RealGM

My former boss played in a golf tournament over the summer in Atlanta that has a lot of Naismith former college players.
It's pretty much foursomes and in each one, you have a player or coach.
On his, he had Battier.

Asking about how were things at the Heat, he said that he signed with Miami for the ring...he had made plenty of money and Miami could still pay him OK money so he signed with us for that but the ring was the main motivation, no doubt.
He also said that a lot of our young guys pick up chicks and bring them over the clubs where the team is partying acting like they just scored big time when in reality half the team already dated those same chicks...it seems like the Heat has its following of girls that all of them know...

On to Spo...
According to what he heard, NO ONE respects Spo for being Spo. The only reason guys do what Spo wants is because they are AFRAID of Riley and respect him.
Apparently there is an enormous attitude change when Spo is with the team alone and when he has Riley by his side.

Just what I was told. He also heard some funny stories about Kobe and other players from the league but he wanted to share that with me because he knows I'm a Heat fan.

So, if what your former boss says is true, then it is pretty much what most of us thought to begin with: the high regard for Spo is media/PR facade. Specifically though, did you get to find out more specifically what Battier meant by "the team acts different when just with Spo around"? I am curious to know what that means. When Spo is around, is it an 'inmates running the asylum" kind of deal? Do they ignore him? Etc.

And LOL. I can just imagine it now...

Chalmers: yo guys, meet mah boo, *insert name here*.
Haslem: Been there, done that (quite literally). Trust me Rio you ain't bout dat kinky life he is into. Don't tap that ass.
Chalmers:

If what you say is true though, it isn't one but surprising, to be honest .

Honestly, I couldn't care less if Rio or any other bum waxes his dingaling every weekend... only thing I care about is role players doing what they're paid to do. Now, I'm not disputing that his off-court lifestyle is careless as too is his on-court play and the two may also be directly correlated. But then again, idgaf. Only thing that matters is how he's producing on court. Same goes for any other player.

As for Spo. I think this should've been evident the first day he signed for this team. Let's face it. You, me, everybody respects people who've accomplished something significant in their craft. This are great winners, great players, great coaches etc. Spo hasn't got anything on his resume that would demand respect from his players. He even looks/speaks like a scared little boy when he's giving a speech. You've got players on this team that have been in the NBA longer and have accomplished more in this league (no, being a video coordinator doesn't count for anything). Players like LeBron, Wade, Bosh follow and listen to Spo because they gotta maintain a good relationship for team chemistry purposes and obviously because they don't want the media jumping on their back, but at the same time, they know they aren't going to learn anything new from Spo.