Honzo December 12th, 2005

Source: Heat Coach Resigns

No way. It is as has been predicted. Stan Van Gundy is stepping down
as coach of the Heat. I wonder how fast Riley will jump to coach Shaq.

This was from John Hollinger back on October 4th of 2005 from Espn Insider:Heat overview: How hot is Stan’s seat, Pat?

Pat Riley’s halfhearted defense of coach Stan Van Gundy
in the offseason has Miami-area Kremlinologists speculating about an
impending coup.

Riley stepped down just two years ago when it seemed the Heat were
beyond saving and has quickly revitalized the team by focusing on his
front-office role. But Riley has been slow to rule out a return to the
bench and might feel that he could have had Miami in the Finals a year
ago. This is ridiculous, of course: Van Gundy had the team massively
overachieving on defense and squeezed every drop out of players like
Damon Jones and Udonis Haslem. But as team president, it’s Riley’s call.

Adding to the intrigue is all the problem personalities Riley picked
up in the offseason. All four key acquisitions — Walker, Williams,
Posey and Payton — have a reputation for being a burr in their coach’s
saddle. That has some wondering if Riley is intentionally engineering a
difficult locker room situation so that the Heat struggle out of the
gate — especially since Riley already undermined Van Gundy’s authority
with his shenanigans over the summer.

Under this scenario, Riley could fax Van Gundy his walking papers at
midseason, ride in and save the day without being perceived as a bad
guy.

And now he is gone…

In an interesting side note, over at ESPN.com they are voting about the issue. Check out the replies to this question:

9) Who do you think was the worst offseason addition?

42.8% Antoine Walker
21.6% Gary Payton
15.4% Jason Williams
14.9% They were all good additions
5.2% James Posey

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