For Miami Heat's Pat Riley, filling out roster a chemistry lesson

Shaquille O'Neal shows off his new jersey with then Miami Heat coach Stan Van Gundy during a press conference to introduce the All-Star center at AmericanAirlines Arena on Tuesday, July 20, 2004. O'Neal has since bounced to the Suns and Cavaliers after winning a championship with Miami in 2006.

JARED LAZARUS / STAFF PHOTO

By GREG COTE
gcote@MiamiHerald.com

``Bring back Shaq!'' ``Hey T-Mac is still out there!'' ``They should sign Iverson!''

Too numerous to count are the times I have heard comments such as these mentioned by Heat fans or seen them written in e-mails over the past few days. I prefer the e-mails, because when said directly to me the comments tend to be accompanied by a strong waft of liquor -- as thinking Miami should sign Shaquille O'Neal, Tracy McGrady or Allen Iverson is not nearly as likely when sober.

They are the NBA's three biggest remaining free agents in terms of flagging name value and past-weighted résumés, but the idea that means they make sense for Miami right now is insane. They make the opposite of sense.

In choosing how to fill out the remainder of the 15-man roster, who Pat Riley doesn't sign might be as important as who he does.

The criteria from here should be heavy on chemistry. On fit.

The team we will see night in night out starting in October is set. Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh dominating marquee and minutes; Joel Anthony and Mario Chalmers as the token other starters at center and point guard; Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem as the primary first-off-the-bench guys; and Zydrunas Ilgauskas in heavy rotation as the backup big.

That's eight by my count.

And when Miller is in, which will be a lot, Chalmers will usually sit and James or Wade will run things from the point.

SIT AND WATCH

Simple. Neat.

That means anybody brought in from here will need to be comfortable on the bench, on the far end of rotation, as maybe the ninth guy who not always even get in a game. (Not to mention swallowing a minimum salary.)

Does that sound like Shaq, T-Mac or Iverson?

There never was a chance with Shaq returning. The Big Bridge Burner blew it with this regime when he ripped the training staff when traded to Phoenix. Shaq has also jabbed and needled Bosh in the past.

Even if there wasn't the bad blood, the Heat will struggle as it is to find enough basketball for Wade, James and Bosh without Jabba the Hut planted in the paint and crying for his touches.

McGrady and Iverson also have been starters throughout their careers whose eager acceptance of a limited role is tough to fathom.

The same limited role is why a free agent the Heat could use -- former Heater Jason Williams, a point guard -- could go elsewhere.

Miami could use another veteran such as Williams geared mostly to the guard rotation but the names that make the most sense now are not Iverson or McGrady but guys such as Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Finley, Williams or Eddie House.

Stackhouse should intrigue. Riley is not averse to veterans in niche roles, and Stackhouse would serve more value to this roster than, say, the already signed Juwan Howard. Stackhouse, 6-6 and age 36, last was a full-time NBA starter in 2003 so is comfortable as a role player and even went on NBA TV to campaign for a Heat role, saying he would agree to a minimum salary.

(Anyway, how appropriate that a team playing with the basketball equivalent of a stacked deck or full house might add a guy named Stackhouse?)

EARNING HIS WAY

Stackhouse wouldn't present the chemistry threat of, say, Iverson -- yet has far more left to give than others who have come out of the woodwork begging to grab onto the Dream Team coattails, like 39-year-old Penny Hardaway.

(Can Tim Hardaway's declared comeback be far behind?)

The overriding idea is that Wade/James/Bosh will be so dominant as a triumvirate that whatever parts are plugged into the other two spots will be better by their surroundings. I mean, how can Chalmers not be a better point guard assured of averaging at least two or three more assists per game when he is dribbling up the floor and seeing three options that, combined, averaged 80 points last season?

The main eight players are set.

It's the others who might not have much role on the hardwood but who will have a say in the team's chemistry and harmony. No egos allowed from here. Miami has its full share, thanks.

The Heat's last couple of signings will be made with that rather delicate balance in mind.

That's why the man nicknamed The Answer, Iverson, likely won't be part of the solution here.

Riley's reign has shades of Red

By J.A. Adande
ESPN.com
Archive

Issac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty ImagesHow'd the Heat land LeBron, D-Wade and Chris Bosh? It has a lot to do with the man on the far left.

