http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-heat050207,0,1865792.story?coll=sfla-sports-front
Riley: Culture must change
By Ira Winderman
Sun-Sentinel.com
Posted May 2 2007, 2:35 PM EDT
MIAMI -- Heat coach Pat Riley vowed Wednesday to instill a culture in his team that shows more respect for the regular season.
"The notion that you can always turn it on, I think, once and for all, for this franchise, will never be thought and uttered again,'' Riley said during his season-ending news conference at AmericanAirlines Arena.
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"We didn't do anything the right way this year. It was a constant battle all year."
Riley said the franchise lost $10 million in revenue by hosting only two playoff games.
But he said his team received the result it deserved when it was swept in the first round.
"It would have been a mockery if we had beaten the Chicago Bulls,'' he said.
"We're going to have to redevelop the culture here, and it's going to be a different one. I'm going to take total responsibility for not holding them to a culture."
He was asked how he would get that message across to Shaquille O'Neal, who for years has downplayed the regular season.
"If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season, that's fine,'' Riley said of his center, who is due $20 million each of the next three years. "The dialogue has to stop. You can't sell that to your fans.
"He knows his influence on his teammates. He's going to have to lead by real example."
Riley said that guard Dwyane Wade has already bought in, relating that in their exit interview Wade told him, "We didn't come back right. We didn't play right. It just wasn't fun."
Riley blamed himself for allowing his players to ease through a season that ultimately produced a 44-38 record, a No. 4 playoff seed and lack of homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
"We need the 15 of 20 games we can sell to our fans that, 'This is a big game,' " he said.
He also said the Heat's season blew the hole through the myth of a veteran team being able to turn it on at will once the playoffs approach.
"I think it was one of the great lessons that we ever learned, that you can't do it,'' he said.
In an unusually candid session, Riley revealed that only two of his players bothered to show up for optional pre-camp sessions in September, and that seven of the nine veterans in the primary rotation failed to meet their conditioning standards at the start of training camp.
Riley, sounding very much like a coach who plans to return next season, said he also could envision a different strategic approach, after his team fell to the speed, youth and athleticism of the Bulls.
He said in addition to the post game of O'Neal and the one-on-one scoring of Wade, there also could be more of a flowing style.
"We have to reevaluate style a little bit,'' he said. "I do think we can get some improvements from within. There's going to have to be some rethinking done.
"The NBA is changing, but I think we have the best of both worlds. Speed is important, but it's speed that can play."
Riley also addressed several personnel issues:
He said Wade likely would need surgery for both the tendinitis in his left knee and his dislocated left shoulder. Each procedure has a rehabilitation schedule measured in months. "If he's going to do it," Riley said, "he's got to do it now." Riley said he hopes to have a decision from Wade by next week.
He said he might limit O'Neal's minutes in the hope of getting a full season out of his center. "It's an important summer for him to maintain his conditioning," he said. "What I would rather do is give him time off, rather than having him go down to injury."
He said point guard Jason Williams must regain the speed and shooting touch that made him such a valuable piece in the 2006 title run. "It's like an Armageddon summer for him,'' he said, with Williams entering the final year of his contract.
He said he has yet to hear from center Alonzo Mourning or guard Gary Payton about potential retirements. "I would love to have Zo back,'' he said. "There's not a better backup center in the NBA." He did not comment on offering Payton the opportunity to return and said his discussions with Eddie Jones did not include talk of a potential return.
He remained non-committal on the impending free agency of forwards James Posey and Jason Kapono. "It all depends on the market,'' he said. "That's all market driven." Of Kapono, he said, "Jason needs to improve. Can he get his own shot?"
While he acknowledged the need for a third scoring component beyond Wade and O'Neal, he warned not to rule out the potential of power forward Udonis Haslem. Riley said it is time Haslem get beyond the limitations of being a contributing "warrior" and move toward double-double productivity, through the development of a more reliable jump shot.
He praised third-year Dorell Wright for six weeks of solid early-season play and said he got away from the forward because of a preference for his veterans. "He really needs to get to work,'' Riley said. He also said that had Wayne Simien not been depleted by a Salmonella infection, he had envisioned the second-year forward as a rotation player.
He continually dodged questions about his own sideline future. "We've got a lot of time,'' he said. He also said his plan is to retain his current coaching staff.
He said there are no plans to remove the tributes to the 2006 championship team in the locker room or arena corridors. "They're not ever going to come down,'' he said. "Why should they? It's a forever team."
