Pat Riley resigns

[kg_veteran]

Pat Riley resigns

[Murphy3]

Riley steps down in Miami
MIAMI (AP) — Pat Riley resigned as coach of the Miami Heat on Friday, saying the team's rebuilding process is on track enough for him to step aside. Riley ranks second in NBA history with 1,110 victories, and he led the Los Angeles Lakers to four championships in the 1980s. But the Heat missed the playoffs the past two years, finishing last in the Atlantic Division at 25-57 last season.

Pat Riley turned over his coaching reins to Stan Van Gundy Friday.


Riley was entering his eighth season as Heat coach. He will be replaced as Miami's coach by Stan Van Gundy, his top assistant the past several seasons.

"It's the first time I feel it's right in the last three years," Riley said at a news conference. "It's right for me to. It's time."

Riley said he made the decision Wednesday and it was not health related. He will remain as team president.

Riley, 58, was voted one of the top 10 coaches in NBA history in 1996.

His 21 seasons running NBA teams include from 1981-90 with the Lakers, 1991-95 with the New York Knicks and 1995-03 with Miami. He was the NBA's Coach of the Year in 1990, 1993 and 1997.

Riley led the "Showtime" Lakers of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the 1982, 1985 and 1987-88 league titles. With the Knicks, he had more of a defense-oriented, bruising team that lost to Houston in the 1994 NBA Finals.

With the Heat, though, Riley never duplicated that sort of success. His Miami teams lost in the first round of the playoffs four times, and only made it as far as the Eastern Conference finals once, losing to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in 1997.

One of the key moves in Riley's efforts to rebuild the team was the offseason acquisition of power forward Lamar Odom from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Riley is a three-time coach of the year with Miami, New York and the Los Angeles Lakers.

[dirno2000]

So he quits on another team. I've always liked Riley since the mid 80's Lakers were my favorite team unless they were playing the Mavs. I wanted him to replace Nelson this year. That being said, unless there are reasons that he's not reveling, this is just dirty.

First of all, what how does he know this team is moving in the right direction? They have some good young players, but they all play the two and three. Secondly, he just recruited Lamar Odom. I know Odom was well compensated, but I'm sure he also wanted to play for Pat Riley.

[MavKikiNYC]

Calling Mark Cuban.....Mr. Cuban to the white courtesy phone.

[Murphy3]

Mavskiki...would you replace nellie with riley?
it might be a bit late now with the most recent additions..but, ask me a week ago and i'd probably say 'yes'

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
Mavskiki...would you replace nellie with riley?

I'm thinking, I'm thinking......

[dirno2000]

I wouldn't make a coaching change this close to season, but Riley would make the players that we have play defense. He's also no stranger to high-octane offense, the Eastern Conference years not withstanding.

[LRB]

Open the floodgates for calls to replace Nellie with Riley. Maybe we should have a sticky thread for this topic until Riles takes another job or Nellie wins a championship.

[dirt_dobber]

Very strict disciplinarian. Likes the up-tempo game when
he has the personnel to do so.

He is know for grueling practices, players do seem to give
there all for him.

He makes it clear the he is the one coaching during a game
not his assistants; take note Del,Little Whistle, Nash


He is probably the only other coach in the league that
the referees ahte more than Nellie

.

[jayC]

Yeah I knew this was coming? The get nellie out of town arrises! The showtime references with the mavericks, riley resigns. Except hes still the president of basketball operations for the heat.

This is nellie's team give him a year.

[Dooby]

MIAMI (AP) — Pat Riley resigned as coach of the Miami Heat on Friday, saying the team's rebuilding process is on track enough for him to step aside.

In other words, as part owner of the team, we sold all the season tickets we are gonna sell this year and this team sucks eggs and I don't want to have anything to do with it.

[kg_veteran]

Some may consider it blasphemous, but I have to wonder how much Pat Riley really has in his bag. I wouldn't swap Nelson for him.

[Max Power]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
would you replace nellie with riley?

I wouldn't have him on a bet now. The turd quit less than a week before the season opens. I want someone who cares enough about the team to finish what they start.

If we were to hire Riley he might quit the day before the playoffs start. He might quit at halftime of game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Quitters quit and Riley has shown himself to be a quitter.

