Heat Surging Without Riley

There has been a lot of talk about this lately - from our forums to the media - that the Heat are playing better without Riley at the helm. And the evidence is unavoidable - the Heat have won 5 of their last 6 games, not including a 4-2 West coast road trip. Also, Antoine Walker and James Posey have seemed to revert to last year's form almost suddenly.

Is it because of Riley or in spite of Riley?

Ron Rothstein is a solid veteran coach. He has seen it all and he can coach - this is a guy who was an assistant with Chuck Daly and worked his way up to head coach for the Heat from 1988-1991. Expansion teams back then were not as equipped to win as they are now, and Rothstein did a very good job considering the circumstances.

But make no mistake, he is not Pat Riley.

When Riley stepped down about 10 minutes before the 2003-2004 tipoff, and pushed Stan Van Gundy into the head chair, he stated that he did so because that team needed a new direction, a fresh voice.

Could this team have the same need? It's unlikely.

The main thing to remember is that this team has yet to have its entire starting lineup, the one that won a championship last year, in place. Shaq has played 4 games. Wade has missed a few games, as did Posey and Walker - for other reasons. Jason Williams has missed games because of his creaky knees - but has recently showed promise as he played on back to back nights on that West coast trip (let's see if he turns that trick tonight against Philly).

So for all Riley's coaching magic and motivational trickery, he could not get this team to perform at the level it did closing out last season. Well, he also didn't have the personnel in place to do that, either and most of them reportedly did come to training camp bloated on the championship afterglow and out of shape.

Before we consider that Rothstein is a superior coach to Riley, let's demonstrate some sanity here and start to think about what else could be going on - maybe Riley finally got everyone's attention. Maybe him stepping down to take care of his health hammered home that he was sacrificing a lot, too, day in and day out. Maybe he finally got three (Did I say 'three'? I meant 'through' - must've been a "Freudian slip"...) to the pouting Posey and Walker, who were struggling this season but weren't putting in everything they could into their conditioning. Maybe the new ball really has helped Walker regain his confidence and thus, this is just all coincedental.

At any rate, don't start the Rothstein for head coach campaign just yet. Riley is the master, and Rothstein would just as quickly tell you as much. The fact that the Heat are playing good basketball is fortunate because, let's face it, they couldn't have played any worse with the talent they have.

However, it will be akward to see Riley return to the bench if the Heat are off and running, and pushing Rothstein back a seat because the media may start to clamor then that Riley only wanted out when it got tough. The irony is, of course, that no matter how successful Rothstein is as head coach of the Heat for this interim period, not one win will be added to his tally. Instead, it is all going to Pat Riley's career record.

Just like the roster and the system that is in place, the true architect is Pat Riley. He built Heat basketball into what it is today - just like the new look locker room.

Sometimes, you just can't escape the shadow.