All U Can Heat
Fansided

Pat Riley opens up on the breakup of the Big Three

By Wes Goldberg

Dec 22, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley honors former center Shaquille O’Neal Jersey number (32) retirement banner is raised into the rafters at the American Airlines Arena during a half time ceremony against the Los Angeles Lakers. O’Neal has become the third Heat player to have his jersey retired with former Heat players Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley honors former center Shaquille O’Neal Jersey number (32) retirement banner is raised into the rafters at the American Airlines Arena during a half time ceremony against the Los Angeles Lakers. O’Neal has become the third Heat player to have his jersey retired with former Heat players Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Pat Riley talks about a career of victories and eventual retirement, and the breakup of the Big Three that once lifted the Miami Heat to the top of the NBA.

Four years and four finals runs. Then three years, and the Big Three is gone. The breakup of the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh trio wasn’t straight forward, and every once in a while new details emerge about why LeBron decided to leave, and what exactly happened between Wade the Miami Heat organization that led to him signing in Chicago.

In a recent story for ESPN The Magazine, Wright Thompson profiled Riley, who provided his side of the story when it came to LeBron and Wade’s departures.

Before LeBron decided to leave for Cleveland in the summer of 2014, he took meetings with teams. Riley described the meeting, and his disappointment over how it was handled:

"Riley told his lieutenant, Andy Elisburg, to get the two championship trophies LeBron had won and pack them in their hard-shell carrying cases. Elisburg also brought charts and an easel for a presentation about the free agents the Heat would pursue. The day of the meeting, a hotel bellhop followed them with a luggage cart carrying the presentation and the two trophies. Riley brought wine from a Napa vineyard named Promise. It was the same label Maverick Carter had presented Riley with when they did the deal four years earlier. Riley respects Carter, and when he walked into the suite and saw James with agent Rich Paul and friend Randy Mims but no Maverick, part of him knew the meeting wasn’t sincere. He told Elisburg to keep the trophies and easel in the hall. James and his associates were watching a World Cup game, which they kept glancing at during the presentation. At one point, Riley asked if they’d mute the TV.Riley flew home worried and got a text telling him to be ready for a call. About 15 minutes later, his phone rang and Paul was on the other end. The agent handed the phone to LeBron, who started by saying, “I want to thank you for four years …”“I was silent,” Riley says. “I didn’t say anything. My mind began to just go. And it was over. I was very angry when LeBron left. It was personal for me. It just was. I had a very good friend who talked me off the ledge and kept me from going out there and saying something like Dan Gilbert. I’m glad I didn’t do it.”"

I’m just glad he didn’t pull a Dan Gilbert and publicly blast LeBron. That self control is one of the reasons for Riley’s cool, calm and collected public image. According to Thompson, Riley held the grudge for a while, but eventually came to terms with it. He realized how important winning a championship for Cleveland was to LeBron, and that LeBron had to leave in his prime to accomplish that.

Wade, however, had no such loyalties outside of Miami, where he played the first 13 seasons of his career. So how did that relationship fall apart? From the story:

"Riley says that Wade’s agent asked to deal directly with the owners instead of Pat, so he merely honored that request. Mostly, he just wishes the whole thing had gone differently. “I know he feels I didn’t fight hard enough for him,” he says. “I was very, very sad when Dwyane said no. I wish I could have been there and told him why I didn’t really fight for him at the end. … I fought for the team. The one thing I wanted to do for him, and maybe this is what obscured my vision, but I wanted to get him another player so he could end his career competitive.”"

There’s been two competing theories about the breakup of Riley and the Heat. Some believe Riley purposely pushed Wade away so the team could head in a new direction. The other belief is that Riley simply took Wade for granted, and that seems to be the case. Clearly, there was a lack of communication.

But, from Thompson’s story, it sounds like Riley was really hurt by Wade’s leaving, and has regrets about how it happened. Wade likely got sick of signing short-term deals and wanted security, and Riley wanted to maintain the short-term deals in order to help sign a player to help the Heat compete. It didn’t help that Riley had given Bosh a long-term, max contract a couple of years before:

"But of course, Riley says, almost immediately after LeBron left, Bosh’s camp wanted to reopen a deal they’d just finished, knowing the Heat had money and felt vulnerable. Bosh threatened to sign with the Rockets. In the end, Riley gave Bosh what he wanted. Now he wishes he’d said no to Bosh’s max deal and given all that money to Wade."

Next: The 5 best moves of the Pat Riley era

Losing LeBron was unavoidable, it seems. Losing Bosh to blood clots is a freak and unfortunate stroke of bad luck. Losing Wade was a mistake but, either way, the Big Three would have been gone.

Riley won’t be able to pull off another summer like 2010 — he’s said as much already — but he also won’t leave the Heat without a foundation to build a contender on. At least, that’s the plan.

Home/Heat News