What Now For The Heat?

For the second time in the past five years Pat Riley steps down as coach at his team's weakest point. Coming off a year that he will gladly forget, Riley leaves behind a team with an ailing superstar, no dominant big man, and a tight salary cap situation. While many perceive Riley's retirement from coaching as a dent to the Heat organization, in reality it is a move that will improve the team in the long run.


To state the obvious Riley is a decorated coach who finally brought his long-promised championship to Miami, but despite his hall of fame credentials, he is not the right man to continue coaching this team. This is due to the fact that every coach has their strengths and weaknesses, including the great ones. This relates to X's and O's, but also to situations in general.


There are some coaches who thrive in the underdog role, overachieving with what many consider lesser talented teams. Take Don Nelson for instance. Unquestionably one of the most innovative offensive minds, he thrived with the early 90's Golden State teams as well as with the present Baron Davis-led squads. The master of small ball, his teams were an upset waiting to happen; an unpredictable lower seed no team wanted to draw. However his years in Dallas, while successful, did not live up to the lofty expectations. With championship favored teams he was unable to take the final step.


Then there is Pat Riley. Looking at his resume it is clear what teams he thrives with. Give Riles a dominant center, an all star perimeter player and adequate supporting cast and more likely than not he will get the job done. Like Phil Jackson, Riley has proven that he can command the respect of even the biggest egos, and thrive in the largest markets with the loftiest of expectations. That being said, I would not go as far as to call him the most adaptable coach. I find it hard to imagine Riley taking the Stan Van Gundy-led '03-'04 Heat team, consisting mostly of perimeter scorers, to the playoffs.


In that particular team there were players that while talented, did not fit the typical profile of their position. Take Lamar Odom. Although 6'10, he is more of a slasher than the typical bruising power forwards (Charles Oakley and P.J. Brown for instance) that Riley seems to prefer. Then there was Dwyane Wade. Before he was 'Flash' he was a rookie playing out of position at point guard that ended up starting nearly every game he played in. Considering Pat's cautious (to say the least) attitude towards young players, it's hard to imagine Wade having as long of a rope had Riley been coaching him his rookie year.


That rookie season let Wade experience all of the ups and downs that set the foundation for his rise to superstardom. To this day Wade credits Van Gundy for allowing him to make mistakes, while still giving him consistent minutes. That young, dynamic core of Wade, Butler, Odom, and Haslem ended up making the second round of the playoffs before being dismantled to bring Shaq into town.


The team Miami has right now far more resembles the young athletic '03-'04 team than the '06 championship team, in other words this current roster is far from a Riley team. This is also obvious to Pat. Rather than risk another losing season with a team he is already less than completely comfortable with, he has made the same move he did back in 2003 (albeit with more warning), giving an up and coming assistant coach a chance to build something formidable out of a bunch of rather heterogeneous pieces.


Provided Spoelstra possesses the ability to steer a more unconventional versatile group of players (in other words as long as there is more Van Gundy in him than Riley), then the team should at least make strides in his first year as coach. The team has athletic stars in Wade and Marion as well as young players with potential in Wright and Cook. Combined with the acquisition of another likely starter through the upcoming draft, it is clear that at the very least this could be an exciting run and gun team, not far behind the top teams in the East.