Am I the only one who thinks Riley is getting WAAAAAY too much credit for this? What did he REALLY do? Does anyone really think that Riley sold LeBron on this? I think it was Wade who talked Bosh and James into joining forces down in Miami. Was there any other city that could have signed all three? I think this was simply three guys who are friends deciding that they want to sign in the same place and dominate. Miami just happened to have the cap flexibility to sign all three.
You don't need a CAP GENIUS to sign free agents. You just need a vision and the balls to get it done. Riles has always been a ballsy guy when it comes to these kind of things. Riley is a closer.
If any other GM pulled this move, it would be pure genius. It wasn't a total giveaway screwjob like when L*kers got Gasol or Celts got Garnett.....this took agression by Miami with a little help from the players.
I still think this was Wade. Pure and simple. Riley only cleared the cap space, which is great and everything, but he wasn't the only gm who was gutting his roster to sign LeBron.
Clearing cap space took work. It was a gamble, clearing the cap space would not guarantee LeBron. There were multiple suitors, each with a very strong case for him to sign. At the end of the day, the GM is the one who negotiates and Riley has a proven track record which has been built upon time both as a coach and a general manager. He took a gamble with Shaq and that paid off with a ring. What, was that D-Wade too?
If you were to assign a percentage of contribution of Riley versus Wade in getting LeBron, what would it be?
You guys realize he is gonna weasel his way onto the bench again! He can't stay out of the spotlight!
Shaq was a trade, so of course that was Riley, but this was LeBron picking Miami over NY, Chicago, NJ, the Clips, etc. How is Riley a genius when all those other teams did the same thing and came up empty? I would say this is 80% Wade and 20% Riley.
Riley has built a reputation for winning. If the GM of Miami was a fuckup like any of the other teams, he might not have gone in. And he had the vision and/or luck to clear ENOUGH cap space to sign all 3 players. If this did not happen, none of this would have. New York- perennial losers. NJ - no GM Chicago- Jerrys treated MJ like shit then the franchise went to shit after he left. all about Jordan. Cleavland- no GM. fired the coach. LBJ was all that was keeping them winning
It goes with the NBA theme where things just seem to kind of work out for certain people. Mainly Riley and Phil Jax, they basically just take turns every couple years. Must be nice.
Riley didn't win shit in NY. He had the luxury of coaching the Lakers with Magic and Kareem. What's so great about him? He's like Phil, he only coaches teams with superstars. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that coaching a team with the best player in the league makes you a winner. Like HCP said, I can guarantee that we will see Riley back on the bench now that LeBron is there, and he will be the "great coach who led LeBron and co. to championship." Please...... if anyone is a great coach, it's the guy who takes a team of role players to a title. Larry Brown took the Pistons, with no real superstar, and beat the Lakers with Kobe, Shaq, Malone, and Payton. Fuck Riley.
Sure, he's coached championship teams. he had superstars, and this is what he has now. No doubt if in 10 games, the Heat are not undefeated, Riles will probably get back on the bench. If Stan Van Gundy was coaching the heat and they had Randy Pfund as GM, do you really think this deal gets done? No because PAT RILEY is not in the mix. LeBron wanted to go to a winner.
LeBron wanted to play with Wade and Bosh. He said so. He couldn't have done that in Chicago, he couldn't have done that in NY, and he couldn't have done that in NJ. Miami was the only viable option for all three players, unless there was a sign and trade.
and Pat Riley made it possible. He's the GM. He cleared REAL cap space. So he was able to get it done. No one else did.
I wouldn't tout the Miller signing just yet... they gave up the #2 pick in the draft after only two seasons. That's pretty fucking sad, and there's still a VERY Good chance that will end up biting them in the ass. I would have kept Beasley just to see how he played with LeBron and co.
Not after Stern manipulated the salary cap and it was magically $2 million higher than projected. Weird how these things work.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/7100410.html see Nate. If you were Heat GM, you would have kept Beasley and LeBron wouldn't have been able to sign for max money!
