In 1995, Riley resigned from the Knicks via fax to become the head coach of the Miami Heat. The move caused some controversy, as the Heat were accused by the Knicks of tampering by pursuing Riley while he still had a year remaining on his contract with the Knicks.[12] The matter was settled after the Heat sent their 1996 first round pick (which the Knicks would use to draft Walter McCarty) and $1 million in cash to the Knicks on September 1, 1995. Riley's coaching of the Heat to playoff contention would later make them bitter rivals with his former team.
In 1995–96, Miami was swept in the first round by Phil Jackson-coached Chicago Bulls, who had completed the regular season with a record 72 wins. This season was most notable for the ongoing housecleaning that took place, with the arrival of building blocks Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway. The offseason would also bring them Nets forward P.J. Brown and Suns swingman Dan Majerle.
In 1997, Riley's Heat defeated his old team, the Knicks, in a physical seven game series. Advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history, they proved no match for Jordan and his Bulls. Riley was selected as Coach of the Year for the third time, after leading Miami to a 61–21 regular season record, 1st in the Atlantic division.
The Heat would compile consecutive seasons over .600. However, the 1998, 1999, and 2000 playoffs would be disappointments as they lost to the arch-rival Knicks; the first two in the opening round and the latter in the second round. In 1999, the Knicks themselves reached the Finals.
Riley then entered the 2000 season armed for bear. In a shuffling of the deck, Riley traded away Brown and Jamal Mashburn in exchange for Eddie Jones in one trade and acquired Brian Grant in another, although the team suffered a major setback after discovering Alonzo Mourning's kidney condition. After finishing a respectable 50–32 in the 2000–01 season, the Heat were swept by the Charlotte Hornets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Heat then lost two of their best players when guard Tim Hardaway was traded to the Dallas Mavericks and Anthony Mason signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. In part because of these departures, the Heat finished a disappointing 36–46 in 2002. Riley was so disgusted with the Heat's performance that he declared he was about to "fire himself."
Before the beginning of the 2003–04 season, he did step down as Heat coach, to fully dedicate his attention to his duties as general manager. Longtime assistant Stan Van Gundy and rookie Dwyane Wade, whom Riley drafted 5th overall, led the Heat back into the playoffs with a 42–40 record after starting 0–7. Riley concentrated on improving the team even further before the 2004–2005 season. One of his biggest moves as full-time general manager was to trade Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom and a first-round draft pick to the Lakers for superstar Shaquille O'Neal. Head coach Van Gundy led the Heat to the Eastern Conference finals during the 2005 playoffs, although they lost to the Detroit Pistons after being up 3–2 in the series.
Riley resumed coaching the Heat on December 12, 2005, replacing Stan Van Gundy after the Heat started the season with a disappointing 11–10 record. Van Gundy had resigned in order to "spend more time with [his] family."
The move came as a shock to the basketball community, with some speculating that with Shaquille O'Neal returning from injury, Dwyane Wade having his best season yet, and a high-caliber roster including Gary Payton, Jason Williams and Antoine Walker, Riley wanted to try to regain his former glory by coaching Miami to its first NBA Championship.[13] Riley's Heat team defeated his Los Angeles Lakers-days nemesis, the Detroit Pistons, in the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals on June 2, 2006, making it the first time the Miami Heat reached the finals. Riley's Heat squared off against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals. Despite losing the first two games to Dallas, the Heat rallied to win the next four games and their first NBA Championship. It was Riley's fifth championship as a head coach, and his first with a team other than the Lakers. Riley became the only NBA coach to take three different teams to the NBA Finals and joined Alex Hannum and Phil Jackson as the only coaches to coach two different teams to NBA titles. He also became the only coach to twice replace a coach in mid-season and take that team to an NBA title.[14]
Citing "hip and knee problems," Riley took a leave of absence from coaching from January 3, 2007 through February 19, 2007. Assistant coach Ron Rothstein assumed interim duties.
On April 28, 2008, Riley announced that he would step down as coach of the Miami Heat after the team finished with an NBA-worst 15–67 record, the worst regular season output of Riley's career. Former Heat assistant Erik Spoelstra was announced as his replacement. Riley remains team president.[15]
As president, Riley acquired LeBron James and Chris Bosh to form the Heat's "Big 3" with Dwyane Wade. In 2012, the Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder to give Riley his first championship purely as an executive. The Heat repeated the feat in 2013, defeating the San Antonio Spurs.

Melo has been the most successful in getting us to the second round, the others have barely accomplished anything but staying healthy for a full season. What a joke! Pat Riley has won 3 championships since leaving the Knicks and the Heat have had much better regular season records over the last 2 decades. How many championships do Donnie Walsh, Glen Grunwald, Isiah and Scott Layden have? Should have given him what he wanted.

knickscity wrote:

smackeddog wrote:Nah, those Knick Heat rivalries in the 90s made it worthwhile- wouldn't give those up for anything! Beating them in the playoffs every year was like winning a championship!

It was? ironically miami has three "real' championships since those days.

If you were a knick fan at the time (no idea if you were or not), you'd know what I was talking about!

holfresh wrote:There was no option to keep Riley..he faxed his resignation in..He left for part ownership of the Heat..

You sure about that?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-06-16/sports/9506160389_1_pat-riley-checketts-riley-home

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9418559/new-york-knicks-never-let-pat-riley-go

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-16/sports/sp-13797_1_pat-riley

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-06-16/sports/1995167158_1_pat-riley-riley-home-checketts

All these articles say the same thing, Pat Riley wanted part ownership of the Knicks and we refused to give him any.

