on his contract, which will be paid in full by the Heat and insurance.

"It's been discussed enough and it's being discussed, but there's no resolution to it right now," Riley said.

The Heat are expected to seek cap relief from the NBA since Bosh hasn't been medically cleared to play.

"Look, there isn't anybody in this organization that feels worse for C.B. than I do. It got a little sideways at the end because of feelings and things of that nature."

The Heat eventually will need independent medical confirmation that Bosh is not able to safely to continue to his career.

"I think in due time it will run its course and take care of itself," Riley said."But I can't give you definitive answer."

The Miami Heat narrowly missed out on the playoffs after a slow start to the season.

While Pat Riley has long sought cap space for 2017, he appears willing to shift towards retaining their own players. Dion Waiters, James Johnson, Wayne Ellington, Luke Babbitt and Willie Reed are amongst Miami's free agents.

"We're going to focus on our guys," Riley said.

Miami finished 41-41 and were one of the best teams in the NBA by the end of the season.

"I think the table is set. It was a great disappointment, but at the same time it was a lot of success."

Riley believes the Heat are positioned for improvement still.

"While we're not in the playoffs, I think we're ahead and set with the pick. We have flexibility."

Riley downplayed adding a "whale" in free agency, and distanced himself from the term he had previously coined, "I regret ever making that statement."

Chris Bosh believes he will play in the NBA again after sitting out the entire 16-17 season.

Bosh experienced blood clots near the All-Star break in 2015 and 2016. The Miami Heat were unable to clear Bosh before the start of the 16-17 season.

"At heart," Bosh said, "I'm still an athlete. That is not how I want it to end."

Bosh said he understood the desire of the Miami Heat for clarity with their salary-cap position going forward. Pat Riley said prior to this past season that the Heat no longer were working toward Bosh's return.

"Yeah, I understand what they have to do as a team," Bosh, 33, said. "It is a business. I know we -- as athletes and owners and people involved with the NBA -- never want to say it's a business, and things like that. It's is a business. And hurt does come in with that. But as president of the Miami Heat, I understand what he has to do."

Bosh declined to get into specifics about the state of his health.

"It's complicated," he said. "It's very, very complicated and that's why I haven't been able to play this year."

Bosh said the time away from the NBA has allowed him to take stock.

"It's been a very interesting time for me," he said, "only because I'm used to playing basketball. I'm used to practicing. I'm used to the schedule. That's kind of what I was born to do. That's what I've been doing my whole life. And over the last year, I have not been able to kind of fall back on that. So it's forced me to grow in a lot of different ways."

Bosh hedged when he was asked what he might do next.

"I don't know," he said. "And that's exciting. It's always this kind of pressure as an athlete, people [asking], 'What are you going to do? And you should do this? Or you should do that?' I think it's OK to say, 'I don't know what I want to do.' I have a lot of things on my mind."

LeBron James would have likely re-signed with the Miami Heat in 2014 had they won their third straight Finals, according to an except from a new book called Return of the King: Lebron James, The Cleveland Cavaliers and The Greatest Comeback in NBA History by Brian Windhorst and Dave McMenamin.

The Heat split the first two games of that series before the San Antonio Spurs won the next three games.

James had followed the Cleveland Cavaliers and their moves while he was gone. The pull of returning home was strong for James.

But the decision was very much in progress during the opening days of free agency.

Rich Paul and Mark Termini told the teams that met with them in Cleveland that James would only be accepting a full max contract and that his contract length might range from one year to the maximum of four.

Teams were also asked whether they would be willing to pay the luxury tax and repeater tax.

Even as it looked like James may choose the Cavaliers, Paul wasn't tipping his hand.

"Rich was the best poker player ever. We had no idea what was really happening, and he played it straight down the middle," Dan Gilbert said. "He said to me, 'Dan, we're in the decision cave right now.' I said, 'Rich, what's the decision cave? Is that next to the bat cave?'"