Pat Riley says LeBron James’ stunning departure in the summer of 2014 was the most shocking event of his long tenure as Miami Heat team president.
Riley claimed at the time that it “fired” him up that LBJ returned to Cleveland.
Pat Riley calls LeBron James leaving "most shocking" moment of Heat tenure. https://t.co/BoOaXQJp4r
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) March 6, 2017
The Heat are now scrapping for the final Playoff spot in the East.
Per Yahoo:
“Since I came here, we’ve had the same owner, same president, two coaches, same support staff. We’ve got a bunch of guys working for us who played for us. Players come and go, great players. When LeBron left, that was the most shocking thing to me – not to say he was right or wrong – and the most shocking thing to the franchise. But our culture is the same. You have your up years and your down years, but what can’t change is the way you do things.”
Beyond LeBron, the Heat also lost the other two-thirds of the Big Three, Dwyane Wade to free agency and Chris Bosh to injury. Label this season however you like: Collapsing. Rebuilding. Transitioning. By all rights, it should have been the disaster it began as at 11-30. The Heat have won 18 of 22 since, positioning themselves on the periphery of the playoffs.
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