| Changes Continue To Pile Up For Miami Authored by Andrew Friedman - December 12, 2005 - 3:25 pm
Stan Van Gundy resigned today as head coach of the Miami Heat. Pat Riley will fill that role, two seasons after he resigned from the same position to serve solely as the team president.
Van Gundy attributed his resignation to personal reasons. Specifically, he missed spending time with his family, something he was unable to do often as head coach.
The popular reaction to Van Gundy's resignation is that Pat Riley forced Van Gundy out. Such a notion is hard to believe. If Van Gundy wasn't sincere about stepping down as head coach for his own reasons, he wouldn't have used his family as the explanation. Instead, he would have likely limited his rationale to "health" reasons, much like most coaches do in a situation where they are "forced" out.
Van Gundy took over as head coach of the Miami Heat in 2003 after Pat Riley resigned from his initial tenure as coach. Miami started the season slow (0-7 and later 5-15), but finished with a winning record
(42-40) and as the fourth seed in the playoffs for the Eastern Conference. Miami was able to push the Indiana Pacers to six games, giving hope to the future of the Heat.
Last season was Van Gundy's second season with Miami. He was responsible for turning a new-look Heat team featuring Shaquille O'Neal into a champion. Miami started slow (11-7) again, but Van Gundy made adjustments and the Heat finished as the first seed in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, Miami endured injuries to Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade. Before Wade's injury, Miami needed one more win to advance to the Finals. The bottom line: Van Gundy has proven he is capable of starting slow and finishing strong.
The storyline until now has been similar to Van Gundy's previous two seasons, complete with a slow, injury-plagued start while encompassing new players into the system.
If Van Gundy remained on board, Miami could very well have continued to make progress in the Heat's quest to win the NBA Championship. In other words, Van Gundy finally started getting all of his players back (Posey, then O'Neal, and hopefully Jason Williams soon). Right now is the prime time for Van Gundy to lead Miami on its seemingly annual tear throw the regular season to move up the league standings, much like he did the last two seasons.
Now, Miami has Pat Riley back on board. While losing the head coach is never easy, having a man of Riley's caliber come in should make things astronomically easier. The veterans on the team should approve of this move, but it will be interesting to see how the coaching change affects Miami's strategy. O'Neal will get more than enough touches, just as Abdul-Jabbar, Ewing and Mourning got in Riley's past teams. It remains to be seen how this affects Dwyane Wade's game.
Riley, however, has been watching this season unfold both behind the scenes and from the stands. He comes in having seen this team perform from two different perspectives and will be prepared to make the changes necessary to turn a mediocre-looking .500 team into a contender like Miami ought to be.
On the other hand, Van Gundy's resignation and Riley's subsequent ascent to the head coaching position prove that Miami is nowhere near done finishing building the 2005/2006 Heat. More changes are surely on their way. |
