Indians 2, Twins 0: Fausto Carmona Delivers Three-Hit Shutout
September 11, 2010Open Thread: #2 Ohio State vs. #12 Miami
September 11, 2010Miami Heat president Pat Riley met with the media Friday to discuss some topics concerning the free agency summer of 2010. The long-time coach of the team took personal offense to many criticisms of the Heat throughout this long process and left no prisoners with his statements.
For Cavalier fans, it is a story that will never die and continues to haunt every single day. As much as the city of Cleveland wants to put the entire LeBron James era in the backseat now, the story will continue to be a major attention grabber for years to come.
Riley extended the news cycle of the two acquisitions of James and Chris Bosh. From comparing James to another Eastern Conference forward to lashing back at Charles Barkley, the comments are almost comical if they weren’t meant to be so serious.
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is receiving the majority of the credit for bringing Riley’s quotes to story form. Enjoy some of the highlights below before jumping into the player comparison for James:
“I take a little bit of umbrage to some of the things that came from people in our game that all of a sudden have become the moral conscience or moral authority on the decisions that every team or some individual might make concerning his life or his career. I don’t know what happened to some of these guys along the way.”
“Charles Barkley, to me, went way over the top. I thought way, way, way over the top. I think Charles is probably the only guy in the league that can get away with what he gets away with. For some reason, he just gets away with it. And calling these guys a bunch of punks, it’s a personal attack. They are not that. LeBron isn’t that. Dwyane is surely not that, and neither is Chris. And Charles knows that. And for him just to say that is wrong.”
While lashing out about a “punk” statement and “moral authority” might be over the top, it was not the end for Riley with the media yesterday.
The next topic of concern was Orlando Magic general manager Otis Smith and head coach head Stan Van Gundy. Smith famously said that he thought James “was more of a competitor” while the former Heat head man Van Gundy attacked the relationship between the two players.
Riley fired back by attacking their own signings for that team and continuing to try and build some credential for his new super power of a team.
“Stan’s out there making comments about Chris Bosh being a lapdog to Dwyane Wade or something like that. “I don’t know what happened to some of these guys along the way…. I thought that was an absolutely stupid remark. He [Smith] never made any kind of comment like that when he signed Rashard Lewis and he brought him down from Seattle with a $128 million contract or anything like that.”
I’m sure it is nice for fans and players on the Heat that Riley is out there defending that organization, but from a media perspective there is no good that can come out of this situation. The story has been going on and on for the past four months, let alone the past three years, and the season is about to start.
The best way for Miami to ever prove the critics wrong will be to win. And if they do that soon with their odd assortment of a supporting cast and three “best friends,” it will change the competitive balance and future player movement in the NBA for decades to come.
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Picture above via Alexia Fodere / Miami Herald
10 Comments
Someone from Orlando always has a comment for anything it’s just pure jealousy. Now the Magic have not only Boston to deal with but Miami. I think Riley did a good job in answering some of the critics remarks especially the Round Mound of Dunkin Donuts Barkley. Heck he sure waited long enough to respond unlike Mr. Dan Gilbert. Should be a pretty interesting season I just hope next year there is a lockout. Let the basketball and football players walk the picket line.
Barkley didn’t say anything until Lebron threw that idiotic tweet out there about taking mental notes.
Also, the Magic had the Cavs and Boston already, so it’s not like there’s another powerhouse team in the East that wasn’t there before.
@1 “I think Riley did a good job in answering some of the critics remarks especially the Round Mound of Dunkin Donuts Barkley.”
He did a good job?? Of course he is going to defend this eventual destruction of the NBA. Oh, poor him to have gathered these superstars together to play on a an all-star team and have to deal with back lash from others. I agree Barkley is a fool, but at least he speaks his mind and stands up for things.
Winning doesnt solve Miami’s problem. The criticism isnt about whether they’ll win. It’s about how they did it. Riley is a sleaze who openly broke the rules. The NBA salary cap adjustment gave them just enough room to do it. The Cavs and Raptors settled for draft picks they would probably have gotten though tampering charges anyway. This is a no win situation for Miami.
I am trying not to get too worked up over this because Riley’s comments are so ridiculously idiotic. He is comparing the signing (overpaying) of Rashard Lewis in Orlando to what many consider to be the destruction of the NBA and any kind of culture of competition that is fostered by the league.
Rashard Lewis is a more expensive version of what the Cavaliers attempted to do by signing Larry Hughes. Lewis and Hughes were both overpaid to the point that their original teams didn’t want any part of their contracts. What Miami did was wholly and completely different.
Riley knows it and this is about the most delusional spin job in the history of professional sports.
The NBA is broken and Cleveland fans knew it. It was broken when McDyess ended up back in Detroit. It was broken when Keith Van Horn was traded for Jason Kidd. It was broken when the Cavs got Shaq for Pavlovic and Ben Wallace. It was broken when the Cavs got Jamison for Z and THEN GOT Z BACK.
We knew it was broken and we wanted to just play along and get ours. Well, who’d a thunk it? The Cavs tried their hand, didn’t get over the top and then the broken system came to bite them in the behind before they ever won the big one!
Just as Riley is delusional though, don’t pretend that the Cavs weren’t gaming the system for the last few years too. This game needs to get locked out. It doesn’t stink as bad as MLB, and the intentions were good with Bird rights, etc.
LBJ, Wade and Bosh showed us just how broken the came could be and Riley doesn’t want to own that. I get it, but it is idiotic.
The NBA is still around?
“For Cavalier fans, it is a story that will never die and continues to haunt every single day.”
Try covering the Cavaliers and not the Heat. Maybe that will help.
@7 agreed
Lebron isn’t a punk?
Mr. Riley, you obviously haven’t hung out with him off the court.
The Heat are a weird assortment of talent? Calling the heat a weird assortment of talent is funny when you look at the playoff team(snicker, snicker)that is the Cavaliers.
@ When have you hung out with Lebron?