Riley steps down as Heat coach

Haha, OK Jsarno, Riley turned around the 80's Lakers, lol. Even though they had already won a championship two years before Riley became coach and had arguably the greatest roster in the history of the sport. That's not to say Riley wasn't the right guy for that job - obviously he got it done - but there's a difference between turning a team around and stepping in to take over a team loaded with talent.

You're right...I used the wrong term there. He didn't turn around the team...but he did lead one of the best dynasties in the history of any sport.

When he resurfaced with the Knicks it was a similar story. He took over the team that probably had more talent than any other in the league and the best center of his generation, however this time he wasn't able to get it done in the playoffs. His decision to encourage Starks to keep shooting in the 94 Finals lingers as one of the all time playoff coaching bungles, imo.

I completely disagree here. The Knicks had averaged only 35 wins in the 7 seasons before Riley showed up. The 4 years he was there they averaged 55.75 wins a season. That's a huge turn around!
Also, Starks averaged 19 points a game in the regular season and was an all-star, only Ewing averaged more, and Oakley was 3rd with 11.8. They NEEDED starks to shoot. Shooters are meant to shoot. That's just the way it is. It burnt the Knicks, but in no way is that even remotely a poor coaching choice.

With the Knicks roster aging Riley bolted for Miami amidst controversy. Same story, current team aging, new opportunity with a talented team with a dominant center, Riley says peace.

There had been talk about him loving Miami for years and could easily move over there. New York is a crappy place to coach, even when you do well, you're on the hot seat. He made the wise choice. Regardless of how you look at it, why does it matter if he leaves when the talent goes away? He rode them to the end of the road...can't fault him for that. You need to enjoy the ride. Look at Gibbs...he left us the first time around when all the talent was OLD. Come to think of it, he did it the 2nd time around too.

Heat don't win the big one, Zo gets sick, rosters gutted, Riley's gone..then we get to the Van Gundy episode, in which I'm not sure you realize Van Gundy wasn't fired. He was pushed out amidst strange circumstances, in my unsubstantiated opinion, by a guy who smelled a championship close.

Stan Van Gundy was not playing the team to it's full potential...thus the 11-10 record. It was the smart choice.

Look, Riley belongs in any top 10 discussion of all time great coaches, but he has a record of leaving teams as soon as things get tough which is not admirable. Most egregious was taking time off to scout this year when the team was tanking, which Smoot mentioned. For these reasons he'll always be a jerk to me, championships or not. At least Phil came back to coach the Lakers during a transitional phase for them.

I won't argue that's he a jerk...I don't like him at all. I just don't see why you want to begrudge someone for not wanting to go through a rebuilding phase.

Stan Van Gundy's head coaching career at Miami shouldn't be seen as only the 11-10 record just before he "resigned"

I believe his first year he coaching the Heat went from 25 wins to 42 wins, the next year they won a conference high 59 games and took the Pistons to a game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.

Finally, that 11-10 start. It should be noted that Shaq missed 18 of those games due to injury.

Stan Van Gundy's head coaching career at Miami shouldn't be seen as only the 11-10 record just before he "resigned"

I believe his first year he coaching the Heat went from 25 wins to 42 wins, the next year they won a conference high 59 games and took the Pistons to a game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.

Finally, that 11-10 start. It should be noted that Shaq missed 18 of those games due to injury.

Not to metion the job he did with the Magic this year. If they keep those guys together, they're going to very good for years to come. Ron Jeremy (Stan Van Gundy) is a solid coach.

I won't argue that's he a jerk...I don't like him at all. I just don't see why you want to begrudge someone for not wanting to go through a rebuilding phase.

Because it's like not spending time with your girlfriend or wife when she's on her period, only to ride into town when she's good to go. It's a jerk move.

Stan Van Gundy's head coaching career at Miami shouldn't be seen as only the 11-10 record just before he "resigned"

I believe his first year he coaching the Heat went from 25 wins to 42 wins, the next year they won a conference high 59 games and took the Pistons to a game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.

Finally, that 11-10 start. It should be noted that Shaq missed 18 of those games due to injury.

