Ira Winderman: If Heat's Arison in Hall as contributor, then how not Riley?

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Aug 31, 2025

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MIAMI — Next weekend in Springfield, Mass., Micky Arison will stand in a position he heretofore largely has downplayed, as the face of the Miami Heat, when the team’s owner is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Arison will enter the shrine as a “contributor,” an expansive category that delineates such inductees from the otherwise defined Hall designations of player, coach, referee, team.

And yet, in the wake of Arison’s selection, in listing Arison’s basketball achievements, there was a common and undeniable thread that tied it all together to another member of the Heat organization, one yet to be honored in the contributor category.

In the wake of the Hall’s announcement of Arison’s selection on April 5, the Heat’s testimonial read, “In 29 years under his stewardship of the franchise, Arison has guided the Heat to three NBA Championships (2006, 2012, 2013), seven NBA Finals appearances, seven Eastern Conference championships, 10 Eastern Conference Finals appearances, 16 division titles and advanced to the postseason on 23 occasions, having not missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons over the last 20 years.”

Those words — all of them — also apply to Pat Riley.

Because while Riley already was inducted into the Hall in 2008 for his coaching success, such an embrace stands for only part of the recognition due the Heat’s president.

Yes, if not for Micky Arison taking ownership control of the Heat on Feb. 13, 1995, then quite possibly there would have been no Pat Riley being named Heat coach and president on Sept. 2 that year.

But if no Pat Riley, then quite possibly no Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Goran Dragic, Jimmy Butler, quite possibly no coaching canvas for Stan Van Gundy and Erik Spoelstra, potentially no management breakthrough by Andy Elisburg and Adam Simon.

Among the reasons Arison will be feted in a week is an appreciation of the Hall — and therefore of the sport — that it takes more than coaches, players and rosters to foster success.

It takes architects.

Pat Riley has been that for three decades for one of the league’s most successful franchises over those three decades. By comparison, only a third of that time also came as coach.

In the wake of Arison’s nomination for the Hall honor, Spoelstra spoke of Riley also being deserving of such an honor as a contributor to the game.

“He’s the one that turned head coaching into a CEO position,” Spoelstra said. “All of us can try to do that. None of us can.”

And that’s the thing, Riley arrived to South Florida as a world-class, Showtime-famed coach for his work with Magic Johnson, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and the Los Angeles Lakers, furthering that star by helping to resurrect the New York Knicks with his sideline presence at Madison Square Garden.

But with the Heat, it has been the patriarchal presence, one that rivals the shadows cast of such similar icons as Red Auerbach with the Boston Celtics and Jerry West with the Lakers, each indelibly linked to a franchise’s heartbeat.

“I think he should be absolutely acknowledged in the Hall of Fame again for his contributions as a president,” Spoelstra said of Riley. “Those are arguably just as great as what he’s done here as a head coach. He’s done more in terms of being a president, establishing a culture and an organization that is respected across all of pro sports.”

Next weekend, Riley (along with Wade and Mourning) will stand alongside as Arison formally is inducted in Springfield, just as Riley has stood alongside Arison these past three decades.

But Riley also deserves to stand alone in such a setting, as Spoelstra said, because of the CEO presence.

The “contributor” designation has served as somewhat of a catchall at the Hall, such success not necessarily measured by wins, points, rebounds, assists, or even championships or rings.

It is one largely of influence. This year, the Hall voters decided that Arison was worthy of such designation.

But, again, if Arison, then how not Riley?

Yes, it has been Arison who has served on and even led the NBA’s Board of Governors, who has cast his philanthropy across South Florida, who has fostered an inclusionary and diverse workplace. But in the NBA realm, during his Miami tenure, Riley cultivated the coaching careers of Spoelstra and Van Gundy, added the drafting genius of Chet Kammerer, advanced the careers of Elisburg and Simon.

To its credit, the Hall has recognized the multiple facets required for the game’s greatness. It is why West is in as both player and contributor, why Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman are in as player and coach, and why there is the Hall trifecta of John Wooden as player, coach, contributor.

If Jerry West, Del Harris, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Jerry Krause, Jerry Colangelo and Wayne Embry are in the Hall as contributors for their franchise stewardship, how not Pat Riley?

Because every single basketball accolade attached to next weekend’s enshrinement of Micky Arison is equally attached to Pat Riley.