Pat Riley prefers American players

[sinobball]

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/spor...ers_for_t.html

Riley: No foreign players for the Heat
> Posted by Dave Hyde on May 3, 2010 04:09 PM

Pat Riley explained something that's been mystifying to me: Why doesn't the Heat ever invest in a foreign player?

Here's what he said:

"We haven't (one of significance) even though (scout) Adam Simons spends a lot of time in Europe,'' he said. "We have a lot of contacts in Europe. And while we have looked very closely at European players, foreign players, one of them that came across my desk, three, four, five years ago was (Andres) Nocioni, I probably missed on. I'll be very honest with you, I like the homegrown product, I just do. I feel comfortable with it. And maybe somewhere in free agency or via some trades, we may have missed somewhere along the line, but I just felt I just like the players here. That's where I've gone. I not saying that we're not going to ever draft a foreign player or sign one, but it hasn't been at the top of our priority list."

[mvblair]

Well, if that's Pat Riley's thinking, he's really limiting himself. It seems like most NBA teams have major international players. The only two good teams I can think of that don't have major international players are Boston and Orlando, and even Orlando has Gortat (and was better with Turkoglu).

I think Pat Riley may have coached Rony Seikaly or Vlade Divac. I wonder how he thought about them.

[raph]

You don't like pietrus ?

[LFGC79]

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/spor...ers_for_t.html

He should look at San Antonio and Dallas.

[ajaxballer]

What about Joel Anthony and Jamal Maglorie?

[Czarkazem13]

Pat Riley prefers American players

Nothing new here.

[Czarkazem13]

What about Joel Anthony and Jamal Maglorie?

United States of Canada - what?

[Czarkazem13]

He should look at San Antonio and Dallas.

Or Boston...oh, never mind.

[damelo]

What about Joel Anthony and Jamal Maglorie?

Or Arroyo, but I suppose any guy going through NCAA is considered as homegrown?

[sinobball]

Or Arroyo, but I suppose any guy going through NCAA is considered as homegrown?

Puerto Rico is an American colony (or commonwealth in more PC words), and Canada's only pro basketball team belongs to the National Basketball Association.

But seriously I think you are right. In other words, Riley doesn't like players from European/Asian clubs. I won't be surprised if he's the only one; but being so upfront about this (is this discrimination?) is a little surprising.

[rikhardur]

I don't think it's discrimination. European players and others have a flavour Riley doesn't like, perfectly normal.

[Czarkazem13]

Puerto Rico is an American colony (or commonwealth in more PC words), and Canada's only pro basketball team belongs to the National Basketball Association.

But seriously I think you are right. In other words, Riley doesn't like players from European/Asian clubs. I won't be surprised if he's the only one; but being so upfront about this (is this discrimination?) is a little surprising.

Yeah, I believe all those players went through the U.S. collegiate system. I think Riley's issue is with picking players overseas with no U.S. experience.

[Czarkazem13]

I don't think it's discrimination. European players and others have a flavour Riley doesn't like, perfectly normal.

Yeah, Riley likes physical guys with limited skills while having the whole offense go through one guy while the rest stand and watch.

[mvblair]

Yeah, Riley likes physical guys with limited skills while having the whole offense go through one guy while the rest stand and watch.

Youch.

It's kind of true, though. His best teams were the Showtime Lakers, and I think Magic and Kareem deserve credit for how that team flowed. The Knicks ran everything through Ewing. Miami in the '90s ran everything through Mourning. Both of those teams were terribly boring to watch, which is a shame because Ewing was such a good offensive player and came close to a Championship a few times.

Besides his "stance" on international players (which seems pretty immature and detrimental), he's been a bad GM. He quit as coach when his team was doing bad, then made himself coach again once Van Gundy corrected the problems, then quit again once his team was doing bad. Spoelstra will be forced to quit pretty soon if he continues to do a good job coaching.

[Czarkazem13]

Youch.

It's kind of true, though. His best teams were the Showtime Lakers, and I think Magic and Kareem deserve credit for how that team flowed. The Knicks ran everything through Ewing. Miami in the '90s ran everything through Mourning. Both of those teams were terribly boring to watch, which is a shame because Ewing was such a good offensive player and came close to a Championship a few times.

Besides his "stance" on international players (which seems pretty immature and detrimental), he's been a bad GM. He quit as coach when his team was doing bad, then made himself coach again once Van Gundy corrected the problems, then quit again once his team was doing bad. Spoelstra will be forced to quit pretty soon if he continues to do a good job coaching.

Yeah the Showtime Lakers were the exception, but even he couldn't hold Magic back.

To me, Riley is one of the main reasons (add Jeff Van Gundy) for how boring the NBA is (like the old Big East basketball), relying on athleticism over skill. Plus, I'm tired of coaches that slow down their offense and then all of the sudden they are considered defensive geniuses.

I continue to hold my breath for the day that he departs from the Heat.