That's one of the problems, they were widely regarded as the best in the East, and they were picked to win it all...so the perception (right or wrong) was that they should have won it all and didn't (not even close actually). So a slow start meant the writing was on the wall.
Fact is, Riley did what Van Gundy couldn't / didn't do, and Riley did it with less talent IMO.

Because it's like not spending time with your girlfriend or wife when she's on her period, only to ride into town when she's good to go. It's a jerk move.

Interesting analogy.

So Gibbs is a jerk for bailing on us the first time around? Cause no doubt about it, and no arguement about it, we had extremely aging talent. To me, Gibbs did exactly what Riley did...he didn't want to stick around for a rebuilding phase, and made an excuse as to why to leave. I don't begrudge Gibbs, so I don't begrudge Riley.

That's one of the problems, they were widely regarded as the best in the East, and they were picked to win it all...so the perception (right or wrong) was that they should have won it all and didn't (not even close actually). So a slow start meant the writing was on the wall.
Fact is, Riley did what Van Gundy couldn't / didn't do, and Riley did it with less talent IMO.

It's like you didn't even read what I wrote. Am I on your ignore list or something?

It's like you didn't even read what I wrote. Am I on your ignore list or something?

Yes, I responded to you.

You are trying to say that Van Gundy took the Heat to the conference finals...well that wasn't good enough. That's what I'm saying. That was considered a failure, not a success. You are implying it was a success.

Again, Riley took them to the finals with less talent, Van Gundy had more talent and couldn't take them to the finals.

So did I misinterpret you or something?

It takes a lot for me to put someone on the ignore list. A LOT! (only 1 in all the time I've been here)

Yes, I responded to you.

You are trying to say that Van Gundy took the Heat to the conference finals...well that wasn't good enough. That's what I'm saying. That was considered a failure, not a success. You are implying it was a success.

Again, Riley took them to the finals with less talent, Van Gundy had more talent and couldn't take them to the finals.

So did I misinterpret you or something?

It takes a lot for me to put someone on the ignore list. A LOT! (only 1 in all the time I've been here)

I don't see how Riley took them with less talent. Van Gundy got them from 25 wins to 42 wins to 59 wins (and a game 7 conference finals loss). Then the next season he was fired after 21 games in spite of the fact that Shaq (probably the most dominant player in the game at the time) missed 18 of those games.

I don't see how Riley took them with less talent.

I believe Eddie Jones and Damon Jones (.432 3 pt%) to be better players than Jason Williams, and Antoine Walker for instance. Walker was probably THE most overrated player I ever saw in my entire life, and possibly the most overrated player in history.
Van Gundy had better role players. I am still surprised a team with Payton on it won it all. Then again, Gary took a major back seat role with Riley, so that's a good reason.

Van Gundy got them from 25 wins to 42 wins to 59 wins (and a game 7 conference finals loss).

Riley took them from 32 to 42 to 61...what's your point?
Point is, Van Gundy SHOULD have won it all, and he didn't. It took Riley's coaching ability to get it done no matter how you want to slice it.

Then the next season he was fired after 21 games in spite of the fact that Shaq (probably the most dominant player in the game at the time) missed 18 of those games.

Shaq only averaged 20.0 and 9.2 boards that season. He also had a pathetic 46.9% FT percentage. Also had 2.8 turnovers a game on average (high for a center), and a very high 3.9 fouls per game. It's not like Chicago losing Jordan, or the Celts losing Bird, or LA losing Magic...or even Kobe. I understand the point, but Van Gundy still had an unstoppable Wade.

Again, Van Gundy's heat was EXPECTED to win it all, and underacheived, while Riley actually won it all. Can't really complain about that. If we kicked Gibbs out after say a 5-5 season, and hired anyone and that coach took us to a SB victory, I would care less that we fired Gibbs regardless of circumstance. EVERY decision a team makes should have one goal in it's sights...winning it all. Riley did it, Van Gundy didn't. It's that simple. And it's not like Van Gundy didn't have his shot. He did, and blew it.