Even though it was probably extremely unlikely to happen, the Miami Heat officially missed their opportunity to revolutionize the front office after the Dallas Mavericks hired Masai Ujiri to be the franchise's new Team President and Alternate Governor.
If the Heat wanted to find a way to bring in a unique voice to help shape the next era of basketball for the franchise, Ujiri could've been one of their best choices. But now that he's off the market, those dreams are effectively dead.
Again, this probably wasn't happening anyway, especially after Pat Riley made it clear during his end-of-the-season press conference that he wasn't ready to walk away, but it was always viewed as an intriguing pipe dream for some in the fan base.
Now, not so much.
A call for a change of philosophy for the Heat
Especially after an underwhelming season, there's been a call for a change of philosophy from many in the fan base. Even though that's much easier said than done, there are many fans who have been vocally upset with how the Heat's front office has operated of late.
And if the Heat wiffs on their star hunt this offseason (again), you can only imagine how much louder those calls for change are going to grow.
This is where a potential outside hiring comes into play. Because if there isn't an outside influence injected into this franchise, it's hard to envision that the way this front office operates is going to change.
Riley said as much during his recent press conference. And if the most influential figure in the front office has openly admitted he's not going to change the way he conducts business, it's hard to envision how the Heat will suddenly change their philosophy.
Why Masai Ujiri was an interesting potential Pat Riley replcement
However, an outside hire can or (would've), at the very least, open the door to that possibility.
And Ujiri was one of the few respected names that the Heat could've brought in to replace Riley, and not one would've batted an eye. With the success that Ujiri has had across the league over the course of his career, he could've brought in the experience and pedigree that the Heat could've been looking for in a Riley replacement.
In the end, the timing just didn't work out, despite the fact that there's no way to know if the Heat's ownership would've even weighed this possibility had Riley agreed that he was ready to retire.
Either way, it's become pretty clear that the Heat missed an opportunity to do something bold, a move that could've successfully brought major change to the Heat's status quo.
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