Riley to Miss Heat Games to Scout Prospects?

[Gerhalt11]

Riley said Thursday that "there's a possibility" he will "miss one or two" upcoming Heat games because he wants to travel to the various NCAA conference tournaments and start seeing players who'll potentially be in this year's draft.

"I'll be flying in and out," Riley said. "But I think right now, I've got to do that. I need to do that."

He will not be stepping down as coach, and did not reveal who will lead the team if, in fact, he does miss games.

Is there a bigger jackass sitting in the lead spot on the bench in the NBA? This guy just really pisses me off. He forces SVG out and takes over when it's clear the Heat are succeeding, and he looks to bail when they're down. I know he says he's not resigning, but come on. If you're a head coach, your place is on that freaking bench, whether your team is in first place or last place. What an unbelievable ass.

[mhectorgato]

Riley said Thursday that "there's a possibility" he will "miss one or two" upcoming Heat games because he wants to travel to the various NCAA conference tournaments and start seeing players who'll potentially be in this year's draft.

"I'll be flying in and out," Riley said. "But I think right now, I've got to do that. I need to do that."

He will not be stepping down as coach, and did not reveal who will lead the team if, in fact, he does miss games.

Is there a bigger jackass sitting in the lead spot on the bench in the NBA? This guy just really pisses me off. He forces SVG out and takes over when it's clear the Heat are succeeding, and he looks to bail when they're down. I know he says he's not resigning, but come on. If you're a head coach, your place is on that freaking bench, whether your team is in first place or last place. What an unbelievable ass.

I think he's more than just the head coach. Something like "pres. of bball ops".

[Cigamodnalro]

Otis Smith was out scouting NCAA 36 hours before the trade deadline this year...

[magicman123]

when the heat are doing bad, he finds a way to disappear

[Gerhalt11]

Otis Smith was out scouting NCAA 36 hours before the trade deadline this year...

Otis Smith isn't the head coach of a professional basketball team.

[MagicNolesFSU]

pat riley isnt just the coach of miami. He makes every basketball decision. They are getting probably the number one pick. Its his job to go.

[Gerhalt11]

pat riley isnt just the coach of miami. He makes every basketball decision. They are getting probably the number one pick. Its his job to go.

If your duties of one job inhibit your ability to do the other, then clearly you shouldn't be doing both.

Head coach and GM are the two most important positions of a basketball team, and look at two examples of men who occupy both offices: Pat Riley and Isiah Thomas.

Need I say more?

[Cigamodnalro]

-= original quote snipped =-



Otis Smith isn't the head coach of a professional basketball team.

But he has the responsibility to be a committed GM, just as Riley has the responsibility to be a committed coach.

[Orium]

Miami is tank-jobbing anyway, does it really matter if he's there? He's better off at the tourney. Oh, and yea.. this just makes the tanking that much more blatant and obvious.

[Happyfoosball]

I agree. Question Riley if you want but the man has 5 rings.

[mhectorgato]

If your duties of one job inhibit your ability to do the other, then clearly you shouldn't be doing both.

Head coach and GM are the two most important positions of a basketball team, and look at two examples of men who occupy both offices: Pat Riley and Isiah Thomas.

Need I say more?

Bill Russell was pretty good as a player/coach.

Red was pretty as GM/coach as well.

[craig01]

I agree. Question Riley if you want but the man has 5 rings.

There ya go!

[Howard Mass]

It would be nice if he decided to exercise that option to switch first-round picks this year.

[Mr F 2u]

riley is an ass. things are going well in Miami and he "doesnt force SVG out" now they are the worst team in the NBA and hes looking for a way out. even if he is GM or whatever he is he still has to do his other job and coach the team. im sure he could get some what they call scouts to look at some NCAA players and he can check them out on days off. he complains about chemistry but it starts with him and he doesnt know the meaning of the word

[AdamTheGreek]

He doesn't want to have to shake Stan's hand in defeat again this season?

Seriously though, watch Miami go on a win streak with Riley out.

[EasternMagic]

Otis Smith was out scouting NCAA 36 hours before the trade deadline this year...

Otis Smith isnt the coach that's his job. and besides he cut the trip short to come back and deal with all the possible trades

[MoMM]

when the heat are doing bad, he finds a way to disappear

I couldnt say it better

[orl1724]

why does he leave? to no mess up his win loss record or what?

[lovehoops01]

There never has been a clearer example of a tank job in NBA history. If there is any justice in the world, the ping-pong balls won't come up for the Heat at the No. 1 pick.

[Typhoon20]

I can't believe I'm about to say this...BUT,

I think Riley is doing the right thing. Yes I'm not a huge fan of him and I don't like the way he treated SVG, but that's irrelevant to that article.

I'm going to make a bold prediction, and most of you are not going to like that. THE HEAT ARE GOING TO BE THE NUMBER 1 TEAM IN THE EAST NEXT YEAR. THEY WILL PLAY THE NBA FINALS.

I can hear the laughters going on about now in the background.
My reasoning for that comment ? Well they will have a great draft pick, maybe even the number 1 draft pick. They got rid of Shaq's fat contract and awful performance. They have a good player in Marion, they can trade him as his contract is about to end, or they can use him or even re-sign for cheaper (I don't think that'll happen, but you never know). Wade's contract is decent. They have a lot of expirings and valuable assets they can trade away. They will have a great draft pick, they can get Beasley, Rose or Jordan, either of them would make them great. A backcourt of Rose & Wade, along with Marion is good enough, and I forgot about Haslem. but wait there's more. They will have enough cap space to sign a couple more players. And there are going to be a lot of great FA's this year. And when you know that Wade has been playing thru injuries and will be in form next year injury-free (i hope) they will have a great team. This all revolves around them making the right moves, and Riley checking up on the draft picks is a good thing for them.

And about the tanking part. So what ? Seriously. When you, as the league, give them the permission to do that, then any team will take advantage of that rule. Wether it's the Grizzlies (that one is even more obvious) or Heat this year or Portland last year, it's always going to happen. You can't blame a team for tanking when it's set up like that by the NBA. And why shouldn't the Heat tank it ? Let's imagine this, our team is doing bad, Dwight comes back from a serious injury, we have the worst team and record in the NBA. Would you want Dwight to keep playing for fruits and bananas at the risk of him ending his career because of that ? Same thing with Miami. As a basketball fan I would prefer Wade to get his rest, heal that injury and come back 100% injury-free next year. He can play all the games this year but it's not going to help Miami at all, AT ALL. So why force it ?

They will go from the worst team in the NBA to one of the best teams in less then a year. And come next year a lot of people will start the Heat bandwagon just as they did with Boston at the start of the season and Lakers after the Pau trade. I hate when that happens.