 

There was no way to know that the three men captured in this brief clip from the early 1970s would go on to have so much influence on the NBA in the '80s, '90s, 2000s and now this decade.

The footage is from the moment Game 5 of the 1972 NBA Finals ended and the Lakers beat the New York Knicks to win the series. Pat Riley, a Lakers reserve, is so excited he nearly wrestles teammate Jerry West into a headlock as they run to the locker room. A few seconds later Phil Jackson of the New York Knicks makes his way through the delirious fans storming the court.

Who could have guessed that Riley would become a coaching icon in the 1980s, or that Jackson would surpass him in the '90s, or that West would become such a great team-builder that a rival once suggested they name the executive of the year award for him?

Now, 38 years after their paths crossed in that clip, Riley has the chance to combine elements of the other two and go down in history as the greatest coach/executive since Red Auerbach.

Riley won it all four times with West making the personnel moves in Los Angeles. He won in Miami with a team he put together himself. And now he has emerged as the biggest winner in the most anticipated free-agent summer since 1996 -- and if he returns to coaching, as so many predict he will, he could become the league's most significant single figure south of David Stern. Riley will never be the logo representing the world's best basketball players, as West is, but Riley could say he's done more than West could off the court. West built champions. Riley has done that and coached them, too.

Originally, West and Riley were supposed to coach the Lakers together. But no sooner had Lakers owner Jerry Buss announced the plan in 1981 than West backed off, leaving Riley to handle it himself. The Lakers were in capable hands, it turned out, as Riley won that season and three more times in the next six years. And West was as skilled as they came in the front office, fortifying the Lakers with the likes of Byron Scott and Mychal Thompson to assure they would be the team of the 1980s, patching together the likes of Nick Van Exel and Cedric Ceballos to make a competitive team in the 1990s, then landing Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in one summer to set up the Lakers as the dominant team at the start of the '00s.

West is the standard, but Riley has a chance to surpass him. In Miami, Riley never had the benefit of lucking into a No. 1 overall pick to serve as the bedrock of the team, which the Lakers had with Magic Johnson in the 1980s. (Getting another No. 1 in James Worthy didn't hurt, either.) But through relentless roster reshaping (Riley would like that term; he has a thing for alliteration), Riley has fashioned the Heat into contenders three times.

He traded for Alonzo Mourning in 1995 and brought in Tim Hardaway as part of a three-trade frenzy that netted five players right before the trade deadline in 1996. That team made it to the Eastern Conference finals in 1997.

[+] Enlarge

Eliot J. Schechter/Getty ImagesThe last time the Heat landed a big free agent, Riley returned to the bench and brought Miami a title. 

 

In 2004, he turned an exploratory discussion about the possibility of returning to Los Angeles to coach the Lakers into a plot to bring the Lakers' center to Miami and wound up pulling off the landscape-changing trade for Shaq; a year later he reworked the roster around O'Neal and Wade to bring the Heat their lone championship.

And now he has masterminded his most audacious move yet, clearing enough salary-cap space to bring in LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade. True, Riley didn't have to do the hard sell himself, since the players' friendship formed while playing on the U.S. national team spurred the idea of hanging together on a full-time basis. But Riley was the one who facilitated it, made the dream a financial possibility, and will be responsible for surrounding them with the right pieces to fulfill what is practically an obligation to win a championship.
And there's every reason to believe in Riley. You can review all of his transactions as president of the Heat, and you won't find a single trade that he "lost." You'll also be hard-pressed to find a player he regrets allowing to get away.
Free-agent departures Bruce Bowen and James Posey went on to win championships in San Antonio and Boston, respectively, but they're the type of players who plug in gaps instead of forming foundations. When you watched the parades it wasn't Bowen and Posey you wished you had; it was Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. The best player to be selected from one of the draft picks Riley sent away was Ty Lawson -- a backup point guard on the Nuggets.

