What does Erik Spoelstra think about Heat’s current roster amid continued Lillard pursuit?

The reality is the Miami Heat will continue to pursue a blockbuster trade for star guard Damian Lillard. But if a deal for Lillard doesn’t materialize, the Heat is also ready to move forward with its current roster for this upcoming season.

“We had most of our work done,” Heat head coach and Team USA assistant coach Erik Spoelstra said to ESPN during an interview conducted in Abu Dhabi, where Team USA is preparing for the FIBA Basketball World Cup. “We’re bringing back the majority of our players and that’s a luxury in this league. Things are so transient, things are moving fast. It seems like it’s moving faster now than even four, five, six years ago. We feel great about our group.”

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The Heat returns nine players from last season’s season-ending 15-man roster that represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals before losing to the Denver Nuggets in the championship series. The Heat lost Udonis Haslem (retired), Victor Oladipo (traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder) Max Strus (signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency), Gabe Vincent (signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency), Omer Yurtseven (signed with the Utah Jazz in free agency) and Cody Zeller (signed with the New Orleans Pelicans in free agency) from last season’s roster this offseason.

In their place, the Heat added Josh Richardson and Thomas Bryant in free agency, promoted Orlando Robinson from a two-way contract to a standard deal and used the No. 18 pick in this year’s draft to select Jaime Jaquez Jr. this summer.

“We made some nice additions, we feel,” Spoelstra said to ESPN in his first public comments since exit interview day in June.“ Josh Richardson, getting another family member back into our program. Thomas Bryant, we’ve been a big fan of his. And Jaquez as our draft pick. We’re excited. He’s a guy you can plug and play right now. He’s a little bit older and he has a great deal of experience. So we’re adding those guys to our mix and bringing everybody back. Tyler [Herro] is healthy, Jimmy [Butler] and Bam [Adebayo], that’s a great core. So we’re excited about it.”

The Heat remains the favorite to land Lillard, a seven-time All-Star, after he requested the Portland Trail Blazers to trade him to the Heat at the start of July. Lillard does not want to be traded anywhere else.

But trade talks remain quiet for now. Portland does not love what Miami has to offer and hopes other teams eventually put in their own bids for Lillard, with training camps around the NBA opening on Oct. 3.

The Heat’s roster for next season is already at the offseason/preseason roster limit of 21 players.

The Heat has 13 players signed to standard contracts: Adebayo, Bryant, Butler, Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Richardson, Duncan Robinson and Orlando Robinson.

The Heat has three players signed to two-way contracts: Jamaree Bouyea, Jamal Cain and Dru Smith.

The Heat has five players signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, which essentially represent an invite to training camp: Justin Champagnie, Caleb Daniels, Drew Peterson, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams.

Adebayo and Butler are obviously off the table in trade negotiations for Lillard. The Heat also wants to keep Martin out of a deal.

In addition, the Heat can’t trade recent free-agent signees Richardson, Bryant, Love and Orlando Robinson until Dec. 15.

That leaves Lowry, Herro, Duncan Robinson, Jaquez, Jovic and Highsmith as players who the Heat could put into play for Lillard this offseason if it’s able to keep Martin out of the potential deal.