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 Pat Riley resigned as Miami’s head coach on Monday, almost two weeks after the Heat finished a 15-67 season; the worst of Riley’s career. The Hall of Famer will remain with the Heat as team president. Assistant coach Erik Spoelstra will succeed Riley, and will become the NBA’s youngest current head coach, at 37 years of age. As reported by ESPN:
“I made a point 25 years ago when I started coaching, made a point to myself and a promise to myself and more than anything else to the game that if I could never give everything I have to the game that I need to give, then I know it’s time for me to step aside,†Riley said.Â
Riley leaves the game with seven championship rings, five as a head coach, one as an assistant and one as a player. During his 25 years coaching in the NBA, he coached Hall of Fame players such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Patrick Ewing, and most recently Shaquille O’Neal. He led all three teams he coached – the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Miami Heat – to at least one NBA Finals appearance. His 1,210 career coaching wins rank him third in NBA history behind Lenny Wilkens and Don Nelson. He will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 5. Riley will remain involved in the day-to-day operations as team president. He will work closely with new coach Erik Spoelstra, who joined the Heat as a video coordinator in 1995. “I look forward to the challenge,†Spoelstra said. Spoelstra has spent 13 seasons with the Heat as an assistant coach and director of scouting. He has also coached the Heat summer league team for the past three seasons. Riley acknowledges Spoelstra as the right man for the job. “This game is now about younger coaches who are technologically skilled, innovative and bring fresh new ideas. That’s what we feel we are getting with Erik Spoelstra. He’s a man that was born to coach.†“I’ve worked for a great leader, a Hall of Fame coach and someone who’s been a great mentor to me for 13 years,†Spoelstra said. “It’s been a great relationship.â€Â
Spoelstra will face the challenge of rebuilding a franchise that won the NBA Title two years ago. However, the task will not be an easy one. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Based on the nine players under contract for next season, which assumes Shawn Marion does not opt out of his $17.8 million contract for ’08-09, the Heat already is at $58.9 million in what the league terms committed luxury tax salary. Factoring in a $2.4 million qualifying offer to restricted free agent Dorell Wright and the guaranteed contract of its first-round draft pick, the Heat would likely again move into the luxury tax should it spend its entire $6 mid-level exception on a free agent. And that’s not even counting what it does with free agents Jason Williams and Ricky Davis. Riley now faces a tough challenge himself as team president to help ensure Spoelstra success as the new head coach of the Miami Heat.
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