Last season, the Miami Heat finished with a 41-41 record and narrowly missed the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

While the offseason focus of many NBA teams is to re-tool by adding new talent or replacements for existing weak spots, Pat Riley of the Miami Heat had a different approach this summer.

As detailed by combo guard Tyler Johnson to Anthony Chiang of PalmBeachPost.com, Riley made keeping the .500 ninth-place team together a priority before the trade deadline last season as well as in the current free agency period.

“I remember [Pat] Riley telling us after the trade deadline he wanted to keep the team together just to give us a chance. He wanted to give us the opportunity to compete and try to make the playoffs. Obviously we fell short of that goal. But with the way that team was headed and the way we bonded and the way things have been going this summer, all I was hoping for during free agency was that we brought back the guys who were in the trenches last year,” Johnson explained.

The team retained Dion Waiters, James Johnson and Wayne Ellington this offseason. That didn’t surprise Johnson at all.

“I won’t say surprised. But in this business nothing is guaranteed, as far as guys coming after James [Johnson], coming after Dion [Waiters], whether the team picked up Wayne [Ellington’s contract] or not. Once all those pieces fell into place, I was definitely excited,” he noted. “But obviously, nothing is guaranteed in this league. But I wouldn’t say I was surprised when we brought everybody back.”

In addition to keeping hold of those three guys, the Heat waived Chris Bosh, traded Josh McRoberts to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for A.J. Gammons and a 2023 second-round pick and signed free agent Kelly Olynyk to a four-year deal. They were also in the mix as one of the frontrunners in the Gordon Hayward sweepstakes, but lost out when the All-Star chose the Boston Celtics.

When thinking about which teams might be at the top of the Eastern Conference at the end of the upcoming season, most NBA fans would put the Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors and Celtics in the conversation. However, due to Miami’s cohesion, Johnson believes that the group has a chance to be special.

“We know what we’re capable of,” the versatile guard claimed. “If we continue building on the habits that we picked up last season, we’re not putting no numbers on it. We just know that we’re going to be in every single game that we play in. So who’s to say that we couldn’t make it and crack that top four.”

Since basketball is a team game, chemistry means a lot. Therefore, if the Heat prove to be one of the most cohesive teams in the Eastern Conference, they might be a dark-horse candidate to make some major noise as the season rolls along.