Second best imo. Buford first. Exactly. Ppl saying that it's a great market and it's no big deal to have all the stars want to join. Really? So the Clippers were always a great destination? What about the Lakers lately? What about the Knicks and now Brooklyn? Everyone want to join them? Heat have a great culture. It's how they can keep a guy like Whiteside now in check and give him a HOF mentor to follow him and advice him around. It's how Riley didn't allow Lebron to take over like we have seen happening right now in Cleveland. And I don't understand how many here are so defensive about it. Riley is a legend with multiple RINGS. This comparison isn't even fair to Morey.
Riley Cheats. So it is a non starter from me The Colluded with J.Howard back in the day - got a slap on the wrist Did it again with the Heatles . . but the NBA wanted it so they allowed it So . . . I cannot say he is great in as much as . . uhm . . 'innovatively skirting the rules' Rocket River
This question is neither here nor there. Don't try and move the goal posts. Furthermore, the premise of this thread was shut down within the first handful of posts. Pat Riley has been in control of Miami's franchise as Team President since the 95-96 season. Twice as long as Morey's tenure as GM of the Houston Rockets. Thus, this discussion is moot and any argument built off of this thread's premise will be inherently fallacious. This comparison is worthless. Further discussion of Riley's superiority over Morey will be about as fruitless as a discussion of why $5 is better than $.50.
Show me said people and I will stab them with used meat skewers from the before mentioned delicious Brazilian Steakhouse.
we still have lin fans on this board who think that he didn't affect the portland series, I would stab them first
It's easy to win when they already had Dwyane Wade on the team in 2008. And then LeBron and Bosh decide to team up with him which was none of Pat Riley's doing. And they are in the East and it's easier to win. And the team is in Miami, which is a great free agent destination. What has Riley really done since 2008 that was his own doing? He mostly got lucky.
You can say the same thing about Morey. If not for the vetoed Chris Paul trade to the Lakers, Morey would have traded for Pau Gasol & signed NeNe to a large contract & unlikely to be able to trade for Harden.
Morey is on record saying he thinks he still would have been able to land Harden. The veto was terrible any way you want to look at it. Lowry / Lee / Parsons / Nene / Gasol would have been an awesome team.
Pat Riley had to be convinced by Tim Grover(MJ, Kobe, TMacs trainer who was working out Wade and Kaman at the time) to draft Dwyane Wade over Chris Kaman because Wade had the superstar potential but Riley was close to choosing Kaman because they needed a big. That one mistake would have set him back a decade or more. Having Wade be a budding star so fast after his game winning shot against BDiddys Hornets in the playoffs allowed the Heat to be an easy choice for Shaq to choose to be traded to. When you have Shaq after 4 straight Finals appearances in one of the most dominating runs ever and Wade who's a buddy superstar, the vets will come. Later, having Wade as an established all time great who had already won a ring on his own allowed the Big 3 to form and Riley is thrust back into the spotlight as a genius at basketball. Any GM that has LeBron, Wade and Bosh will have veterans wanting to come play for you for the vet minimum. So all together, is it really impressive that he has had success with superstars in giant markets or beautiful cities like LA, NY and Miami? Morey on the other hand has had a much more difficult road having to rebuild through trades while remaining competitive for a city that probably isn't very attractive to wealthy athletes. Analytics is here to stay. So Morey has that. He also has this easy going, laid back thing about him that probably carries on to the choice in coach and so on which affects the entire culture of his team. Riley has a boot camp style approach that can be overwhelming. He's the intimidating Godfather that commands respect and his teams since the 90s have been some of the most jacked up, muscular teams ever. On one hand, the NBA is very buddy-buddy and Rileys old school ways probably aren't attractive to young guys who just want to build their brand and enjoy the lifestyle, but on the other hand he has Miami which allows the work hard, play harder approach. Rileys success depends on a star choosing Miami and not really choosing himself. The player i truly see that is all work + just fits Miami and that no one ever talks about going there? Russell Westbrook. Everyone talks LA. I think if Miami can't get Durant(they wont) they will go hard and get Westbrook next year. Perfect fit. Once that happens, everything will be all too easy for Riley. For the Rockets and for the city of Houston, i choose Morey. I'd choose Jerry West over anyone though.
Morey does have that going for him. But what happens first? Riley retires or Morey gets fired? There's always that So, you're saying the Riley got lucky with drafting Wade. Then got lucky with pulling off the Shaq trade? Then got lucky with signing Allen, Bosh, Lebron, Haslem, and Whiteside. And Morey has Harden, Dwight, and Parsons on his resume. Oh yeah, and the western conference finals appearance. That's a lot to credit to just luck.
Riley has the virtue of luck and hindsight in this equation. Riley took over as the head coach and team president of the Miami Heat beginning with the 1995 season. He stayed as the head coach for 8 years with one Eastern conference finals appearance and then a bunch of nothing. They had the one 60 win, 3 50 win seasons, one season of 42 wins, the strike season and then 2 losing seasons before Stan Van Gundy took over as coach. His tenure was marked with turnover on the roster, lots of trades, etc. They didn't win anything until Riley's 11th season as the team president when the Lakers needed to salary dump Shaq and Riley's body was ready. Shaq burned out and the Heat again did nothing until Lebron and Bosh became best friends with Wade at the Olympics and decided to team up with each other to win a title. Riley is an impressive guy, but his resume looks more impressive because of circumstances. If Kobe and Shaq work things out, the Heat never get their first ring and then potentially never the next two. If the Cavs had managed to build a team around Lebron, the Heat Big 3 never happens. All Riley did was keep himself in position to star chase, which is what he does every year, same as Morey. The difference between them is that after 11 years Riley got his ring. If the Rockets win a title next year, Morey would have the same resume as a general manager that Riley did in his first 11 years, except his team would actually have more wins overall.
Fair enough and he would've traded Dragic, Martin & Scola for just Pau! I would've liked Pau in hindsight, since LA just turned him into a spoiled crybaby and he's much more of a professional now. Not for that price though!! Nene & Pau is much better than Dwight & TJ which is what we rolled with for most of these 3 years. Lowry, Lee, Parsons, Pau & Nene with Beverley, Budinger, Patterson & Dalembert. Hindsight, seeing how Pau has played ever since, how good Parsons became and how Lowry became an All-Star it might look good. At the time though, it was pretty bad. Pau & Nene is not exactly fitting of Morey's philosophy either. Just an opportunity that came along.
No, because the difference is that Morey "got lucky" in the sense that Harden was available. But Morey made the trade happen. In the case of the Heat, Riley did not do anything. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh decided themselves that they were going to join the Heat. Riley didn't do anything.
