Pat Riley is one of the more celebrated coaches and managers in the NBA. As a head coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, he won four championships before joining the Heat as their coach and winning a title in 2006. Currently, he serves as the Heat's president, a position he has filled since 2008.
Bleacher Report released an article, ranking the ten best head coaches in NBA history and Riley cracked the list at No. 4.
"Pat Riley was behind the 'Showtime' Los Angeles Lakers, one of the best and most exciting teams in NBA history," the article wrote. "He led them to four NBA championships and three other NBA Finals appearances from 1982 through 1989. Over the course of eight years, he was on the sidelines for the Finals in seven different postseasons. If that wasn't enough, he also had a Finals appearance with the New York Knicks in 1994 and a return to coaching for a fifth title in 2006. Along the way, Riley fostered intense commitment to detail on all of his teams. The uptempo style he installed for the Showtime Lakers was revolutionary, but he found success with a variety of different stars."
Riley also had the honor of coaching multiple Hall of Famers throughout all his coaching stints and he has continued his management in a front office role. Since joining the front office, the Heat have been a dominant NBA franchise. They have won two championships along with three other Eastern Conference titles.
"In L.A., he had superteams led by Magic Johnson, perhaps the best playmaker in NBA history, and he had to manage the sometimes outsized personality of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar," the article added. "In New York, he had the big, bruising Patrick Ewing-led Knicks that often beat their opponents into submission. And with the Miami Heat, he had a superstar wing on the rise (Dwyane Wade) and a post-prime center (Shaquille O'Neal) who had to cede the alpha status he'd held for years. Riley managed all of that to the tune of 1,200-plus career regular-season wins and five championships."
Riley's successor, Erik Spoelstra, has also been one of the more celebrated NBA coaches in recent memory. He has been the head coach since Riley's retirement and the Heat have continued to be one of the stronger franchises in the East. Riley's legacy goes beyond his coaching with his front office management as well.
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