Riles Batting Lead-Off with Hayward

June 30, 2017
So Pat Riley bats leadoff with Gordon Hayward, eh? What's that mean? That the Heat are the bar by which everyone else will be measured, or that they're the appetizer before the main courses of Boston and Utah?

What's the motivation here from Hayward?

Purple vs. Green: The Hatred Runs Deep

3/29/2013

BOSTON -- After Friday's back-and-forth between Pat Riley and Danny Ainge, you have to remember one telling, underlying fact: The Heat el jefe started it. And he started it because he can't help himself.

He (cue Tommy Heinsohn voice here) loathes, loathes, LOATHES the Boston Celtics.

Ainge Deals Riles a Body Blow

This is a big defeat for the Miami Heat and a very personal one for Pat Riley.

You can try to spin Tuesday's news — top prize Gordon Hayward picking the Boston Celtics over the Heat and Utah Jazz — any way you wish, but it is an unequivocal loss for Miami. Period. It means an ultimately disappointing summer of free agency in South Florida.

Hayward chose the Fourth of July to declare his independence from Utah, his longtime NBA employer, but in doing so essentially told the world he thought Boston was closer to competing for a championship than Miami, his very decision making that a reality. The Celtics had a built-in edge: Brad Stevens, their coach, coached Hayward in college. Riley tried to overcome that but could not, losing what amounted to a 1-on-1 duel with Celtics counterpart Danny Ainge to convince Hayward where his future would be best spent. Ainge and Riley have had a professional animus since the 1980s, one that in 2013 led Riley to publicly tell Ainge to "shut the f--- up."

It was a needed victory for Boston, which hoped to both trade for Paul George and then sign Hayward but missed out on the first half of that dream.

The Heat and Celtics both offered Hayward what Utah could not: An easier Eastern Conference. A more reasonable path to the NBA Finals that did not include the gargantuan roadblock of reigning champion/dynasty Golden State.

Now the defeated Heat are left to prioritize retaining and re-signing their own two top free agents, James Johnson and Dion Waiters, keeping the core of the team that went 30-11 in the past season's second half, and tinkering from there. By signing Hayward, Miami might have been unable financially to keep both Johnson and Waiters and might even have lost both.

Heat fans of the glass-half-full variety will go there now, seeing the bright side, convincing themselves that keeping Johnson/Waiters (if they can) will outweigh losing Hayward.

That's dubious. Hayward was not a tinker. Miami was aiming big with him. He was the top available free agent out there. He was not a “whale,” no, but he's an in-his-prime 26-year-old versatile forward coming off a 22-point-average season. He made the 2017 All-Star team. He can shoot the 3. He'd have been a great add for Miami, a budding star, not to mention a big personal triumph for Riley.

Now, the Heat is left to parse the disappointment and hope to salvage the summer.

Ainge forces Riles Hand, Inflicts More Pain

Missing out on Gordon Hayward in free agency Tuesday would have been far from a disaster if he had stayed in Utah.

The real problem for the Miami Heat is Hayward choosing Boston, an Eastern Conference rival that is strong and getting stronger.

Ainge and Riles Still at It

It was fun. It was loud. It was just four years ago Boston's Danny Ainge said it was "almost embarrassing" how LeBron James complained about some referees' calls, and Heat president Pat Riley dropped a 31-word bomb in a hand-delivered news release to defend James.

Will Riles and Magic Do Deals?

Pat Riley and Magic Johnson have had a unique relationship for nearly 40 years as allies and adversaries.

Now, not only are the two on opposite sides, but in the same capacity with Johnson joining the Lakers as team president this year, the same title Riley holds with the Miami Heat.

On Monday, the two were together at the "American Express Teamed Up" event in Los Angeles, as part of a panel moderated by Cari Champion. The Hall of Famers were asked questions about a variety of subjects including their time together in Los Angeles where they won four titles with Riley as the head coach and Magic the point guard; this year's Finals; and who would win a game of 1-on-1 between Magic and LeBron James.

Gerald Green Accepts Pat Riley's Challenge

Gerald Green Accepts Pat Riley's Challenge

July 11, 2015

MIAMI -- With the Miami Heat at the how-much-do-you-want-to-be-here stage of NBA free agency, Gerald Green made his statement by signing on the dotted line. At the NBA minimum.

When the Army Gets it Right, The Army Gets it Right

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It’s been a while since I have harassed flattered The Army, But, you know, I barely have time to flatter my own children or indulge my own guilty pleasures. Sometimes, though, you just got to make the time.

Which brings me to the above video posted by the Army earlier today. Who is that mofo? That's right. It's Pat Riley. The same Pat Riley we learned to hate a little bit more each year in the 1980s, and maybe even a little bit more in the 1990s when he joined the Knicks. The Army sang paens to the man I call "Gordon Gekko of the NBA." Such praise no doubt doesn't sit well in some quarters.

Some Celtics fans are still bitter.

You know what I have to say about that?

Danny Ainge and Pat Riley both Married Girls from Bill Walton's High School

One of Walton’s greatest joys is talking about his idyllic childhood in La Mesa.

“Once you’ve been touched by La Mesa, your life is never the same again,” he said.