00:00I do want to point out Pat Riley spoke today. I know we've gone over a lot of it. There
00:04was a lot and I don't know how much of this you guys even saw over the weekend because it's
00:09mostly like heat social media fan base stuff.
00:13But there was a lot of attention on prior to the Pat Riley press conference. Heat fans wanted to know
00:23who makes decisions. Who is the person at the end of the day that makes the decisions of the roster
00:30the team and all the personnel decisions really got fed by a tweet from Barry Jackson responding to someone where
00:38he said Riley doesn't make the decisions.
00:40But I think we had had this conversation last week that there is Nick Harrison is ahead of Riley on
00:46the org chart and it really is more collaborative than people think that it is. Right. And Riley was pretty
00:54clear about that today.
00:55Yeah. And, you know, he said that the person he talks to most is Andy Ellisberg, which shouldn't surprise anybody.
01:03He's the cap genius. He's the one who knows all the rules. He's the general manager.
01:09So it shouldn't be surprising Hawk. I only bring it up because there was so much made about that Barry
01:14tweet when this was a known thing like this isn't Pat Riley with carte blanche over every decision telling pointing
01:23fingers at people saying get me this guy and trade for this guy and here's what I'm doing.
01:28He clarified some of that today where he said since I've been here. I had to get final approval from
01:35Mickey Harrison. He said he's never he's never had the autonomy to do whatever he wants.
01:40Yeah. So I really has to be a hierarchy fellas. No, no, but but I think what what what I
01:47believed was Pat Riley is the one who engages in the in in trade conversations and he's the one that
01:56keeps an eye on potential targets and moves.
01:59And then him and Andy sit down. Can we get this done? And then if there is a move to
02:04be made that they want to make, then they go and they sit down with Nick Harrison.
02:08They present that idea. And then, yeah, before Nick was involved, it used to be they would sit down with
02:13Mickey, the owner and the CEO get final say on if you're trading X player or trading X player that
02:21they own.
02:22Like this to me was just a lot of, you know, heat Twitter stuff where people just want to be
02:28angry about something and get me an answer and make Nick Harrison come out and talk.
02:33And and it just doesn't work that way. This is how it's always worked with the Miami Heat.
02:38Pat Riley is the voice of all the conversations that are that are being held behind the scenes by the
02:45brass.
02:45He's the face of the organization as well. He is the guy who should be speaking.
02:49It's and it's it's it's it's Pat knowing basketball.
02:54Now, Mickey or Nick, who now Nick took over.
02:59Being a voice there, but also Andy Ellisberg working the money out.
03:03But Pat is making basketball decisions.
03:07There's no way Andy Ellisberg or Nick.
03:09They don't know basketball like Pat knows basketball.
03:12Pat builds the roster and he goes to them to figure out how we can get this roster built.
03:17Pat built this franchise.
03:19Let's not get it twisted.
03:21Not that he was here at the beginning of it, but his 31 year tenure, he built this franchise.
03:27The Miami Heat is what it is because of Pat Riley.
03:30And so while he's very gracious up there and was today, he's the godfather.
03:38And they, I'm sure, defer to whatever his choices are, but he was clear to say, as Solana just pointed
03:47out, I don't say go get me that guy.
03:50He's he's the next guy or whatever.
03:53There is a collaborative process.
03:56As there should be, by the way, as there should be in any functional organization, this is the way Dallas
04:03had that they'd still have Luka Doncic.
04:10It just, it seemed like people want to put somebody's head on a spike because the Heat missed the playoffs
04:17this year.
04:18And I'm cool with frustration.
04:19I don't want the Heat to be in this situation.
04:21I literally, I don't, I, I get paid on a per game basis.
04:25Like I want them in the playoffs, you know, but this idea that like, we need to find who's responsible
04:31for this.
04:32And it's not one person.
04:34It's not just Pat Riley.
04:35It's not just Nick Harrison.
04:37And it never has been.
04:38It's Pat Riley.
04:39Pat Riley builds the roster.
04:41Andy Ellisberg figures out the money and Nick and Mickey Harrison sign off on it.
04:46But they don't know if, who, if Joe should get more money.
04:51I disagree.
04:52That's Pat.
04:53I disagree because what the majority of, of, of fans are upset with now is that the Miami Heat are
04:59still in the middle.
05:00And that there was an avenue for the Miami Heat to not be in the middle.
