Miami Heat: Was Pat Riley Ahead Of The Curve On Player Power Structure?

The Miami Heat do things a certain way. That’s a given, without a doubt, and for as long as Pat Riley or one of his disciples is in charge or for the most part, it’ll be that way.

For what it’s worth, the belief from this direction is that Erik Spoelstra will eventually get his turn at running the show and he too, is a Pat Riley guy. That’s neither here nor there though, well, not as much as the reason for this whole thing.

If you turn an eye towards another team that should have aspirations of challenging for the Eastern Conference and NBA titles, the Philadelphia 76ers, it’s really not going great up there at the moment. That’s being generous, in all honesty, as Ben Simmons and his whole situation that’s playing out continues to get uglier by the day.

The most recent development is another nail into a situation that has been deteriorating for years. Here it is.

Well, that’s unfortunate, for the 76ers that is. When you look at how the league and the 76ers got here, it’s a player power thing.

The Miami Heat have been one of the best run organizations in the league for a while now. A ton of that has everything to do with Pat Riley.

For some years now, this situation and situations like this one have been coming to a head. Many like to say that LeBron James is, in large part, responsible for the whole player empowerment movement that led here.

While that may not be entirely and explicitly true, as it’s hard to place merit, credit, or blame in one man alone for a phenomenon as vast as that one, he has had a huge part in it. That’s been, not only, with the way he has moved as individual or player but in the way he has had it all set up to try and be executed.

Specifically, it takes you back to the rumors surrounding the Miami Heat, LeBron James, and his camp at the time. It’s always safe to assume that this was a camp consisting of longtime and still LeBron cohort, Rich Paul, the leader and founder of Klutch Sports Group.

This was the rumor or notion that Lebron James tried to throw his weight around in the organization, via his people, by calling for certain changes.

While that whole thing has never been confirmed or denied, it seemed totally real and especially based on the way that LeBron and his team moves. Pat Riley wasn’t having it though.

Things like this were the beginning of players showing such immense power and control over their fates. That’s how LeBron has always had a huge part in the way that the current NBA player power structure has played out.

That’s the point of it all though. Pat Riley was, indeed, ahead of the curve when it came to the shifting player power structure and still, as he would today, brought the Miami Heat out unscathed and successful on the other side of it.