Yes, Caron Butler went on to become an All-Star, and Lamar Odom is now a main rotation player for the back-to-back champion Lakers … but the Heat got Shaq in exchange for them and won a championship. Any deal that brings a banner you'd do again and again and again. If Michael Beasley ever fulfills his potential in another uniform, sacrificing him to get this roster together will be deemed worth it if there's another parade.
Wade, James and Bosh are the stars, but this still feels like Riley's team. No other executive establishes and dominates his team's culture as Riley does with the Heat. Among the numerous questions swirling around Beasley when he was sitting there as the no-other-choice selection for the Heat's No. 2 pick in 2008 was whether he was the type of guy who could play for Riley. It didn't matter that Riley wasn't the coach at the time and, it turned out, never came down to the sidelines while Beasley was in Miami. Riles had his way and his guys, even from up in the office.

Will he remain there, or can we count on his protégé Erik Spoelstra continuing to coach the team? Surely Stan Van Gundy can tell you how this story will end. If Riley did it to him -- coming down to take over a team on the brink of winning it all after reaching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals the year before -- he'll do it to Spoelstra, who has yet to win a playoff series.

The Heat have brought back Udonis Haslem and are adding Mike Miller, both at discounts. Credit Riley, who just might be the NBA's best recruiter.

In a blog on The Huffington Post, agent Arn Tellem described his client Miller's meeting with Riley that led to Miller joining the Heat at a reduction from his full market rate.

"Enthusiasm is contagious, and Coach Riley a carrier," Tellem wrote. "Had he not become coach of the Heat, he could have made millions by opening a chain of tanning salons in the Sunshine State. He's that good.
"Pat had a vision for the team, a vision that he laid out with evangelical fervor. We left the room converted."
You don't need to be in a room with Riley to be swayed to the belief that he's currently the best in the business. Just look at the roster.

No Tampering Charge

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Archive

The Cleveland Cavaliers have no plans to push for an NBA probe into the circumstances that led to LeBron James joining Team USA colleagues Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, according to sources with knowledge of the team's thinking.

NBA commissioner David Stern said Sunday that the league would investigate the Heat's signings of James and Bosh for any illegal negotiating or planning before free agency officially started if the Cavaliers or Toronto Raptors make that request.

Adande: No Collusion Shadow On Trio

While awaiting a good nickname for the new LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh collaborative, let's establish that there are three things they can't be called: conspirators, colluders or tamperers, writes J.A. Adande. Story

Reached Sunday by ESPN.com, Stern said: "Whenever a team lodges a tampering charge, it is investigated."

The Cavaliers declined official comment Sunday, but one source briefed on Cleveland's intentions told ESPN.com that -- in the wake of owner Dan Gilbert's vitriolic open letter to Cavs fans that slammed James for leaving his home-state team -- the organization wants to try to keep the focus from here on its post-James future as much as possible.

Toronto likewise declined comment, but one source with knowledge of the Raptors' thinking indicated that they will not press for an inquiry, either, preferring to let league officials decide if any sanctions are warranted with regard to recent acknowledgements from the three players that they have been talking about teaming up for some time.

Stern also declined further comment but is expected to expound on the subject Monday night when he is scheduled to meet with reporters in Las Vegas following an owners meeting devoted to the league's ongoing labor negotiations with the NBA Players Association.

Although labor matters were initially expected to dominate the agenda, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Friday that he intends to push for renewed discussion about the league's tampering rules and how they are enforced.

[+] EnlargeBosh/Wade/James
Steve Mitchell/US PresswireReports about Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James meeting before agreeing to sign with the Heat have circulated since late June.

Concerns about this issue have been mounting since an ESPN.com report in late June that James, Wade and Bosh met face-to-face before free agency to discuss their plans. Yet the league's general position has been that players are not subject to the same tampering restrictions as teams except for "the most egregious cases," when it can be proven that a player was operating as a direct extension of team management.

Miami's counter to any tampering claims figures to center on the premise that James, Wade and Bosh have openly dreamt of playing together at some level since the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and that the Heat turned out to be the only team in the league in the long-anticipated summer of LeBron that had the requisite salary-cap space to sign all three players.

The Heat will also undoubtedly point to the fact the Cavaliers and Raptors -- to ensure that neither team lost its franchise player without compensation -- just willingly completed sign-and-trade deals with Miami for James and Bosh.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported in Sunday's editions that James, Wade and Bosh actually hatched the idea of playing together during a stint with Team USA in the summer of 2006 at the World Championships in Japan, which contributed to each of them signing new contracts in 2007 containing an opt-out clause after three seasons to become unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2010.

