Miami Heat president Pat Riley has been working in the NBA for many decades. First, he carved out a playing career, and he won a title during his playing days with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972.
After retiring from the NBA as a player, he later entered the league’s coaching ranks. Over the years, he served as the head coach of the Lakers, New York Knicks and Heat. As a head coach, he led his teams to five league championships and numerous more NBA Finals appearances. He also won a ring as an assistant before becoming a head coach.
Riley doubled as a head coach and executive with Miami for a while. More recently, he’s been known for his work as an executive in his post-coaching days, a role in which he won two titles with the Heat in the 2010s.
Since then, he’s helped build some Heat teams that have knocked on the door of more titles, but the franchise hasn’t been able to get over the hump in more than a decade. Now long in the tooth, the 79-year-old Riley was asked about critics who have called him “washed.”
Pat Riley on people calling him washed after the Celtics won the title
“Whoever’s saying that I haven’t read it because I’m not on any social media site and I don’t care. I’ve had my a** kicked by the Celtics enough when I was coaching and they’re a great team”
“I don’t worry… pic.twitter.com/SyIXENEWc4
— Emo Jimmy (@HeatCulture13) January 9, 2025
While Miami has had some seasons recently in which a championship was within reach, last season wasn’t one of them. The franchise was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics, who ultimately won the NBA Finals.
The Heat were without star forward Jimmy Butler against Boston, as he sat out the entire series with an MCL injury. Still, it seemed as if the decisive manner in which Miami fell to the Celtics in the first round surprised some folks.
None of Miami’s four losses in the best-of-seven series came down to the wire. The Heat lost Games 1, 3, 4 and 5 all by 14-plus points and three of those contests by 20-plus points.
But even though Riley is no longer a spring chicken, the Heat have consistently been one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference under his leadership in recent years. Since the calendar flipped to 2020, Miami has reached three Eastern Conference Finals and two NBA Finals.
Moreover, the Heat are on track to contend for a playoff spot again this season. Even with all the Butler drama plaguing Miami in recent days and weeks, the team has managed to stay afloat in the standings and owns a record above the .500 mark at 18-17.
If the Heat do indeed trade Butler before the deadline, hopefully Riley will orchestrate a deal that will aid the team in its ongoing quest for a title.