[bogey]

I wouldn't take him over Nellie. Plus, he is still employed by the Heat as Operations Director or somesuch.

[sturm und drang]

Murph, there's just got to be a Pat Riley/Eddie Najera hair grease joke hiding in here somewhere...

[Murphy3]

That's right..Riley is one of the few people that suffers from the same affliction as Eddie Najera.. they're two of the five known cases..

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: MavKikiNYC
Calling Mark Cuban.....Mr. Cuban to the white courtesy phone.

[Murphy3]

I'm not sure why it would be a knee jerk. Many people on this forum have discussed certain issues that they've had with Nellie over the past couple of years. Mavskiki would be one of them. Why would it be a "knee jerk" reaction for him to continue believe in the same beliefs that he has over the past several basketball seasons?

It's fine not to agree with him. Hell, I don't even like Mavskiki. However, to call him out as a knee jerker is very inappropriate.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
I'm not sure why it would be a knee jerk. Many people on this forum have discussed certain issues that they've had with Nellie over the past couple of years. Mavskiki would be one of them. Why would it be a "knee jerk" reaction for him to continue believe in the same beliefs that he has over the past several basketball seasons?

It's fine not to agree with him. Hell, I don't even like Mavskiki. However, to call him out as a knee jerker is very inappropriate.

Nelson traded Poppin Fresh and Jiri- and the crowd cheers "NELLIE MUST GO!". without looking at the new players play.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
I'm not sure why it would be a knee jerk. Many people on this forum have discussed certain issues that they've had with Nellie over the past couple of years. Mavskiki would be one of them. Why would it be a "knee jerk" reaction for him to continue believe in the same beliefs that he has over the past several basketball seasons?

It's fine not to agree with him. Hell, I don't even like Mavskiki. However, to call him out as a knee jerker is very inappropriate.

Well just for the sake of argument here is one definition of Kneejerk that would fit:

knee-jerk (njûrk)
adj. Slang
Easily predictable; automatic: “quick, easy laughs and knee-jerk responses” (New York)

You have had an opinion for decades, but if you act upon it in an easily predictable manner it could legitiamtely be called a kneejerk reaction.

[Murphy3]

LRB, does that definition in any way apply to Mavskiki?

[LRB]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
LRB, does that definition in any way apply to Mavskiki?

Yes, in that it was a predictable reaction.

[Murphy3]

a predictable reaction from mavskiki?

I'm sorry to correct you, but Mavskiki isn't exactly known for his 'knee jerk' reactions. You know that as well as I know that.

Erica, it is fine to disagree with Mavskiki. However, to make a statement about Mavskiki (whom you obviously know little about) calling him a knee jerker is very disrespectful and off base. If you want to disagree, then disagree. If you want to debate, then debate. However, to make such rash statements about a well respected member like Mavskiki is out of line when the statement you make is without merit.

[Stressboy]

Nellie Rules! Late game messups not withstanding, I have never been happier with my team, the managment, the ownership or the coach of the Dallas Mavericks. Of course I supported RC about 2 years too long also, so maybe I'm just a homer.

I want to see this thing out for 2 more years of Nellie ball. If we don't see progress which I think means at least getting back to the Western Finals in one of those 2 years, then I'll want a move. I know they could win it all this year, but it might take to long to gel or there might need to be a mid season trade that might keep them from getting the first seed which is the only prayer for winning it all.

They cannot be both LA and Spurs, but they could possibly beat one of them in the finals.

If Riley wants to become our 18th assistant then fine, otherwise, I hope he enjoys retirement.

Stressboy

[bogey]

My brief experience with Mavskiki is that he has very well defined opinions based on facts as he sees them and he is awfully consistent in expressing those views.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
a predictable reaction from mavskiki?

I'm sorry to correct you, but Mavskiki isn't exactly known for his 'knee jerk' reactions. You know that as well as I know that.

Murphy you may believe that it would not be easy to predict that MavsKiki, but I do believe that it would have been fairly easy to do so. Kiki has been unhappy with this trade and has more than hinted several times that Nellie needs to go since the trade. So there for he would have had a kneejerk reaction as per the definition that I published. Perhaps you might want to argue how his reaction was not easily predictable instead of saying the "you and I know it".

