Miami Heat: No Front Office For Old Men

I often notice that very few articles are written about Pat Riley's inability to manage the Miami Heat as a front office executive.

His ability to recognize talent is definitely in question. His best move to date is drafting Dwyane Wade with the 5th overall pick in the 2003 draft.

It is well documented, however, that Pat Riley stepped down as the Miami Heat coach after he felt the team came up short with the 5th pick in the Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh sweepstakes.

As a matter of fact, he is purported to have broken a chair in his office when he didn't get one of the top three picks. Not only did Riley perceive the draft as being three players deep, but he also failed to see the potential in Dwayne Wade.

Rumor has it, Randy Pfund had to lock Riley in a room on draft day and tirelessly attempt to sell him on the merits of drafting the undersized combo guard.

In 2004, after watching new coach Stan Van Gundy overachieve with a promising young core of Wade, Odom, and Caron Butler, Riley blew up the team and pushed Van Gundy aside so that Riley could return to the sidelines.

While few would fault Riley for trading Odom and Butler for Shaq, a trade which resulted in a championship, one can only wonder what would have come of the Heat had they held onto their horses.

Imagine Wade at SG, Odom at PF, Butler at SF, and Jordan Farmar at PG (Farmar was taken with the draft pick that the Heat traded to the Lakers in the Shaq trade).

All the Heat would have been missing was a serviceable center and they would have been a younger, better version of the 2008 Celtics.

Like I said, I am willing to forgive Riley since this trade resulted in the Heat's first ever championship.

My bigger gripe, however, is that he thought it was a good idea to give an aging, increasingly lazy 34 year old Shaq a four year $100 million dollar extension.

It was apparent to all watching the finals, just ask Dan Patrick, that Wade not Shaq was the Heat's future, so why mortgage the franchise's future to resign Shaq at $20 million a year until he is 38?

Not surprisingly, just one year later, Riley realized what a stupid move it was to extend Shaq and desperately sought to dump his contract. That bad contract, and the bad contracts the Heat has traded it for, caused the Heat to fall from grace faster than any championship team in modern history.

All in all, the Shaq extension has to rank neck and neck with the time Riley gave max contracts to Brian Grant and Eddie Jones as one of the worst personnel moves in Heat history.

While he clearly is not adept at evaluating players on his roster, Riley has also shown that he is not able to skillfully identify free agent bargains either. Once able to pluck cheap free agent point guards off the street and turn them into starters, Riley has burned through nearly a dozen point guard projects in the past five years, and none of them has been a major success.

In addition to his talent acquisition shortcomings, Pat Riley's old school "defense wins championships" mentality has proven outdated. While in Riley's heyday top defenders practically wore ski masks to games, the NBA in the 21st century has banned all hand checking in a move to feature more explosive offenses and become more fan friendly.

It is clear from looking at every team that is currently a legitimate title contender (Lakers, Cavs, Nuggets, Magic, etc.) that any serious team must be able to score over 100 points every single night with ease and consistency.

Last, but certainly not least, the Miami Heat under Riley's stewardship has proven that it is a destination where young talent goes to die. Look at all the promising young players who the Heat has brought in only to turn into under-confidant, inconsistent players.

Look no further than Dorell Wright, Dequan Cook, Earl Barron, Mario Chalmers, Michael Beasley, Wayne Simien, Rasual Butler, etc. Need I go on?

As Rasual Butler demonstrated when he lit up the Heat for over 30 points the other night, all any of these young guys have needed are starter's minutes and some patience.

I am almost certain that Beasley will soon demonstrate that he can be an All Star in this league given a longer leash and 40 minutes a night. Unfortunately, I have a sick feeling that, like Caron Butler, this will be for another team.

Riley's lack of trust in young players and lack of commitment to giving them meaningful quality minutes has seriously undermined these players' development and handicapped this team.

No current championship contending team has gotten where it is today without trusting in and developing young talent. The Lakers patiently waited on the likes of Bynum, Farmar, and Vujacic.

The Celtics developed Rondo, Perkins, Big Baby, and Leon Powe (when he was with the team). The Cavs developed JJ Hickson, Anderson Verajao, Delonte West (despite his bi-polar disorder), and Daniel Gibson. The spurs created Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, and have been excellent with Dejuan Blair.

Most of these players were super raw and not all that highly touted coming into the league. I could go on with plenty of other examples.

In addition to famously being ranked one of the coaches NBA players would least like to play for in Sports Illustrated, Riley has got to be one of the GMs players would least trust to build a solid team from scratch.

With that said, I would not be surprised if Wade bolts in free agency this summer. Why would he have any faith in Riley?

Moreover, even if Riley signs Amare or Chris Bosh in the offseason, the Heat will have zero cap space to sign the likes of Dorell Wright, Jermaine O'Neal, or a point guard like Luke Ridnour.

Thus, even if the Heat's 2010 free agency dreams come true (i.e., the team signs Wade and Bosh), the Heat will still be a severely flawed team with no real PG, SF, or C. Perhaps the mid level exception (approximately $5.5 million) can be used to resign Jermaine O'Neal or Udonis Haslem, but that would still leave the Heat without a reliable PG or SF.


As a die hard Heat fan, I really think that Riley, like Jordan when he was an under-performing Wizards executive, has to go. I know Mickey idolizes him and isn't likely to jettison him anytime soon, but I feel strongly that the Heat will not win a championship until Riley steps aside, hires a real GM, and cuts the puppet strings off of Spo's back.