Paul Pierce fired some shots at Miami Heat president Pat Riley during Friday’s episode of Speak on FS1. When discussing Heat culture, Pierce claimed Riley is now destroying it, as Jimmy Butler looks set to join the list of stars he has run out of town.
“Pat Riley brought Heat culture, and what I wanna say about that (is) I think he’s slowly destroying Heat culture,” Pierce said. “And what I mean by that, this new generation is different now. Guys—and Jimmy Butler is at the end of the new generation but coming up, when you look at where Heat culture started when Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), and Lonzo (Alonzo Mourning), and (Udonis) Haslem, and (Dwyane) Wade and all got there, look what he’s done to his star players since Heat culture started.
“He ran Shaq out of town. You’ve ran LeBron out of town. You ran D-Wade out of town of all people, the one who (you) drafted, the one you won your first championship with,” Pierce continued. “Then, you kind of tried to make up for it. Now you’re running Jimmy Butler out of town.”
“This tells me that Heat culture lives and dies with Pat Riley and if he doesn’t change the way he is, kind of like stubborn and doesn’t want to pay guys, it’s his way or the highway, then I don’t see Heat culture being the same any longer,” Pierce concluded.
You do need to change with the times and Riley perhaps hasn’t. As for Pierce claiming he ran those stars out of town, it does appear he did play a role in the departures.
Let’s start off with Shaquille O’Neal, who was traded to the Heat in 2004. O’Neal helped the franchise win their first-ever title in 2006 and all seemed good at that point between him and Riley, the head coach back then. Just a year later, though, it appeared as if the relationship had soured.
O’Neal revealed he and Riley nearly fought during a Heat practice session early in the 2007-08 season. The two certainly didn’t grow closer after the incident and the big man would be traded to the Phoenix Suns in Feb. 2008.
At the time, it wasn’t reported that O’Neal had asked out but he was happy to leave. His relationship with Riley wasn’t great, to say the least, and he also wanted to go to a team that was contending for a title. So, it might be a bit unfair to say that Riley ran O’Neal out of town but he certainly didn’t make him want to stay in Miami.
We get to LeBron James next and he, of course, infamously joined the Heat in 2010. James would win back-to-back titles with the franchise in 2012 and 2013, but he was gone a year after they won that second title.
It was reported that Riley wanted James to take a pay cut in 2014 to stay with the Heat and he had no interest in doing that. LeBron decided his time in Miami was up after that and chose to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
James might have left the Heat even if Riley had given him the max as the team no longer looked like a contender. The suggestion that he take a pay cut would have just made his decision to leave a bit easier.
Dwyane Wade was the next star to leave and that situation is one you can clearly blame Riley for. Wade played a key role in all three of the Heat’s title runs and is the greatest player in franchise history. Players like him are usually taken care of by their teams but he wasn’t.
Wade revealed he was hurt by how the Heat handled and treated him and it was why he left in 2016. He felt he deserved whatever deal he wanted after all he had done for the franchise but the front office didn’t feel that way. As a result, the guard left for the Chicago Bulls that year but was back soon enough.
As Pierce pointed out, Wade and the Heat did mend fences as he returned via trade in 2018. He would end his career with the team and they retired his jersey in 2020. You wish Riley had handled the situation better in 2016, though, as Wade should have never had to play for another team.
Getting back to the present, Butler and Riley’s relationship never recovered after the latter publicly told the former to keep his mouth shut. The relationship between the star player and the team also soured over them not offering him an extension before this season.
It appears to be safe to say that Riley has played a big role in Butler wanting out. Some like Pierce feel he is in the wrong in this situation but he is unlikely to be moved by any sort of criticism. Riley will keep doing things his way and the Heat will sink or swim with him.
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