He remains, hands down, the best hope for the Heat _ smart, tough, professionally unbending _ and oversees a front office as good as any across sports _ successful, visionary, evolving with the times.
But let's be straight and direct, just as he is with his words: Can Pat Riley re-invent this franchise into a champion yet again?
Because there was, in retrospect, a desperation to Riley's offseason, a desperation to create something from nothing, a desperation that waving a magic wand before Kevin Durant might be enough, a desperation the Heat wouldn't become exactly what they are now:
A team that, before this coming season moves into view, already is looking to the following season.
Oh, Riley won't say this. Maybe he won't even believe it. The admirable part of the Heat franchise is, even in their down years, they don't throw away seasons like every other team in town until their empty years stack like a funeral pyre.
But it's time for the Heat to be patient and not a spectacle. They're hitting the 2009 reset button again. Or 2003. If you want to step in a time warp and go all the way back, it's 1994 again, when Riley first stepped through the franchise door and then delivered Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway.
"What, are you kidding?" he once said, when asked after the re-tooling to the 2006 title if that was his best building feat. "Did you forget that first season? Did you forget what we had to do then?"
How many roster re-inventions will this next one make for Riley in his two decades? Six? Eight, depending on how you define them? And can he muster the magic again?
The challenge of sports is you have to keep proving yourself. Even legends. Especially them, sometimes. Riley brings every advantage available, what with his charisma, opportunism and demand to find a big deal.
Above all, he's had what every sports architect needs _ luck, and the ability to see and exploit it. Shaquille O'Neal became available. LeBron James wanted out. He exploited those situations.
Will another whale, as he calls them, even be out there to hunt?
Yes, time is a factor, but this isn't about Riley, at 71. He's in a role where age carries a cache of wisdom. Besides, there's a Ponce de Leon feel across South Florida, what with Ichiro Suzuki in baseball and Jaromir Jagr in hockey succeeding at 42 and 44, respectively. The cigar of Jack McKeon, a champion at 72, lingers, too.
The pressing issue for Riley now is that for the first time in 13 years he doesn't have a franchise player backing him. Dwyane Wade is in Chicago now. Even if he weren't, he's turning 35 next season. That's not a building block.
Wade was Riley's ally on all three title teams. He gave Shaq a reason to come for the Heat's first championship. He was central to LeBron and Chris Bosh coming for the next two.
Can Riley sell Hassan Whiteside like that a year from now? Will a roster with some ascending youth be a foundation to recruit a top-tier free agent? Could a promising NBA draft deliver yet another building block next June?
All that hinges in some form on another prickly issue: Chris Bosh's future. All signs point to Bosh wanting to return next season. It's fair to ask now: Do the Heat want him back?
Answer this: Beyond the primary concerns of Bosh's health, what's to prevent even Bosh's minor blood clot of February returning next year? Or the year after that? That's when a medical issue becomes a basketball issue the Heat can't afford.
So this unfortunate business for the Heat and Bosh could turn messy. He wants to play. The Heat would be better off getting a high draft pick this re-tooling year and his approximate $25-million-a-year salary slot ($23.7 million next year and escalating the next two years).
In May, after an over-achieving Heat season, Riley looked forward to the summer, saying, "It will be fun in July. You'll see. I hope it will be fruitful."
It was neither fun nor fruitful. It was expensive. It was painful. It felt desperate.
Another rebuilding awaits. Riley has done plenty of that with two decades of contention and three championships as proof. The question isn't if he's the best man for the job. It's trickier: Can he do the job yet again?