Tensions nonetheless remain high in various cities around the league, starting obviously with Cleveland, some 72 hours after James announced in a one-hour special on ESPN that he would be leaving the Cavaliers after seven seasons to play alongside Wade and Bosh.

A comment made by Bosh at a welcoming rally Friday night in Miami has only fueled accusations that the three stars began plotting their joint move to South Florida well before they were technically allowed to. Bosh initially told the assembled crowd that the trio had been talking about landing with the same team for "months" before catching himself and amending that statement to "days."

Cuban told a group of reporters Friday at the NBA's annual summer league in Las Vegas that he would urge Stern to look into the matter whether or not Cleveland or Toronto asks, saying: "I'm going to bring it up to the league that we really do have to re-evaluate the issue of player tampering. Who knows what will happen? But I have to suggest it to them because there has to be more definitive rules.

"It's not just the Cavs," Cuban continued. "It could be any team. It could be the Heat in a couple years. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. But there has to be a way to keep these guys away from each other for the last week anyway."

Wade and Bosh are represented by the same agent -- Chicago-based Henry Thomas -- and were together throughout the league's moratorium period between July 1-7 when teams and free agents could meet and negotiate deals to the point of reaching agreements in principle. Thursday was the first day that teams and players could actually execute new contracts.

James and two of his closest advisors -- business manager Maverick Carter and agent Leon Rose -- took a different approach, inviting six teams to the Cleveland area to make their pitches over a three-day span before committing to the Heat.

But James and Wade acknowledged at a press conference Friday night that the three players were in frequent contact as they finalized their decisions where to sign, with the information flow also facilitated by the fact that Thomas joined Rose at CAA in July 2009.

Wade acknowledged Friday night that what he termed as "the possibility" that all three stars could someday wind up on the same team was established "a long time ago."

Stern, however, has made it clear that he would not punish player-to-player interaction with the same vigor that the league threatens to punish team contact with players that they don't employ, suggesting that it is unrealistic to try to put limits on or police player fraternization.

At the NBA Finals, when asked about the prospect of various top free agents holding a so-called "summit" -- as Wade playfully suggested to the Chicago Tribune in late May -- Stern said he would not try to stop it or punish participants for getting together.

"They can have it," Stern said on June 3.

ESPN.com reported June 28 that James, Wade and Bosh held a scaled-down version of the summit to seriously discuss the prospect of playing together with the Heat.

Sources in the initial report told ESPN.com that the sitdown took place in Miami during the weekend before July 1, which was subsequently denied strenuously by Thomas. But sources close to the process reconfirmed to ESPN.com on Wednesday that the players convened at least one face-to-face meeting before July 1, except that sources now acknowledge that the meeting was on James' Northeast Ohio turf on the Saturday before the NBA draft.

The Plain Dealer reported in Sunday's editions that Wade flew with Bosh to Akron to meet at James home, where Wade-- still under contract to the Heat -- pointed out that only Miami had the cap space to afford all three players.

The newspaper also reported that the Cavaliers were aware of a November meeting Heat president Pat Riley had with James and Michael Jordan in Miami, with Jordan in town to do some Nike work with Wade. But Cleveland, according to the Plain-Dealer, did not register a tampering complaint with the league about the meeting, believing that Riley's primary purpose was convincing James that more modern players need to pay homage to Jordan, who at the time had not yet become majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.

After James' Cavaliers beat Wade's Heat on Nov. 12, with Riley and Jordan watching together courtside, James made the announcement that he no longer wants to wear No. 23 and that all players, in a bow to Jordan, should forsake that number.

Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.

Miami Heat's meeting with LeBron James fit for a king

BY MICHAEL WALLACE
mwallace@MiamiHerald.com

CLEVELAND -- The Miami Heat's lord of championship rings spent nearly three hours Friday afternoon trying to court the Cavaliers' King.

Heat president Pat Riley and his staff emerged from the marathon recruiting session with free agency's top prize, Cleveland star LeBron James, hoping it was time well spent.

