In a full teleconference with Heat President Pat Riley we finally got his thoughts on Miami’s turbulent free agency. The main topic that everybody wants to have his feelings on is of course LeBron’s departure.
You recover. I don’t want to go back in history, but after 45 years of being in the league, I think I’ve been around 15 transcendent players that walked out the door… And you move on. We were shocked, but we recovered.
It was a tough blow to take, but we’ve recovered very well, and I think we will continue to recover.
I went in with the notion that he was coming back. So I was selling it to players. I let him know that prior to free agency, that was the direction I was going. He never said to me, ‘Don’t do that.
(After the Heat got blown out in the NBA Finals 4-1 by the San Antonio Spurs, when he appeared to call out James for even thinking about leaving)
I don’t think I was emotional. I told you I was pissed… I wasn’t thinking that at all. My message that day was borne out of just getting beat by a great team.”I don’t get hurt… This is business, all business.
Very thorough there. Pat Riley is a complete professional. That’s what 45 years of being in and around the league does for you.
Yes it was a tough pill to swallow but you always pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move on. That’s life, that’s business.
