The Miami Heat will attempt to win their third consecutive championship this season, but Pat Riley acknowledges that they will need to continue developing complementary pieces in order to remain a contender.

"We are a development team," said Riley. "Right now, we're a championship team, with veteran players. But the pipeline to becoming a championship team in the next four or five years, because of the new collective-bargaining agreement and all of the punitive taxes and revenue-sharing concepts, that really sort of eat into how you build a team financially.

"Developing players is the most important thing that we can do right now in the game."

The only remaining developmental prospects on Miami's roster are Justin Hamilton and Eric Griffin, but they have taken on reclamation projects in Michael Beasley and Greg Oden.