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:There was no option to keep Riley..he faxed his resignation in..He left for part ownership of the Heat..

You sure about that?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-06-16/sports/9506160389_1_pat-riley-checketts-riley-home

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9418559/new-york-knicks-never-let-pat-riley-go

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-16/sports/sp-13797_1_pat-riley

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-06-16/sports/1995167158_1_pat-riley-riley-home-checketts

All these articles say the same thing, Pat Riley wanted part ownership of the Knicks and we refused to give him any.

Newsday reported Riley wanted 25% ownership plus 50 mil over 5 years and that was back in 1995...So his stake would have been about half billion USD at this point jsut off the face of the deal..What if the owners get profit sharing as well...Sounds like a good deal...

holfresh wrote:

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:There was no option to keep Riley..he faxed his resignation in..He left for part ownership of the Heat..

You sure about that?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-06-16/sports/9506160389_1_pat-riley-checketts-riley-home

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9418559/new-york-knicks-never-let-pat-riley-go

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-16/sports/sp-13797_1_pat-riley

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-06-16/sports/1995167158_1_pat-riley-riley-home-checketts

All these articles say the same thing, Pat Riley wanted part ownership of the Knicks and we refused to give him any.

Newsday reported Riley wanted 25% ownership plus 50 mil over 5 years and that was back in 1995...So his stake would have been about half billion USD at this point jsut off the face of the deal..What if the owners get profit sharing as well...Sounds like a good deal...

And he took something like $40M and 10% from Miami. We could have negotiated and kept him and we'd clearly be in a much better position now than with Dolan.

holfresh wrote:

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:There was no option to keep Riley..he faxed his resignation in..He left for part ownership of the Heat..

You sure about that?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-06-16/sports/9506160389_1_pat-riley-checketts-riley-home

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9418559/new-york-knicks-never-let-pat-riley-go

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-16/sports/sp-13797_1_pat-riley

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-06-16/sports/1995167158_1_pat-riley-riley-home-checketts

All these articles say the same thing, Pat Riley wanted part ownership of the Knicks and we refused to give him any.

Newsday reported Riley wanted 25% ownership plus 50 mil over 5 years and that was back in 1995...So his stake would have been about half billion USD at this point jsut off the face of the deal..What if the owners get profit sharing as well...Sounds like a good deal...

And he took something like $40M and 10% from Miami. We could have negotiated and kept him and we'd clearly be in a much better position now than with Dolan.

I know u guys are fans and use hindsight as a guide...But for the owners, it all business..No one in their right mind would give Riley 25% of their team to run it...I remember when Riley signed that deal with Miami people said the owner was starstruck...If the Knicks gave Riley what he wanted, with profit sharing, salary plus ownership of MSG stock could put him over a billion USD...Even u can see this would have been just stupid...

I think if you asked ownership this question in hindsight they might admit they would've done it.

smackeddog wrote:

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:There was no option to keep Riley..he faxed his resignation in..He left for part ownership of the Heat..

You sure about that?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-06-16/sports/9506160389_1_pat-riley-checketts-riley-home

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9418559/new-york-knicks-never-let-pat-riley-go

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-16/sports/sp-13797_1_pat-riley

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-06-16/sports/1995167158_1_pat-riley-riley-home-checketts

All these articles say the same thing, Pat Riley wanted part ownership of the Knicks and we refused to give him any.

Newsday reported Riley wanted 25% ownership plus 50 mil over 5 years and that was back in 1995...So his stake would have been about half billion USD at this point jsut off the face of the deal..What if the owners get profit sharing as well...Sounds like a good deal...

And he took something like $40M and 10% from Miami. We could have negotiated and kept him and we'd clearly be in a much better position now than with Dolan.

It's amazing how many good coaches Riley helped generate- JVG, Thibs, SVG, etc

Spolestra is possibly the best of them all.

holfresh wrote:

MSG3 wrote:

holfresh wrote:

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:

VCoug wrote:

holfresh wrote:There was no option to keep Riley..he faxed his resignation in..He left for part ownership of the Heat..

You sure about that?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-06-16/sports/9506160389_1_pat-riley-checketts-riley-home

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9418559/new-york-knicks-never-let-pat-riley-go

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-06-16/sports/sp-13797_1_pat-riley

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-06-16/sports/1995167158_1_pat-riley-riley-home-checketts

All these articles say the same thing, Pat Riley wanted part ownership of the Knicks and we refused to give him any.

Newsday reported Riley wanted 25% ownership plus 50 mil over 5 years and that was back in 1995...So his stake would have been about half billion USD at this point jsut off the face of the deal..What if the owners get profit sharing as well...Sounds like a good deal...

And he took something like $40M and 10% from Miami. We could have negotiated and kept him and we'd clearly be in a much better position now than with Dolan.

I know u guys are fans and use hindsight as a guide...But for the owners, it all business..No one in their right mind would give Riley 25% of their team to run it...I remember when Riley signed that deal with Miami people said the owner was starstruck...If the Knicks gave Riley what he wanted, with profit sharing, salary plus ownership of MSG stock could put him over a billion USD...Even u can see this would have been just stupid...

I think if you asked ownership this question in hindsight they might admit they would've done it.

No way any owner gives a deal that potentially cost him a billion dollars in hindsight especially for a coach/gm...I don't think three Championship is worth that much to a Franchise...The Heat is 625 mil right now...

You got it all wrong. Having Riley lead the team in a great direction would have brought in loads of money.