|
Columnist: Pat Riley hires coach he trusts
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-15 09:26
The last couple of weeks have been unsatisfactory for everybody in Miami, to
be sure. Van Gundy, whom Riley just eased out the door, wasn't happy with the
effort he was getting from a veteran team, either. They gave away too many
rebounds, too many second shots, too many points in the paint. But as long as
Riley was peering over his shoulder, Van Gundy was powerless to do much about
it.
One game is not a reliable sample, but the Heat claimed an edge in nearly
every "hustle" stat in Riley's debut. Then again, the players he assembled heard
him say this summer that he missed coaching, that he wanted to be more
"involved." Like everybody else inside and outside the Miami organization, they
knew from that day forward that Van Gundy was already locked in a holding
pattern, circling until he picked out a soft place to land.
Riley at least let Van Gundy set the time of his departure. The guys who play
for him now know he won't extend them the same courtesy.
"I tried to keep Stan in it as long as I could," Riley explained before the
game. "He became adamant about it. It's what it is and I just felt that it's
time that I step in. That's the way it is.
"Whether you believe it or not it's absolutely irrelevant to me," he added.
"I know what the deal is, and he knows what it is, and Micky (Arison, the Heat
owner) knows what it is. That's the only ones that really count, anyhow."
Except the players, of course.
But there was no question whose side they were on. It's been two decades
since Riley worked his magic with Magic and Kareem, but they know his past. And
just in case they forgot, a not-so-subtle, gold-and-diamond reminder glistened
on Riley's ring finger.
"You play this game to provide for your family, No. 1," Alonzo Mourning said.
"After that, it's about winning. ... We're in good hands."
And how they got there troubled those players least of all.
"This was made between Coach Van Gundy and Coach Riley," O'Neal said. "I had
nothing to do with it. Coach Riley's not that type of person where I can go into
the office and say, `Why don't you do this, why don't you do that.'
"He told me that when I first came here, that that's not how this
organization is run. I knew and understood that," O'Neal added. "I would never
do that anyway."
|