05:04And that was at the trade deadline when they couldn't get Giannis.
05:07That was to trade Norman Powell.
05:09That was to trade, just trade whoever you can to get assets back.
05:13And the thought process here, Crowder, is that Pat Riley is the one that doesn't let this organization move forward
05:21with a different approach.
05:23And while, yes, Pat Riley probably has, the reason this organization thinks that way is because of how Pat Riley
05:30thinks, they're aligned in that, that methodology, which is, we don't want to tank.
05:36Because if they weren't aligned.
05:38You're aligned with it because that's Riley's stance.
05:42It's a philosophy.
05:43Yeah, and so you kind of get behind, you kind of get behind your leader, but he, he was pretty
05:49clear too, though, at the trade deadline, they were the sixth seed.
05:53So he wasn't thinking, well, this is what he said.
05:57This is what he said.
05:59Yeah.
06:00We were the sixth seed.
06:01So what would you want me to do?
06:03You wanted me to just blow it up when we're one of the top six seeds in the NBA.
06:08And, and he said, my theory is not to do that because we're one of the top six seeds.
06:15And if you get me in that top six, who knows what's going to happen?
06:19In fact, he said, I feel like this roster, the only teams that it couldn't beat were San Antonio and
06:26OKC.
06:28He was telling you, you get into the playoffs.
06:31He thought he could beat every team in the East with this roster construct.
06:34So when the Giannis thing wasn't going to happen and people were just saying, well, sell off the assets, get
06:41draft picks.
06:42He was like, why would I do that?
06:44I'm a top six seed right now.
06:46Maybe we'll get better.
06:48But, but that's, that's what the fan base is frustrated about.
06:51I understand that, but he explained what his rationale was today.
06:55But my, my, my point was that this isn't just a Riley decision.
07:01I don't believe it is.
07:02I think his influence is why they think this way and they want to operate this way for sure.
07:08Because he's been at the helm and because of, of, of his resume and his track record in Miami.
07:13But if they weren't aligned, if Nick Arison and Mickey Arison and Adam Simon and Eric Spolstra were all having
07:20conversations saying, hey, we can't win this way anymore.
07:23Then Pat Riley wouldn't still be at the decision table anymore is my point.
07:28I believe they're aligned in this vision to not tank.
07:32I mean, that, that happens, you know, again, until you usually have an ownership change or whatever.
07:36I mean, it happened with the dolphins, they were aligned with Shula, even if it looked like things were falling
07:43down and couldn't be put back together until who was it that, uh, it was Jimmy Johnson, but who was
07:54it when Steven Ross bought the team?
07:57I'm trying to think back because I know in Dallas, you know, everything was Tom Landry.
08:03And then all of a sudden Jerry Jones came in and it was time for Jimmy Johnson.
08:08Like this, this has been the thought process for the heat for 30 plus years with Pat Riley.
08:15So it's not going to change on a dime because if you have a guy there that long, you obviously
08:20believe in what he's doing and he's had enough success doing it.
08:23So it would take a dramatic shift to change their methodology.
08:27And to that point, like the, the Riley philosophy.
08:32So you bring up, I don't know who Simon is.
08:34Who is, who is Simon?
08:36Solana, you brought his name up.
08:37Yeah.
08:38He's one of the people at the decision table.
08:40So Simon Spolstra, the Arisons, Nick and Mickey and Ellisberg is sitting there sitting at a table as grown men
08:50and Pat Riley's there as well.
08:53Now, Pat Riley is going to veto any decision that's made.
08:58Is that correct?
08:59Like he's Pat Riley.
09:02He's going to make the decision.
09:03We need to bring in Terry Rozier, which we all know now that it was a, it was a bust,
09:07but Pat is the, that's why I said the hierarchy.
09:10Pat is the top of the hierarchy.
09:12So those people on Twitter that want to criticize somebody, Pat, I don't think Ellisberg, Simon, Spolstra, or any Arisons
09:20is going to tell Pat Riley, we should not do this.
09:24I think Pat is the guy that tells them we're going to do this.
09:28Y'all figure out how this happens.
09:29Yeah, I, I, I agree with that.
09:31I think Riley goes to Ellisberg and says, can this happen?
09:35Yeah.
09:36This is what I'm interested in.
09:37Can this happen?
09:39And nothing dramatic happens to this franchise without him running it up the flagpole to Nick Arison, who then probably
09:47checks with his dad.
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