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Barry Jackson: Norm Powell spoke with Heat people today and Riley said Heat has wanted him for a while: "Pat likes my little floater I’ve developed over the years. Being able to work on both sides of the floor, me one side, Tyler on the other" is exciting.
How special was it for you to have your No. 21 jersey retired by the Lakers? What did that moment mean to you? Michael Cooper: That’s the one that brought me to tears. Hall of Fame I cried a little bit because I was a little emotional because you’re thinking about all the people that helped you out along that path. But the criteria for getting your jersey number retired I was told by the late great Jerry West was a little different and you had to be an All-Star; you had to have certain criterias — you had to average 15 or something points, but with Jeanie Buss taking the lead of her dad Dr. [Jerry] Buss, who’s always been an innovator and creator and just doing different things out of the norm; when they came and told me that they were going to honor me, and I think a little bit of that had to do with me being in the Hall of Fame, I never ever could see my jersey being hung up in the rafters for however long basketball to be played wherever it is that the Lakers play is the ultimate honor and I’ve always played this game for the love of the game and once I got the love in me, I’ve always played for championships and I’ve always wanted to be part of something special; and the Lakers is like family. That’s the only organization that I’ve ever known. I’ve never played for another owner — I’ve played for different coaches, but Pat Riley was THE COACH for me.
Brad Townsend: Rick Carlisle (Mavericks, Pacers) joins a select group of coaches to take 2 franchises to The Finals. Others include: Alex Hannum (Celtics, Lakers) Red Auebach (Capitols, Celtics) Phil Jackson (Bulls, Lakers) Pat Riley (Lakers, Knicks, Heat) Larry Brown (Sixers, Pistons)
The preparation for next month’s NBA Draft this week took Heat president Pat Riley and several team officials to Southern California, where they checked out several players expected to go in Miami’s draft range at No. 20. Riley, vice president/basketball operations Adam Simon, director of college/pro scouting Keith Askins and team executive Eric Amsler were in Los Angeles for Pro Day workouts. One of those workouts, which is coordinated by Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports Group, included at least three players projected to go in the late teens or 20s — Illinois forward Will Riley, Florida point guard Walter Clayton Jr. and St. Joseph’s power forward Rasheer Fleming.
Barry Jackson: Someone asked today about a succession plan, about Spo maybe replacing Riley upstairs. That's not in works; Riley shrugged that off. Pat on Spo: "He never takes a year off, never takes a break, had some personal issues in his life. I’ve seen the stress on him like I’ve never seen it before. This takes a toll. When I talked to him the other day, he said he was going to Hawaii.
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Heat, Timberwolves expected to have trade interest in Kevin Durant
The Heat are frequently forecasted as a team, along with Minnesota, expected to show trade interest this offseason in Phoenix's Kevin Durant. What sort of clues Pat Riley drops clues about his team-building approach in the wake of a 37-45 campaign and painful first-round playoff sweep inflicted by Cleveland will be of prime interest.
Pat Riley on Jimmy Butler departure: As ugly as it was, I love the guy
Pat Riley asked about tanking, Riley said he doesn’t know about that. That’s not the Heat way. (He did say earlier the Heat sort of tanked twice before this century but never disclosed it publicly.) Pat Riley, unsolicited, had one more comment on Jimmy Butler: “What happened with Jimmy, as ugly as it was, that I didn’t appreciate [everything else]. I love the guy. Those things happened. It wasn’t fun.” What about trading for an alpha star? “If that talent can help and he’s humble, that’s fine. If it translates to winning, that’s all that counts.”
Pat Riley on if the Heat need another alpha? “There are some lateral trades that can be made to improve the team. Do we inject an alpha? A great, great player to help maximize our performance in those double digit leads that were lost? It could be that simple... Maybe this is the window our best players see we’ve got some freedom.”
Pat Riley asked about a succession plan and Erik Spoelstra possibly moving upstairs, that’s not the plan with Spoelstra and Riley isn’t leaving.
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Pat Riley said the Heat has to stop being a tax team every year, with consequences particularly punitive in this new CBA. “It’s not a priority but it is in order to manage the financial part of the team. We will try to get out and then back in and re-set it.”
Pat Riley, on some people saying Heat culture doesn’t work anymore: “It’s a narrative put out by other people who don’t know what it’s like here. Our culture has been the culture since we’ve been here.” He said it has changed somewhat to accommodate players in the modern era “but I’m proud of the culture and what we’ve created. For people who don’t really know, but it’s fashionable to comment on it, to hell with it.
Tim Reynolds: Pat, without context: "This is a weird league. You've got 20-point leads and you're losing at the buzzer." He's not wrong.
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