Subsequently, Riley also formulated a new ticket strategy and approved the plans for the new season’s jerseys and LOGO, among others.
He hopes everything is new, and it’s time for the Miami Heat to embrace a true rebirth and step onto the path of competing for the championship.
After the morning meeting, Riley’s afternoon schedule included a very important task: attending the signing ceremony of Hakeem Olajuwon.
For this blockbuster trade, Riley worked on it for no less than half a year, marking it as the best option among his plans for strengthening the interior, labeled as Plan A.
Plan B targeted Patrick Ewing, with Riley persistently trying to persuade the Golden State Warriors and Chris Mullin to sign a huge contract, surpassing Ewing’s annual salary.
This way, Ewing would trigger a clause in his contract to become a free agent, and the Miami Heat could use salary cap space to sign Ewing outright, at the cost of giving up McDaniel’s Bird rights and completing a trade with the Warriors to send Secali to Oakland.
However, the Knicks wouldn’t let this happen easily, allowing themselves to lose Ewing for nothing. Based in New York, they directly complained to the League office and threatened the Warriors not to offer Mullin a salary exceeding Ewing’s annual salary.
Ultimately, the Warriors couldn’t withstand the pressure from New York and gave up the idea, with Ewing remaining with the Knicks.
Riley kept his focus on Plan A with Olajuwon, sending Drexler to persuade Olajuwon to agree to the trade.
The conflict between the Rockets’ management and Olajuwon became a catalyst for the trade, even though Tomjanovich tried hard to persuade the Rockets to keep Olajuwon. But the bleakness of the Western Conference led the Rockets to lose patience.
After a comprehensive evaluation, they believed Olajuwon couldn’t break Ah Gan’s dominance in the Western Conference, especially after Guoyang led the China Team to the Olympics finals, showcasing an astonishing performance, further plunging Western teams into despair.
Eventually, the trade came to fruition, and Olajuwon left Houston, where he had been for 10 years, to come to Florida, Miami.
Unlike over ten years ago when he first flew from Nigeria to Houston, when Olajuwon’s flight arrived in Miami, there were countless people waiting to welcome him.
The Heat’s owner, management, and Olajuwon’s college teammates, including his good friend Drexler, all came to the airport to welcome Olajuwon as part of the Heat.
Riley deliberately changed into a light-colored, approachable-looking suit to make himself less conspicuous in the crowd, leaving the spotlight for Olajuwon.
Olajuwon flew in from Los Angeles, looking vibrant and in excellent spirits after a period of quality training and recovery rest.
Leaving Houston was a tough decision for him, but once the decision was made and the trade completed, his mind became exceptionally open and clear.
Today’s weather in Miami was fantastic, with bright sunshine and a gentle breeze; everywhere Olajuwon went, there were cheering crowds and fans.
At the signing ceremony, he showcased his new Heat jersey number 34 for the new season to the reporters, with the primary colors changing from red and yellow to red and black—even resembling the Trail Blazers.
Olajuwon’s contract remained the one he signed with the Rockets, and his salary this year was 3.17 million US Dollars.
This year, the League’s salary cap was 14 million US Dollars, making Olajuwon’s salary account for 22% of the cap.
Considering future maximum contracts could reach 30%-35% of the salary cap, Olajuwon’s salary was relatively low.
Drexler’s salary this year was just over 1 million US Dollars, given that when he signed, the League’s salary cap was only 7 million US Dollars.
No wonder the Heat had ample space to compete for Cliff Robinson; through excellent salary management, Riley created good operational space for the team.
Unlike Riley’s low-key promotional strategy, Olajuwon didn’t need to stay low-key arriving in Miami. After putting on the Heat jersey, he announced to the Miami fans present: "Miami fans, we’re coming for the championship!"
"Not in the future, not later, but now, right now!"
After years of suppression, Olajuwon finally got to express his desire for a championship boldly.
At the very least, reaching the finals in the Eastern Conference was somewhat easier, even with Jordan there.
Compared to facing Ah Gan in the Western Conference.
After the signing event, the Heat organized another fan meetup and jersey signing event at a beach sporting goods store.
The line extended for a full two miles; no matter what, Olajuwon was still a player who had brought shock to the League.
In today’s center position, he’s genuinely someone who can lead a team to transformative change.
Not only fans but also Miami’s city councilmen, television actors, Miami Dolphins players, and others showed up.
The enthusiasm was overwhelming, and everyone knew that with Olajuwon and Drexler reunited, they truly had hope.
The signing event went late into the night, and the number of people in line didn’t decrease at all. Riley suspected that if it continued, the whole of Florida might come by one by one.
Olajuwon couldn’t handle it all, so the signing session had to be temporarily ended and postponed to next time.
On his first night in Miami, Olajuwon stayed at Drexler’s house.
Drexler had been married to his wife, Gaynell, for many years, and they had two daughters, Austin and Ellis.