Pat Riley has a message for those criticizing Heat way of operating: ‘I’m proud of the culture’
There were plenty of opportunities this season to criticize what has become known as “Heat culture.” From the messy breakup with Jimmy Butler to an ugly 10-game losing skid to being on the wrong side of the most lopsided playoff series in NBA history, there were a few different low points for the Miami Heat during this rough season.
“This is a player’s league now and we see that,” former NBA player Kendrick Perkins said last week on ESPN’s “NBA Today.” “It’s past [Heat president] Pat Riley’s time with the Miami Heat. You just go over the past decade and you look at what happened with Dwyane Wade toward the end of his career, you even look before that with LeBron [James] and then all of a sudden with Jimmy. What superstar player wants to go over there to Miami and have to deal with Pat Riley? Right now we’re living in today’s game where the superstars are actually running the organization.”
“I really believe some things have to change within the Heat culture,” former NBA player Paul Pierce said on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak” show after the Heat was swept out of the first round of the playoffs in late April. “They have to revamp it, realign the rules, get a new memo, or something. I mean, guys don’t want to have their lives off the court being monitored as grown men, guys don’t want to come in here and do two-a-days for weeks at a time and be yelled at like little kids. I don’t know if that’s still how it is, but I know that’s how Heat culture used to be. But some things have to change for Heat culture to get back to where it needs to be.”
But Riley has a message for those taking advantage of a down season for the Heat by criticizing the organization’s way of doing things.
“It’s a narrative put out there on the part of other people that don’t know what it’s like inside here,” Riley said last week during his season-ending news conference. “Working behind the scenes, there’s two ways to do it. You can work behind the scenes and put in the time or you can work behind the scenes and put in the work. There’s two different things. So our culture has been the way it has been since I got here. At least, that’s how I look at it.”
Riley arrived in 1995, immediately establishing the Heat’s hardworking and no-nonsense culture. That same culture remains, but those within the organization insist there have been tweaks along the way to keep up with the wants and needs of players.
“Has it been adjusted in some way, shape or form? Yes, and you have to for this generation of players and for the league,” Riley, 80, emphasized. “But I’m proud of the culture. I’m proud of the environment that we have created over the years, for everybody here inside who really knows it. And for the people outside who don’t really know it but want to comment on it because it’s fashionable to comment on it and criticize it, to hell with them.”
Riley still believes in the mantra he created when he first joined the Heat 30 years ago: “The Hardest Working, Best Conditioned, Most Professional, Unselfish, Toughest, Meanest, Nastiest Team in the NBA.”
“We got a great culture that hasn’t been crushed,” Riley continued. “And just because there were some issues this year that were not culture oriented, they were player oriented — I’m talking about the Butler situation — our culture is the same. It’s a work culture. I believe in that statement. I know you’re going to throw up if I say it. Hardest working, best conditioned, most professional, unselfish, toughest, nastiest, disliked team in the league. About four of those things we weren’t this year and we have to adjust those. I’ll never change my thoughts on that.”
The Heat’s philosophy of relentlessly pushing for wins regardless of the circumstance is tied to that culture, which may have actually hurt Miami this year.
That’s because the Dallas Mavericks overcame long odds to win Monday’s draft lottery and get the No. 1 overall pick in the June NBA Draft from the same No. 11 lottery seed that would have belonged to the Heat if Miami hadn’t made the playoffs this season.
But that result won’t change the Heat’s process. However, Riley admits some other things do need to change after the Heat was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
“Until you change something, then the same thing is going to happen,” Riley said. “So we have to make some changes philosophically and also maybe even personnel wise.”
