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During Miami Heat President Pat Riley's question-and-answer session with the media yesterday, Riley said that he has reached an agreement with team owner Micky Arison to continue in his management role. He also said that second-year coach Erik Spoelstra will return for next season, but his most interesting comment of the day came when he left the door ajar on a return to coaching.
"I'll do whatever is in the best interests of building this team here, period," Riley said. "If some free agent were to say, 'I will come here, but you must [coach],' well, Hell, if that happens that day, then I might have to give it some thought."
 I am going to make a bold prediction and say that Riley will return to coaching next season. Why? Because if I'm Chris Bosh or Carlos Boozer and in the prime of my career, I'd want to win a championship and win it now. Riley is a Hall-of-Fame coach who won six titles in a coaching role (one as an assistant coach). It is simply more secure to win a championship with a seasoned coach like Riley than Spoelstra, who has failed to advance past the first round as a head coach.
Any Heat fan could remember that when Miami struggled to start the 2005-06 season, then-head coach Stan Van Gundy suddenly resigned due to personal reasons, only to return with the Orlando Magic two years later. It is also safe to assume that Miami's veterans played a role in the coaching change. Shaquille O'Neal has referred to Van Gundy as the "master of panic" in the past, and in Alonzo Mourning's memoir, Resilience: Faith, Focus, Triumph, he said, "Riley took over as coach, which pleased me because I knew we now had a coach who was capable of delivering us to the championship." As a top-level free agent, Bosh may want to play under one of the best coaches in NBA history. Riley is a unique chip in the summer recruiting process. Other teams with a lot of salary cap room this summer -- like the Chicago Bulls, which just fired Vinny Del Negro, and the New York Knicks -- do not have a Hall-of-Fame coach at their disposal.
Riley also said that he likes Mario Chalmers as a starting point guard, but I doubt that the Heat's President truly means that. If it was true, why did he allow Chalmers to the second-string point guard for the last two-thirds of the season? Why did he sign Carlos Arroyo, who emerged as the starter? When Rafer Alston signed with Miami, he was handed the starting job over Chalmers. Perhaps Riley is trying to boost Chalmers' value in upcoming trades, but I don't see him being traded this summer because the value of his play at such a low cost is rare in the NBA.
Miami also won't receive an influx of international players anytime soon. Riley said that he prefers American home-grown players to their European counterparts, which should serve as no surprise to anyone. He has signed very few international free agents. Arroyo (Puerto Rico), Joel Anthony and Jamaal Magloire (Canada) don't necessarily count; Yakhouba Diawara (France) is the only European on the team. Riley should not be scrutinized for his comment. Although Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have made names for themselves in this League, Vladimir Radmanovic, Darko Milicic, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Andrea Bargnani have disappointed.
Riley spoke of the Draft. ""It's always been my philosophy here that I'm going to build this team through trades and free agency, not the Draft,'' he said." The Heat President was probably speaking of late first-round picks (Wayne Simien and Daequan Cook), which have not met as much success as his lottery picks (Dwyane Wade and Caron Butler). I know Beasley has had two uneven years with Miami, but Riley isn't the only team executive would would have chosen him at No. 2. Could this statement mean that Riley is planning on trading his first-round pick? Not necessarily, but I'm sure he'd be more inclined to accept a Draft-day trade that gives him an established player as opposed to selecting a raw prospect. Even if Riley chooses to keep his No. 18 pick, expect him to be an eighth man at best.
The Heat President also seemed less optimistic regarding Miami's chances of building a dynastic team this summer, saying that no assurances exist in the NBA. Despite the fact that the Heat has an abundance of salary cap space to sign free agents, the situation could still not go according to plan. What if Wade insists on seeing the Heat sign a free agent before saying that he will play the rest of his peak years in Miami? I may be reading too much into this one press conference, but perhaps Riley will make a big splash in the Draft with a trade. The Washington Wizards may be interested in Michael Beasley, and they may be willing to part with their lottery pick to get him. Riley may like someone like Greg Monroe out of Georgetown, who has drawn comparisons to Lamar Odom.
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