Former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas has hopped on the bandwagon. It says that the Miami Heat have to move on from team president Pat Riley, the orchestrator of Heat Culture.
Speaking on his podcast, Arenas was asked by former NBA forward Kenyon Martin if perhaps the Heat need to move on from coach Erik Spoelstra.
“No, (Riley) got to fire himself,” Arenas said. “No one’s complaining about Spo, but it’s still like you’re overseeing Spo still. He’s the Godfather.”
These thoughts echo several other former players who said it’s time for the Heat and Riley to part ways.
One of those players was three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner Lou Williams.
“We make so much about Pat Riley and his treatment of superstars when they get into the latter years of their career,” Williams said on FanDuel Sports TV’s Run It Back. “Do we not supposed to hold front office personnel just as accountable when they get to a certain age?”
Williams went on to elaborate on Riley’s age and how it might affect his role as an executive, noting that his comments came just one day after Riley’s 80th birthday.
“I think just, naturally, when you’re 80 years old, there’s things that you probably don’t understand or get when it comes to the culture of players now,” Williams said.
He provided further context.
“I would ask the question, when do we start holding our execs accountable on the same level of players when they say you’re too old or you’re too this?” Williams added. “Now, I’ve never worked alongside Pat Riley. I’ve never been a player that’s played under him. I’ve never been a Miami Heat guy. I can’t speak to his impact day-in and day-out.
“I only know what I know from this vantage point, but, you know, Jeff’s saying that they need to get rid of Pat Riley. I’m not gonna say they need to get to it because I can’t speak to that based on experience, but I wanna pose the question.”
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