Aldridge to the Spurs Aided by Heat's Riley
Pat Riley is the president of the Miami Heat but the man known in South Florida as the Godfather also inadvertently aided the San Antonio Spurs in landing superstar big man and then free agent LaMarcus Aldridge last summer.
Via Yahoo Sports:
But before Popovich and Aldridge would meet on July 3, the greatest recruiter of them all, Miami president Pat Riley, had persuaded Aldridge to take a dinner with him on the evening of July 2. How could Aldridge resist? Who didn't want to be wooed by Riley? If nothing else, he had to hear him out.
The Heat didn't have the salary cap space to sign Aldridge, and Riley's wish for Aldridge to sign a one-year deal with Portland and wait for the Heat's space in 2016 was a most unappealing proposition. Nevertheless, Riley made a case to Aldridge that turned out to be an immense blessing for the franchise that had obliterated the Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals. As the idea of joining the Suns gained real momentum, Riley's message would go a long, long way toward validating the Spurs' cause. Truth be told, Riley's words resonated as deeply with Aldridge as anyone's in the process.
"He told me, 'You're a good player, but you can be great,' " Aldridge told Yahoo. "I've had good seasons on my own, but to win, you've got to have other big-time guys with you. When you have other guys who are willing to take that sacrifice with you – maybe you all go from averaging 23-24 points to 18-19 points – and you can all do it together.
"He was saying, 'Hey, you might have to take a lesser role, but at the end of the day, you want to be known as a champion. Champions have to do different things.' He brought up Chris Bosh, how he was averaging 21 in Toronto, and came to Miami, and people tried to say he wasn't important. He told me, 'We don't win any of those championships rings without him,' [and] that [Bosh] wouldn't trade those rings for anything.
"Eventually, it becomes a road in your career, you have to decide whether you want to keep having these crazy stats, or do you want to win a championship?"
On the night of July 2, with Popovich returning for a lunch meeting the next day, Riley had delivered an unintended assist to the Spurs. He had turned Aldridge's mind back toward San Antonio, setting the stage for Popovich to close the deal. "Yeah, the things [Riley] said were definitely more positive for me coming to San Antonio," Aldridge told Yahoo.
So if not for Riley's meal with Aldridge, would the prize of last summer's free agent class be a Phoenix Sun?