Riley: Culture must change
By Ira Winderman
Sun-Sentinel.com
Posted May 2 2007, 2:35 PM EDT
MIAMI -- Heat coach Pat Riley vowed Wednesday to instill a culture in his team that shows more respect for the regular season.
"The notion that you can always turn it on, I think, once and for all, for this franchise, will never be thought and uttered again,'' Riley said during his season-ending news conference at AmericanAirlines Arena.
LocalLinks
"We didn't do anything the right way this year. It was a constant battle all year."
Riley said the franchise lost $10 million in revenue by hosting only two playoff games.
But he said his team received the result it deserved when it was swept in the first round.
"It would have been a mockery if we had beaten the Chicago Bulls,'' he said.
"We're going to have to redevelop the culture here, and it's going to be a different one. I'm going to take total responsibility for not holding them to a culture."
He was asked how he would get that message across to Shaquille O'Neal, who for years has downplayed the regular season.
"If he wants to give back $10 million and play half a season, that's fine,'' Riley said of his center, who is due $20 million each of the next three years. "The dialogue has to stop. You can't sell that to your fans.
"He knows his influence on his teammates. He's going to have to lead by real example."
Riley said that guard Dwyane Wade has already bought in, relating that in their exit interview Wade told him, "We didn't come back right. We didn't play right. It just wasn't fun."
Riley blamed himself for allowing his players to ease through a season that ultimately produced a 44-38 record, a No. 4 playoff seed and lack of homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
"We need the 15 of 20 games we can sell to our fans that, 'This is a big game,' " he said.
He also said the Heat's season blew the hole through the myth of a veteran team being able to turn it on at will once the playoffs approach.
"I think it was one of the great lessons that we ever learned, that you can't do it,'' he said.
In an unusually candid session, Riley revealed that only two of his players bothered to show up for optional pre-camp sessions in September, and that seven of the nine veterans in the primary rotation failed to meet their conditioning standards at the start of training camp.
Riley, sounding very much like a coach who plans to return next season, said he also could envision a different strategic approach, after his team fell to the speed, youth and athleticism of the Bulls.
He said in addition to the post game of O'Neal and the one-on-one scoring of Wade, there also could be more of a flowing style.
"We have to reevaluate style a little bit,'' he said. "I do think we can get some improvements from within. There's going to have to be some rethinking done.
"The NBA is changing, but I think we have the best of both worlds. Speed is important, but it's speed that can play."
Riley also addressed several personnel issues:
He said Wade likely would need surgery for both the tendinitis in his left knee and his dislocated left shoulder. Each procedure has a rehabilitation schedule measured in months. "If he's going to do it," Riley said, "he's got to do it now." Riley said he hopes to have a decision from Wade by next week.
He said he might limit O'Neal's minutes in the hope of getting a full season out of his center. "It's an important summer for him to maintain his conditioning," he said. "What I would rather do is give him time off, rather than having him go down to injury."
He said point guard Jason Williams must regain the speed and shooting touch that made him such a valuable piece in the 2006 title run. "It's like an Armageddon summer for him,'' he said, with Williams entering the final year of his contract.
He said he has yet to hear from center Alonzo Mourning or guard Gary Payton about potential retirements. "I would love to have Zo back,'' he said. "There's not a better backup center in the NBA." He did not comment on offering Payton the opportunity to return and said his discussions with Eddie Jones did not include talk of a potential return.
He remained non-committal on the impending free agency of forwards James Posey and Jason Kapono. "It all depends on the market,'' he said. "That's all market driven." Of Kapono, he said, "Jason needs to improve. Can he get his own shot?"
While he acknowledged the need for a third scoring component beyond Wade and O'Neal, he warned not to rule out the potential of power forward Udonis Haslem. Riley said it is time Haslem get beyond the limitations of being a contributing "warrior" and move toward double-double productivity, through the development of a more reliable jump shot.
He praised third-year Dorell Wright for six weeks of solid early-season play and said he got away from the forward because of a preference for his veterans. "He really needs to get to work,'' Riley said. He also said that had Wayne Simien not been depleted by a Salmonella infection, he had envisioned the second-year forward as a rotation player.
He continually dodged questions about his own sideline future. "We've got a lot of time,'' he said. He also said his plan is to retain his current coaching staff.
He said there are no plans to remove the tributes to the 2006 championship team in the locker room or arena corridors. "They're not ever going to come down,'' he said. "Why should they? It's a forever team."