[MavKikiNYC]

The astute observer will note, however, that the definition that LRB chose to cite makes no implication as to the correctness of the reaction. That Nelson should be replaced is a position I've held and articulated for well over a year now. If that constitutes knee-jerk, so be it. A year of knee-jerking will help my flexibility.

I think Pat Riley is unquestionably a better coach for a championship-caliber team; a motivator non-pareil.

But Nelson's current mess isn't championship caliber, and he himself deserves to bear the consequences.

Mr. Riley should remain free to luxuriate on the beaches of Miami, with a bevy of former Laker girls polishing his championship ring collection.

[LRB]

The astute observer will note, however, that the definition that LRB chose to cite makes no implication as to the correctness of the reaction.

Exactly kiki, I was arguing semantics and not the potential correctness of your reaction. Or as Bogey puts it

My brief experience with Mavskiki is that he has very well defined opinions based on facts as he sees them and he is awfully consistent in expressing those views.

.

You do tend to be very consistent, which does enable some degree of predictablity. Not to say that everything you do is 100% predictable. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[kg_veteran]

MavsKiki and I have debated various topics at length in the past; one thing he's not is a knee-jerker.

Show some respect.

Also, in the past, I might have agreed with his opinion of Riley vs. Nelson. However, I think at this point Nelson is the best man for the job and deserves the benefit of the doubt. He built it, let him see how far he can take it.




P.S. Just in case you were wondering, TwoDeep, this doesn't mean I won't criticize Nellie this season. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Chiwas]

I don't see in what way Erica and LRB are showing disrespect to Mavskiki; in fact, it's the opposite. And I'm not refering to the knee-jerk expression.

About the topic, it would be interesting observing Riley with the Mavs. Is Nellie untouchable?

[LRB]

Chiwas, I don't think he's untouchable, but to basically fire him and bring Riles in would be a horrible mistake by Cuban at this point IMO. Nellie has built this team and continually make it better as evidenced by increased regular season and playoff success over the last 3 years. Nellie just got an extention and several players were brought in and have bought into Nellie's philosophy. Rieley may very well be a better coach than Nellie, but the timing for a change is horrible and would ruin any chances of a title shot this year IMO. If Nellie falls on his ass this year, then I don't think he would be untouchable. But a coach would have to make some horrid blunders to be replace right before the season opener. Not only that, it would mean that Cubes had made a horrid blunder.

[Chiwas]

Even when I agree that it isn't the best time to do it -and that I like Nellie-, he has had several years to win a Championship and enough resources from Cuban. He has improved the results of the Mavs year after year since Cuban arrived, but hasn't been able to win a ring. Riley is a proved ring-winner coach, a very competitive coach.

I would like to have a Parcells kind of coach for the Mavs. A person who could transform the same team in a very competitive team based on motivation and tactical challenging schemes.

But, of course, we will have to wait one more year, and maybe another more year, and so on, like with the Center.

[LRB]

I hear you Chiwas, but remember that only 2 coaches have won rings during Nellie's time here. Phil Jackson and Greg Popivich. I've been extremely frustrated with Nellie at times and have even advocated his replacement in the past. But the Mavs have an excellent chance to win this year IMO and I would like to see how this team will do. We're still realitively young, so's there still time to replace Nellie if we don't progress this year.

[superheadcat]

i am not familiar with the vocabulary, seems like "knee jerk" is a "bad" word that would get under people's skin.

as for kiki, from the small sample of his posts i got to read, i think it is fair to say he is highly consistent, even when he was spetacularly wrong. that is the only case when i feel he is unpredictable.

for the topic:
now cuban let nellie have everything he dream of, and if nellie can't make it work like he claims, it won't take cuban to fire him.
but that doesn't mean it'll have any business to do with pat riley.

[MavKikiNYC]

Riley Taught Hard Lesson, Fashionably
By MIKE WISE

Published: October 26, 2003


About five years ago, Pat Riley heard that Todd Day was upset with his methods. A marginal N.B.A. player had been talking smack behind his back.

So Riley gathered his team together and asked if anyone on the Miami Heat had a problem with his leadership.

"Todd Day, you got a problem with how I run things?" he asked.

