Heat's Pat Riley: No plans to return as coach
MIAMI – All the talk of Pat Riley potentially coaching the Miami Heat again should now come to an end – probably.
Any time things go bad for Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, speculation often follows that Riley, the Heat's president, could return to the bench. Riley won five NBA titles and 1,210 games coaching the Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. Who could forget Riley replacing Stan Van Gundy prior to coaching the Heat to a 2006 NBA championship?
The Hall of Famer, however, said during a news conference Tuesday night that his coaching days were past him.
"If I ever decided to do that again I know I would say no because I'd have to face [the media] after every game," Riley said. "I will not be jumping out of my skin trying to get back on the floor. It's a different time.
"I was the most blessed coach of all of them. I was. I had the greatest players with the Lakers. In New York, great players in Patrick Ewing and John Starks and Charles Oakley. Came down here with Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Caron Butler, Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal. I've been truly blessed so I don't need to push myself to go back."
[Related: LeBron James guts out leg cramps to help deliver Game 4 victory]
Before watching the Heat take a 3-1 lead in the Finals, Riley was given the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor commemorates the memory of Daly, the former Detroit Pistons coach who squared off with Riley twice in the Finals.
Riley called Spoelstra, who is in his fourth year coaching the Heat, "the right man" to coach Miami. Spoelstra has said he welcomes input from the 67-year-old Riley, who doesn't mind sharing his coaching wisdom, but doesn't push it.
"We collaborate," Riley said. "And I feel very privileged at times [when] he will ask me, 'Well what do you think?' And I'll give him my opinion."
Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Chad Ochocinco enjoys the Dolphins' 'Brokeback Mountain' chemistry
• Tim Brown: What's behind Matt Cain's perfect game and a plethora of no-hitters?
• Dan Wetzel: Jerry Sandusky's defense bolstered by tape of police intereview
• Ukraine's controversial Euro demise renews goal-line technology debate
