phinsforlife
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The Heat just suspended their biggest star, Jimmy Butler, for 7 games, for conduct detrimental to the team, and they are going to ship him out of town.
Butler wanted a contract extension. Given his age, and declining play, the Heat smartly didn’t give him one. Butler started acted like a pill, and instead of rolling over and giving him what he wanted, the Heat did what is in the best interest of the team over the medium to long term, and told him no, and then suspended him when his behavior went south and was a negative for the team.
The Heat are a well run organization. They have a good owner. He smartly hired Pat Riley, and got out of the way. The owner let Riley hire the head coach. Because Riley knows what he is doing, he hired a great head coach, who would also do things the Riley way. Because the coach and GM are on the same page, they both have been here for a long time, and the team has been successful for a long time. They have won multiple championships, are always competitive, and they didn’t need to tank to stay good and win again.
The Heat also do not cave to every player that wants a new deal. Here is a list of aging superstars with declining skills that they have shipped out of town. Because the Heat do this, and continue to do this, they don’t end up with old players on bloated deals that are no longer that good, which ultimately makes them worse. Because the Heat are willing to take a strong stance, fewer in the way of players try to hold them up, because they know how it is going to go: Riley has never been afraid to say no to star players or walk away from them when he doesn't want to pay them. Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade all left to sign elsewhere at various points. He traded Shaquille O'Neal and Shawn Marion, among others, when he wanted to pivot the franchise. Now Butler will be on that list. Riley has always been able to acquire major talents, and that reputation has always emboldened him to play hardball. -- Windhorst
The Heat also overcome the challenges of being in Miami by running a tough, no-nonsense organization. They practice harder than other teams, and they play harder than other teams. They wear their opponents down on the floor. This is rare in basketball. The NBA is not a league of toughness. The Heat are well known for how they do things.
Two years ago, they got to the NBA finals, again. They beat a Celtics team that was much better than them, on paper. Computer simulations told you the Heat should have been swept in 4 games. But they out-toughed the Celtics on their way to victory. This never, ever happens in the modern NBA. 99% of the time, in the NBA, it is all about talent, on paper. It is a very different sport than football. Yet the Heat continually over-achieve, because they out train, out practice, and out tough other teams on the floor. The Heat have also been able to beat good teams on the road. They finished the Celts off on the road last year. The Heat, even though they are named the Heat, can also beat good teams, on the road, in the cold (just kidding). But you know what, if basketball was played outside, the Heat would find a way to compete in the cold.
The Dolphins are the exact opposite, in every regard, and we know the relative results the two organizations have produced:
-Ross has never hired a strong GM and gotten out of the way.
-The GM is never the one independently making the head coach decision, in fact several of our GMs have been saddled with coaches they didn’t hire.
-We roll over and pay almost every player including the old ones, and because we have a reputation for doing that, players continue to try to hold us up. These deals almost never turn out well. This year we did Tyreek, Ramsey, and Armstead. Interestingly, the LA Rams, that are well run, did the Riley move on Ramsey two years ago. Then we supplemented that with Tua (who from a health perspective seems closer to 80 than 26), and Waddle as well. And then there was the whole OBJ fiasco, fits the mold, washed up former superstar that nobody else wants (and is now still out of the league), perfect for Grier and the Dolphins (OBJ of course skipped out on training camp and I guess we were fine with that too).
-Our training camp is like summer camp (and our players still get hurt and miss games at above average rates anyway).
-We are a finesse team that plays soft and gets out physicalled all the time.
-We continually under achieve and are never that good.
As a side note, Pat Riley probably knows nothing about football, and I would hire him as our GM in a second. Surround him with scouts and nerds that can do talent evaluation. Riley sets the culture, and makes the smart big picture decisions. How to run things, who to hire as a coach, pay or not pay the player, or trade him. If you get these big picture things right, everything else will follow. In addition to better talent evaluation, the Dolphins need a cultural enema as well. They need more Pat Riley, and less Chris Grier! PS If Riley was our GM, I can guarantee this team would be entirely different, and for starters we would have a big nasty and physical OL.
