http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketb...fla-sports-heat MIAMI -- Two years after stepping down as Heat coach, team president Pat Riley is on the verge of resuming the position. The Heat has called an 11 a.m. Monday media conference at AmericanAirlines Arena, where Riley is expected to take over for Stan Van Gundy, who has led the Heat deep into the playoffs in his two seasons with the franchise.
it was only a matter of time too bad for svg man he never had a chance. he'll find some where to go thow maybe the hawks.
He never had the chance? Cmon now... Give Phil Jackson Shaq & Wade and see how far he takes you. Give Van Gundy Shaq & Wade and see how far he takes you. There's the difference. Fact is, Riley has supplied Van Gundy with great lineups in his tenure with the Heat. The Heat should be like 17-4 this year even with all the injuries.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Heat4Life:</div><div class="quote_post">He never had the chance? Cmon now... Give Phil Jackson Shaq & Wade and see how far he takes you. Give Van Gundy Shaq & Wade and see how far he takes you. There's the difference. Fact is, Riley has supplied Van Gundy with great lineups in his tenure with the Heat. The Heat should be like 17-4 this year even with all the injuries.</div> I agree that Riley is a better coach and that the Heat should have a better record but SVG still didnt have much of a chance. Riley couldnt fire SVG immediately after he got Shaq but everyone knew he would take SVG's job eventually. Kind of lame in my opinion to step down from coaching the team, then they become contenders and he can just come back and take SVG's job.
People are so quick to praise Pat Riley as a great coach. But let's not forget that Miami was TERRIBLE under Riley for a long time. I mean, they had a nice stretch, but they sucked for years. I remember critics urging Riley to step down, and saying he should be fired. All of sudden, Riley's a great coach again.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rock4life:</div><div class="quote_post">People are so quick to praise Pat Riley as a great coach. But let's not forget that Miami was TERRIBLE under Riley for a long time. I mean, they had a nice stretch, but they sucked for years. I remember critics urging Riley to step down, and saying he should be fired. All of sudden, Riley's a great coach again.</div> It was rileys decision to make those ridiculous jason williams/antoine walker moves and now van gundy has to pay for it
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Fact is, Riley has supplied Van Gundy with great lineups in his tenure with the Heat. The Heat should be like 17-4 this year even with all the injuries.</div> So you're trying to say that they were suppose to be as good as the Spurs right now? The same Spurs team which main guys have been playing with each for quite some time now and still lost 4 games but yet you say the Heat without Shaq and the new additions of Posey, Williams, Payton and Walker should have started off at 17-4? You're mad. There was no way SVG could have led this team with a record of 17-4. With time they would eventually have many stretches in which they go with a record like that, but not so soon especially without Shaq too. However I do believe the Heat should have probably won an extra game or two, but that's the most, this team had too many changes, distractions and injuries to be on top of their game right now.
agreed. the heat's faced too many obstacles at this point in the season to perform anywhere near the level of a spurs or a pistons. van gundy shouldn't be held solely responsible for their record. thoughts on whether he'll actually sit out the rest of the season? or whether some hungry club will swoop him up?
The look on his face there really looked like he "stepped aside"... Face it, Riley wanted this all along. He loaded the team up with some big ego guys that he knew SVG couldn't handle. SVG and the Heat had perfect chemistry last year and Riley had to mess things up just so that he can coach...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting C.K.:</div><div class="quote_post"> The look on his face there really looked like he "stepped aside"... Face it, Riley wanted this all along. He loaded the team up with some big ego guys that he knew SVG couldn't handle. SVG and the Heat had perfect chemistry last year and Riley had to mess things up just so that he can coach...</div> That sounds pretty far-fetched to me. The off-season moves of adding more goto scorers made sense given the possibility of losing Shaq or Wade to injuries. And if Van Gundy really was fired, why would he show up at the press conference and pretend otherwise? He would know that his firing wouldn't be perceived as a negative on him, given the circumstances. He has no incentive to do what he did, unless he really did resign.
