Pat Riley has led the Miami Heat to the mountain top many times, but not without his stumbles along the way.
Selecting the best moves of the Pat Riley was the easy part. Having led the franchise to three NBA titles and multiple 50-win seasons, there was a plethora of moves to select. And whilst for the most part Riley has excelled as both team president and head coach, there have been some moments during his 20-plus years in charge that have left some scratching their heads.
Whilst it may seem like nit-picking, even the best at their craft have had their moments.
Some of the moves that didn’t pan out that weren’t in the top five:
June 27, 2000: June 27, 2000: Traded Voshon Lenard and Mark Strickland to the Denver Nuggets for Chris Gatling and a 2000 2nd round draft pick (Eddie House was later selected)
Although acquiring Gatling at the time looked like a fortuitous move. However, the result turned out to be giving away a team favorite and reliable shooting guard in Lenard for a player who lasted just 24 games with the Heat. Although Riley acquired all-star shooting guard Eddie Jones just a month later, the transaction definitely didn’t pan out as planned.
June 26, 1996: Traded future 2000 first round pick (DeShawn Stevenson) to the Utah Jazz for Martin Muursepp.
This was a head scratcher. Muursepp avergaed 1.7 points per game throughout his 10-game career with the Heat. Coupled with Stevenson becoming a 13-year veteran and 2011 NBA champion with the Dallas Mavericks (ironically against the Heat), this was a trade that clearly didn’t pan out.
Not on this list is the loss of free agents. So Dwyane Wade and LeBron James’ departures don’t count. These are actual moves that happened, not missed opportunities. Now, on with the worst moves of the Riley era.
Next: Free-agent failure