Here is an interesting article about the Jimmy Butler situation, with Shaquille O’Neil’s take on what Riley and the Heat are like:
Shaq warns Jimmy Butler against fighting Pat Riley amid trade drama: "I know from personal experience you can’t bicker"
https://www.basketballnetwork.net/l...ent=BasketballNet/magazine/Basketball+Network
Butler wanted a contract extension. Given his age, and declining play, the Heat smartly didn’t give him one. Butler started acted like a pill, and instead of rolling over and giving him what he wanted, the Heat did what is in the best interest of the team over the medium to long term, and told him no, and then suspended him when his behavior went south and was a negative for the team.
The Heat are a well run organization. They have a good owner. He smartly hired Pat Riley, and got out of the way. The owner let Riley hire the head coach. Because Riley knows what he is doing, he hired a great head coach, who would also do things the Riley way. Because the coach and GM are on the same page, they both have been here for a long time, and the team has been successful for a long time. They have won multiple championships, are always competitive, and they didn’t need to tank to stay good and win again.
The Heat also do not cave to every player that wants a new deal. Here is a list of aging superstars with declining skills that they have shipped out of town. Because the Heat do this, and continue to do this, they don’t end up with old players on bloated deals that are no longer that good, which ultimately makes them worse. Because the Heat are willing to take a strong stance, fewer in the way of players try to hold them up, because they know how it is going to go: Riley has never been afraid to say no to star players or walk away from them when he doesn't want to pay them. Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade all left to sign elsewhere at various points. He traded Shaquille O'Neal and Shawn Marion, among others, when he wanted to pivot the franchise. Now Butler will be on that list. Riley has always been able to acquire major talents, and that reputation has always emboldened him to play hardball. -- Windhorst
The Heat also overcome the challenges of being in Miami by running a tough, no-nonsense organization. They practice harder than other teams, and they play harder than other teams. They wear their opponents down on the floor. This is rare in basketball. The NBA is not a league of toughness. The Heat are well known for how they do things.
Two years ago, they got to the NBA finals, again. They beat a Celtics team that was much better than them, on paper. Computer simulations told you the Heat should have been swept in 4 games. But they out-toughed the Celtics on their way to victory. This never, ever happens in the modern NBA. 99% of the time, in the NBA, it is all about talent, on paper. It is a very different sport than football. Yet the Heat continually over-achieve, because they out train, out practice, and out tough other teams on the floor. The Heat have also been able to beat good teams on the road. They finished the Celts off on the road last year. The Heat, even though they are named the Heat, can also beat good teams, on the road, in the cold (just kidding). But you know what, if basketball was played outside, the Heat would find a way to compete in the cold.
The Dolphins are the exact opposite, in every regard, and we know the relative results the two organizations have produced:
-Ross has never hired a strong GM and gotten out of the way.
-The GM is never the one independently making the head coach decision, in fact several of our GMs have been saddled with coaches they didn’t hire.
-We roll over and pay almost every player including the old ones, and because we have a reputation for doing that, players continue to try to hold us up. These deals almost never turn out well. This year we did Tyreek, Ramsey, and Armstead. Interestingly, the LA Rams, that are well run, did the Riley move on Ramsey two years ago. Then we supplemented that with Tua (who from a health perspective seems closer to 80 than 26), and Waddle as well. And then there was the whole OBJ fiasco, fits the mold, washed up former superstar that nobody else wants (and is now still out of the league), perfect for Grier and the Dolphins (OBJ of course skipped out on training camp and I guess we were fine with that too).
-Our training camp is like summer camp (and our players still get hurt and miss games at above average rates anyway).
-We are a finesse team that plays soft and gets out physicalled all the time.
-We continually under achieve and are never that good.
As a side note, Pat Riley probably knows nothing about football, and I would hire him as our GM in a second. Surround him with scouts and nerds that can do talent evaluation. Riley sets the culture, and makes the smart big picture decisions. How to run things, who to hire as a coach, pay or not pay the player, or trade him. If you get these big picture things right, everything else will follow. In addition to better talent evaluation, the Dolphins need a cultural enema as well. They need more Pat Riley, and less Chris Grier! PS If Riley was our GM, I can guarantee this team would be entirely different, and for starters we would have a big nasty and physical OL.
Here is an interesting article about the Jimmy Butler situation, with Shaquille O’Neil’s take on what Riley and the Heat are like:
Shaq warns Jimmy Butler against fighting Pat Riley amid trade drama: "I know from personal experience you can’t bicker"
https://www.basketballnetwork.net/l...ent=BasketballNet/magazine/Basketball+Network
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