I was really hoping to see what Van Gundy could do down the road for the team, after all the good hype from last year. Shaq is back now and I though this would almost be like a new begining from Miami, with SVG leading the way. I do think some things went down between SVG/Pat behind the scenes though.
if you look on the picture.. i don't think stan resigned.. it more look like he was bummed... i bet riley said to pretend to be resigned and all stan could do is say yes...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tr@cy&ya0:</div><div class="quote_post">if you look on the picture.. i don't think stan resigned.. it more look like he was bummed... i bet riley said to pretend to be resigned and all stan could do is say yes...</div> He could have said no, and Riley would have looked like an egotisical jerk for firing him. What you're suggesting would require that Stan have an unbelievably submissive personality.
Come on guys, this was predicted from the beginning of the season by MANY analysts. Riley was itching to coach Shaq from the start. I think it's very ironic that Riley is taking over now that Shaq has returned. Let SVG struggle and take the heat (no pun intended) for all of their losses w/o Shaq, then take over once he returns. I'm not sure if I should applaud or criticise the man.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">He could have said no, and Riley would have looked like an egotisical jerk for firing him. What you're suggesting would require that Stan have an unbelievably submissive personality.</div> It's called politics and saving face. SVG still has aspirations to coach in the NBA again, and slamming Riley or the Heat organization would have been career suicide for him. This has been in the works since Shaq and SVG had some differences about how the team should be handled. I don't blame Shaq, he's probably right about SVG not being ready to lead this team to a championship. The same thing happened in Los Angeles when Shaq wanted Del Harris out because he couldn't get over the hump. Phil Jackson replaced Del and got Shaq his rings. I don't think Riley sabotaged the roster with the off-season moves. There are a lot of egos, but everyone who was brought in knew they were coming here to take a backseat to Shaq and Wade. The timing is what I don't like about this move. If Riley had the itch to coach again, he should have replaced SVG during the summer, so at least SVG could shop around for a new job or as an assistant. Now you come in and replace as soon as Shaq comes back from injury. Seems pretty dirty to me because if Riley really supported SVG he would have let him try to win with their best player back from injury. SVG was forced to resign, I think it's cut and dry, but SVG has to play the part if he hopes to coach again in the NBA.
Agreed Shape. SVG looked like he didnt want to step down at all but he pretty much had to. I wasn't fond of Riley before but now I just plain don't like him. There is no good reason for Riley to take SVG's job, I hope the best for Van Gundy though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">It's called politics and saving face. SVG still has aspirations to coach in the NBA again, and slamming Riley or the Heat organization would have been career suicide for him. This has been in the works since Shaq and SVG had some differences about how the team should be handled. I don't blame Shaq, he's probably right about SVG not being ready to lead this team to a championship. The same thing happened in Los Angeles when Shaq wanted Del Harris out because he couldn't get over the hump. Phil Jackson replaced Del and got Shaq his rings. I don't think Riley sabotaged the roster with the off-season moves. There are a lot of egos, but everyone who was brought in knew they were coming here to take a backseat to Shaq and Wade. The timing is what I don't like about this move. If Riley had the itch to coach again, he should have replaced SVG during the summer, so at least SVG could shop around for a new job or as an assistant. Now you come in and replace as soon as Shaq comes back from injury. Seems pretty dirty to me because if Riley really supported SVG he would have let him try to win with their best player back from injury. SVG was forced to resign, I think it's cut and dry, but SVG has to play the part if he hopes to coach again in the NBA.</div> I don't know if SVG was forced to resign (I don't think anyone outside of the Heat organization really knows) but I do believe that Riley put him in a position with his offseason moves to set up his resignation or firing down the road. By adding Walker, Payton and Posey, Riley collected so much talent with such huge egos that only a top-notch coach such as himself would be able to match the huge expectations that come with the talent. Although t may be going a little far to say that Riley purposley overdid the off-season acquisitions to acquiesce to his coaching needs that is what seems to have happened. Is there another logical reason to overhaul a team that nearly won the conference with their two stars hobbled by injuries? It seems as if he set up a situation where SVG wouldn't be an adaquete coach and only Riley would be able to step in.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting C.K.:</div><div class="quote_post"> The look on his face there really looked like he "stepped aside"... Face it, Riley wanted this all along. He loaded the team up with some big ego guys that he knew SVG couldn't handle. SVG and the Heat had perfect chemistry last year and Riley had to mess things up just so that he can coach...</div> Yea that's a face of guy who resigned only for personal reasons. I feel sorry for the guy.
