The Miami Heat are currently in one of their worst stretches in nearly two decades. The franchise has lost nine-straight games and is 11 games below .500 for the first time since 2007-08.
Yesterday was also Pat Riley’s 80th birthday. Riley, who’s been in the Heat front office for three decades, has been one of the most successful individuals in NBA History. But ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had choice words for the long-time executive.
“You’re Pat Riley and your legacy is gonna be—even though LeBron was leaving anyway–you know what people are gonna say?! ‘LeBron James left for chocolate chip cookies.’,” Smith recalled. “
This shot at Riley is about a story that Dwyane Wade shared on the Underground Lounge podcast last month.
“This was the first moment that I had an inkling that LeBron may not be back,” Wade said. “One thing you don’t do is f–k with LeBron’s cookies. … So when he gets on the plane, LeBron walks on the plane with two bags of food. One bag is all cookies, and the [other] bag is what his chef has prepared for him to eat because he eats a certain way. He don’t eat what’s on the plane… So we get on the plane, and we play cards at the front of the plane, and at some point, LeBron’s gonna be like, ‘Hey, bring me those cookies.’ And one day, he said, ‘Hey, where are my cookies?’ And this one day, they had to come up and whisper in his ear and tell him that there were no more cookies on the plane.
“It was too much micromanaging at that point. You’re talking about a team who is four Finals in a row. You don’t need to micromanage us. I felt that ‘Riles’ went a little too far with his micromanaging at points like that. He’s a grown man; you don’t take the cookies away from him.”
There are few individuals with more success than Riley. He’s a nine-time champion–one as a player, six as a coach (one as assistant, five as head coach) and two as an executive with the Heat–winning three Coach of the Year awards and two Executive of the Year awards. You’d be hard-pressed to five 10 individuals who carry that much success.
In all fairness, Smith went on to say that Heat is a first-class organization and that he “loves him some Pat Riley.” But if we’re, in any way, framing it as if his legacy in the Heat front office is over cookies, one could argue we’re being disrespectful and intellectually dishonest with ourselves.
Does that mean the last few seasons have gone well for Riley? No. While the Damian Lillard trade was out of Riley’s control, you could point to a few other head-scratchers made (or not made, depending on how you look at it) if you want to point blame. The Heat front office comprises myriad decision-makers–Andy Elisburg, Adam Simon, owner Nick Arison, etc.–even though Riley is the face of it; he’s the individual who will carry the “one voice” philosophy at the end of every season to the media, not the others (except for Simon on draft night).
It’s much easier to general manage in hindsight. No front office is perfect. Certain organizations value aspects of basketball, roster construction and establishing a culture different than the Heat–and vice versa. Additionally, certain front offices also don’t have as clear of foresight as others in regard to those aforementioned aspects.
One can’t deny that the Heat are one of the league’s most successful organizations over the last 30 years. That doesn’t mean they’re not absolved from criticism, but that also doesn’t mean we collectively can’t have perspective about how well or poorly they have done.
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Excellent article, very fair and with good perspective. It’s important to talk about whether it’s time for Pat to hang them up, as you would any 80 year old. For us fans, there is no more important factor in team success than a highly competent GM. It’s the GM, or any responsibility holder, who ultimately has the task of self evaluating whether they are still at the top of their game when there is noone else to do so. The GM owes it to the team’s fans to make that call when appropriate.