Day backpedaled for a few seconds — until Riley silenced him and told him to get out, he was done. Guaranteed contract or not, Day was cut.

"Now," Riley said, breathing deeply, "does anyone else have a problem with how I run this ship?"

The stories have been embellished over time, revisionists helping Riley out, the way the Lombardi and Rockne myths took shape.

"But the common thread was that he worked well with anyone who was committed," Jeff Van Gundy, Riley's former assistant, said. "When you're about winning, you have to confront what loses, even if it's not pretty."

Riley stepped away from the sideline Friday, more than 20 years after he began at the Fabulous Forum with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He won with stars in Los Angeles. He came close with a great center and grit in New York. He turned nothing into something in Miami before Alonzo Mourning became ill and the bottom fell out.

Three cities. Three contenders. Drama. Destroyed egos.

And there had to be several hundred or more loyalists — players who would take down Shaquille O'Neal for him if he asked.

Today, Riley also leaves a league of players who have insulated themselves with people — agents, family, friends — who tell them what they want to hear. Riley told players what they needed to hear, and that is how he made multimillionaires compete as if they were trying not to get cut from the junior varsity.

When a sports executive was recently asked to explain Riley's allure to women, she grew incredulous.

"Women don't love Pat Riley," she said. "It's the men. He's a dude magnet."

Indeed, Riley was the coach who could teach how to never lose another grade-school fight behind the cafeteria. He could teach how to make peace with a hard-knock father without saying a word. He could teach how to — in the most medieval sense — be a man.

Jeff Van Gundy's voice was about to crack late Friday night when he spoke of how two stumpy, rumpled kids from Martinez, Calif., ended up as head coaches in the N.B.A.

"My brother and I wouldn't be here," he said in a telephone interview several hours after Stan Van Gundy, Riley's longtime assistant in Miami, took over the Heat.

"I still remember him sitting me down after my first year with him," Jeff Van Gundy, now coach of the Houston Rockets, said. With no N.B.A. playing pedigree to speak of, Van Gundy was the mailroom clerk, happy to be compartmentalized by the institution. "Coach Riley said: `It doesn't matter where you came from. You can be a head coach in this league.' "

When he left New York for Miami's millions in 1995, Riley became the incarnation of Gordon Gekko, the Michael Douglas character in "Wall Street." Oily. Greedy. Yet the coiffed Armani facade always belied the soul of a scrapper from Schenectady.

A. C. Green, John Starks, Anthony Mason and Greg Anthony never played better for anyone else. Under Riley, fading and bitter veterans like Tim Hardaway rejuvenated their careers.

Of course, he took no prisoners, detonating bridges more than burning them. Another Riley tale:

During the Knicks renaissance of the early 1990's, some of the players believed Charles Smith was returning too slowly from an injury. Smith walked into the locker room as the players were getting ready for a game. He wore an immaculately tailored suit. Riley, writing on the chalkboard, wheeled around.

"Charles, if you could give me one minute tonight — just one — to win a championship, could you do it?" he asked Smith in front of the team.

Smith shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. "Yeah, Coach, I could do that," he said.

Riley said, "Then what in the hell are you doing in that suit?"

After a chill fell over the locker room, he wheeled back around and continued to write on the board, two players in the room said.

But for all his my-way bravado, Riley had regrets. He admitted a few years ago that he had stuck with Starks too long in Game 7 of the 1994 N.B.A. finals, the night Starks missed 16 of 18 shots. The Knicks lost to Houston.

Riley said that he knew he had a fresh Rolando Blackman on the bench but that something made him believe Starks would make one, then another. Over his career, something about role players with immeasurable heart made Riley lose his head.

Knicks fans never forgave him. But looking back, that was the beauty of Riley. He would rather have gone down in flames with Starks than won with Todd Day.

That's how he got role players into the N.B.A. finals and became, well, a dude magnet.

[OzMavs]

Originally posted by: Murphy3
That's right..Riley is one of the few people that suffers from the same affliction as Eddie Najera.. they're two of the five known cases..

Ok. I'll bite. Who are the five?

I have two:
Eddie
Pat Riley

Elvis?

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: OzMavs

Ok. I'll bite. Who are the five?

I have two:
Eddie
Pat Riley

Elvis?

Fonzi