Riley contended he attempted numerous times to reach out to Bosh without success. Bosh has continually questioned the Heat's approach in keeping him off the court, citing potential salary-cap relief that the Heat could receive as early as February.
"I want to tell Miami, everybody in Miami, this not how I planned it to be," Bosh said in the video release that included his wife, Adrienne, reading Riley's statement on Monday to her husband. "They don't want to hear Dwyane [Wade] is gone. They don't want to hear, 'Oh, yeah, Chris is never going to play for the Miami Heat again.' I just feel for the fans. I wanted to give them more. I wanted to give them something better. Because they deserve better than what they're getting right now."
Wade, who had shared common representation with Bosh until Bosh recently left his agent, departed the Heat in July in free agency after contentious negotiations with the Heat. With Riley's pronouncement regarding Bosh's future, it now leaves the Heat without any members of their championship Big Three, with LeBron James having departed as a free agent in July 2014.
Bosh appeared to make clear that if the Heat anticipate salary-cap relief because of his retirement, they should consider another reality, despite the belief of the Heat medical staff of Bosh likely to need to remain on blood thinners due to his clotting episodes, thereby precluding a return. The NBA medical staff last week agreed with the findings of the Heat physical that ruled out a Bosh return for training camp.
"That does not mean my NBA career is over," Bosh said of the Heat stance. "There's 29 other teams, it's a whole league. One team does not make up the opinion of everything."
In the video, Bosh appeared to challenge many of the touchstones the Heat stressed during Bosh's six seasons with the franchise.
"It's kind of tough," he said. "We say all these things: the commitment, brotherhood and all these things. And then, for whatever reason, you find out, or I find out like this. So, it hurts.
"You think when you're done playing, this is how it's going to go: You ride off into the sunset, everything is all good, you blow kisses and maybe a couple of tears are shed and everything and the people just send you off. And that's not so much the case with me. So, I guess my career in Miami's done. My career's not done. But I did not expect that at all."
Bosh reiterated what he believes is his destiny to return to the NBA.
"And I feel like it's just some higher power telling me like, 'It's not right now, because if you look at the way things are going with the organization and everything, maybe just right now isn't your time to play basketball,' " Bosh said. "And that's kind of how I took it. And, so, I hear the message loud and clear and I'm just trying to work through it, as best as I can."
Bosh said the pronouncement from Riley was a shot to the gut.
"I was in disbelief for a couple of seconds, and then I threw my phone down and stormed out of the room," he said. "I'm glad I didn't break my phone. I wanted to break it, but I didn't.
"This is my reality. You can either make it a good thing or a bad thing. You can either complain or you can just keep moving on. And I just decided to keep moving on."