Meanwhile, the bonding between Heat free agent guard Dwyane Wade and his hometown Chicago Bulls appears to pose a legitimate threat to Miami's plans.

About an hour after the Heat's contingent wrapped up its meeting with James, Wade met with the Bulls for a second time in as many days in a development that left South Florida -- and the temporarily christened Miami-Wade County -- in a frenzy.

But Riley remains confident in both his long-term relationship with Wade and Miami's blueprint to haul in enough free agent talent to convince the Heat's star to stay.

``I have a good feeling about him,'' Riley said of Wade during an interview with The Miami Herald. ``We're about stability. And we're about family.''

But Wade, who also met with the Knicks on Friday, is all about taking part in the feeling-out process during his first venture into free agency.

One of Wade's representatives said the Bulls initiated the follow-up meeting and Wade accepted as a courtesy. But Wade is said to be impressed with the combination of salary-cap space and young talent -- guard Derrick Rose and center Joakim Noah -- the Bulls have in place.

James and Wade are considered the most prized prospects of the deepest free-agency market in history, with the Heat among suitors that dream of seeing them on the same team.

James arrived for his third free agency meeting at Cleveland's downtown IMG building at 11 a.m. Friday for a session that didn't end until two SUVs used by the Heat's staff emerged shortly before 2 p.m.

MAKING THE SALE

James heard pitches from Riley, owner Micky Arison, coach Erik Spoelstra, former center Alonzo Mourning, team salary-cap specialist Andy Elisburg and vice president Nick Arison, the owner's son.

The Heat's contingent left the meeting without commenting to reporters camped out along St. Clair Avenue and East 9th Street. But Riley briefly spoke with The Miami Herald after his staff returned to its hotel to evaluate the meeting with James over a quick lunch.

With James arriving in a T-shirt, sweatpants and toting a backpack, Riley described the meeting as ``very relaxed'' and said James was receptive.

``It was very relaxed -- we all know him,'' Riley said of James. ``I think there was a genuine respect. We have so much respect for him and the other top-tier free agents. These people need to see who we are. They need to see me and Andy. They need to see Zo, Spo, Micky and Nick. And, yes, they need to see the rings.''

By mentioning rings, Riley was clearly referring to the five NBA titles he won as a coach, including the Heat's 2006 championship led by Wade.

The Heat's recent championship experience and the chance to team with Wade could appeal to James, whose string of impressive regular-seasons in Cleveland have yet to result in a NBA championship.

Riley presented James with the Heat's ultimate free-agency plan -- to re-sign Wade, bring in a big man such as Chris Bosh and top it off by adding the Cavs' two-time MVP to form a dominant trio.

But the Heat's vision continues to face stiff competition. The Knicks, Bulls and Nets have all met with Wade, who prefers to re-sign with Miami if there are significant roster upgrades.

Riley's staff traveled back to Chicago late Friday to meet with Knicks center David Lee and Jazz forward Carlos Boozer. The Heat plans to hold off on a formal face-to-face with Wade until he completes all other visits and returns to Miami early next week.

Riley remains confident Wade will be back with the Heat, which has offered him a maximum six-year contract for about $125 million. Wade would also consider taking less money and splitting the Heat's salary-cap space with two other elite stars if they're willing to come.

OTHER SUITORS

And that's where James enters the equation.

As James and his team of advisors were finishing their session with the Heat, the Cavs were introducing new coach Byron Scott to the media at the team's practice facility. Scott played for the Lakers' championship teams that were coached by Riley in the 1980s.

On Thursday, James met with the Nets for about 90 minutes and with the Knicks for two hours, The Clippers met with James on Friday afternoon after the Heat. He will meet with the Bulls and Cavs on Saturday.

Riley said he had no indication how long James or other top free agent targets would take to make decisions. Free agents can agree to deals, but are not allowed to sign contracts until July 8.

After meetings in Chicago on Saturday, the Heat's staff will travel to Charlotte on Sunday for sessions with center Brendan Haywood and possibly point guard Raymond Felton.

``We've taken five meetings in 40 hours, basically,'' Riley said. ``It's exhausting. It's intense. It's fun at times. I think things are going well.''