Surprise, surprise. Pat Riley, he of the ridiculous slick-look, is thinking about quitting as the Miami Heat head coach? Of course he veils it under the cover of just wanting to be president of the Heat because, you know, it's just so hard to be both president and head coach these days.
Really Pat? Because just two years ago you thought it was easy enough doing both jobs that you elbowed your good friend Stan Van Gundy out of the way. Oh yeah, but that was when Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal were healthy.
Pat Riley was a good coach -- not great. I will never forgive the Dallas Mavericks for blowing the 2006 NBA Finals and giving Riley his first title without guys named Magic, Worthy and Kareem. In his heyday as coach of the "Showtime Lakers" he used to rail against the Detroit Pistons for playing a "too physical" style of basketball. Yet when he and his ego became coach of the Knicks he employed the same style. Of course it wasn't "too physical" when he didn't have the luxury of pencilling three of the top 50 greatest players ever into his lineup.
That's why Van Gundy had Riley's footprints on his back in January of '05. Riles realized he had two of the 10 best players in the NBA; if he could get any production from the other 10 guys on the team he could add that elusive non-Lakers title to his legacy to get guys like me off his back.
Unfortunately for me the Mavericks threw up all over themselves and obliged. He deserves credit for one thing during that '06 title run, or he got tremendously lucky -- the only good two months of point guard Jason Williams' career were during those playoffs.
Keywords: Jason Williams, Mavericks, Pat Riley
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