The Pat Riley Coaching Rumors Have Begun

The NY Daily News isn’t wasting any time before stoking the fire that the coaching situation in Miami could soon change: “Miami Heat president Pat Riley is the undisputed winner in the great gold rush of 2010, walking off with the mother of all free-agent hauls in LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. So when does Riley come down from his executive suite at American Airlines Arena and return to his place on the bench? How ’bout the season-opener? While it looks like this is the perfect team and time for Riley to come back to coach, Wade made a pre-emptive strike against his return, saying on Wednesday that Erik Spoelstra will continue to coach the Heat. But league sources who are familiar with Riley’s thinking feel that Spoelstra will be on a short leash. ‘Pat won’t come back for just Wade and Bosh, because that’s not a sure thing in Pat’s mind,’ said one Eastern Conference coach. ‘But with LeBron and those two, that’s a sure thing for Pat. He will come back if they get LeBron.’ Not immediately and probably not until Spoelstra shows he can’t handle a team with so much star-power.”