Pat Riley may break the hearts of Knicks fans one more time.
Dubbed “Pat the Rat” after he dumped the Knicks’ job via fax following his feud with management, Riley, now the Heat president, has the money and the position to ensure Knicks fans keep suffering.
If there was one glimmer of hope after all the Stephon Marbury-Penny Hardaway-Jerome James, one injury after another and constant losing, Knicks fans knew eventually they would be in play for the likes of LeBron James. Or Dwyane Wade. Or both.
But Riley’s Heat is in equal, if not better position, to get both. The Heat has $43.3 million in cap space — excluding Wade, whom they expect to keep. The Heat also has weather, South Beach and no state income tax all aligned in the plus column. If Wade re-signs, it’ll still have nearly $27 million to spend. Enough for LeBron and one other pricey piece.
Liftoff for this year’s free agency bonanza starts at midnight.
“It will be equivalent to a space shuttle launch,” Riley was quoted saying last month. “Everybody who’s covering the day it’s going to get launched, you never know it is until they hit the button. When they hit the button, a lot of things explode down underneath to lift the rocket up.”
There was a report Wade met with James and Bosh in Miami over the weekend but numerous outlets discounted the report. Wade’s agent, Henry Thomas, told the Associated Press his client talked to James and Bosh but did not meet.
So were they plotting a league takeover by phone?
“It would be naive on anybody’s part to think the players don’t talk to each other because they do. They text, they talk, virtually on a daily basis,” Nets president Rod Thorn said. “Obviously, they were talking about their future. Who knows what that conversation was about?”
Well, if it wasn’t about New York, if it was about all gathering in Miami, Knicks fans may view the man who helped revitalize winning basketball at the Garden through trademark, hard-nosed defense, as Pat The Rat once again.