Heheh. Exactly. In fact, I don't even think it takes a good GM. If Duncan dropped on the Rockets lap back when we just got Yao and T-Mac, Carroll Dawson would've built a dynasty. For reasons beyond me, people like to assume that all statements are black and white. Hence, if someone says Riley had less of an impact on bringing in the big 3 than the big 3 themselves, these posters must believe Riley had no impact. Obviously, all statements should be construed as all-or-nothing. All GMs must either suck or flawless. There is never any shades of gray.
none of them took less money. they all signed for over 110 mil. you don't think that different endorsements such as nike will easily cover their lost salary. they did not take a pay cut. they wanted to play with their friends. this isn't about winning. its about trying to be bigger than the league and trying to collude. these guys think they are above the league and can basically cheat their way to multiple titles. its all ridiculous. but to say they took pay cuts is bull****
pat riley probably tossed wade an additional 50 mil under the table to convince lebron's weak minded ass to come to miami. bosh isn't at fault. lebron is just a loser
riley didn't do anything, but listen to wade tell him 2 or 3 years ago that bosh and lebron were coming. so pat started dumping the salary since the plan was in place. if not for being in south beach riley doesn't do anything. he just dumps all of the salary to sign bosh and lebron with wade. that is genius!!!!!!!! then he fills up the rest of the roster with players willing to play for no money to try and be leaches. what a master gm. riley is a fraud. sorry Pat, you are not going to catch Phil in titles. He has more than doubled you
LOL! Read below. You obviously missed the earlier thread with more guys like him. Some people leave virtually no nuance. If you were the only person who had commented on Riles, I could understand your post. Far from it. I'll say it again: If Riles were GM of the Bulls, I bet at least two of the three would have signed there.
I don't know. I think Riley's prowess as GM mainly comes from his reputation or aura as a legend. It's kind of like Jerry West. You might be right that if Riley were GM of the Bulls, the guys might have signed there. But it would be because of his presence there more than his actually skills as GM in building a team. I mean, what had he done building a team around Wade before this summer?
Riley's success with the Lakers, Knicks and Heat speaks for itself. You may remember he made a boatload of controversial offseason moves in the summer of 2005 that created their championship roster of 2006. Jerry West doesn't have nearly the track record of Riles as a GM, whose reputation comes from much more than just "aura" or "legend". He's won everywhere he's been, including 4 championships with the Lakers, taking the Knicks to the Finals and winning it all in Miami. How does "aura" and "legend" do that? Riley is known for being very controlling, overbearing and extremely hard on his players. That's his style. He brings in guys who will get with his program. LeBron and Bosh are going to practice harder and play harder in Miami than they ever have in their careers. I'm sure Wade has explained this to them. Riley isn't the coach but his will permeates that organization. As a point of comparison, Jerry West's teams in Memphis never won a single playoff game.
That Miami championship team was controversial to say the least. I'm not going to go into the officiating thing that many claim robbed Dallas the title. Suffice it to say that Miami was a surprised winner that year. And whatever it was, it was a flash in the pan thing. I believe it had the worst record of a defending champ the following year. And it has never been a contender since. Even acknowledging the year with Wade's injury, that was hardly a great team built around a top 3 elite player. He has always been in major cities that are attractive to players: LA, NY, and Miami. I wonder how he would have done in a place like Memphis. (BTW, I think West's legend as GM was also overrated.) The track record of Riley's draft picks and trades aren't that impressive. What he is good at is signing FAs, which like I said, is mostly because of his (and his city's) attraction than his GM skills. Well, I guess we can say that persuading players to play for him IS a GM skill.
magic johnson was the reason for the success in the 80s, not pat riley. anyone could have coached that team. magic played for 3 coaches and took all of them to the finals
there is only one team riley gets those guys to come play for. and that is miami. no way they go to the bulls. he is a dude. guys like to go play for big cities and big markets. they don't go to teams for pat riley as the gm
OK, whatever. I give up. But the Heat were the equivalent of the Grizzles before Riles went there. He made them relevant and this was years before Wade came. If he hadn't gone there, it wouldn't surprise me if the Heat would have relocated by now. meh, read the prior 3 posts to this one (by the same person). Now you see where I'm coming from? It's laughable. GM's and coaches don't matter, it's "beaches" and "big markets". "Anyone" would have won 4 NBA titles with Magic as the PG. Why did they even bother playing the games?
Wow. I understand not liking Riley personality, but I'm surprised that people are so quick to dismiss what he's done. Regardless of whether or not you think someone else could have accomplished the same things as Riles, the bottom line is that those accomplishments belong to him, and not someone else in some kind of hypothetical scenario.
Another bride left at the alter. "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one your with, love the one your with."
On Riley: Phil J has only won titles in the Original Second City, or new Second City, and only with a top 20 player of all time as a cornerstone. I guess neither of them deserve credit. (not like Red, who did this in Boston, nevermind a flat bribe from Celts owner that in today's NBA would have received the death penalty got them their centerpiece, Bill Russell). I guess by these accounts none of the winningest trio of coaches deserve credit.
When I see the word "Boozer" I think back to that damn Game 7 the Rockets unbelievably, inexplicably lost at home in the playoffs a few years ago. Sorry but how on earth can some of you people now kinda like that dude? I know there will always be cases of "once rival players" making good - but in this case, we're pretty far away from that.
i think riley was a great coach, but any coach wins at least 3 in the 80s with magic. the best thing riley did was get the 94 knicks to a game 7 in the finals. the late 90s heat were choke artists and couldn't beat the knicks. the 06 heat where he made stan step down while he came down is sort of weak. especially with wade shooting 40 freethrows a game in the finals
magic won a title before riley ever showed up. he then took a lineup with byron scott, worthy, sam perkins and divac to the 1990 finals with dunleavy as the coach
if he doesn't have dwyane wade, riley has no plan. he needed wade. wade was the main one. not riley. riley just listened and dumped contracts
