MIAMI (AP) – Perhaps the best way to describe Heat Culture is to think of two ways Pat Riley has defined the backbone of the Miami franchise.
Answer 1: “It’s a shared philosophy of being great.”
The second answer: “It is our common goals, our common vision, and our common ideas.”
The first answer was from the year 2000. The second answer came in the year 2020. The thinking hardly drifted apart.
Times change. Lists change. But Riley and the culture — a buzzword for Heat, a catchphrase for some who disparage what Heat has done — remain very much the same. Of the last 52 NBA Finals, Riley has been a part of 19 of them as either a player, coach or executive. That is to say, give or take, Riley finds his way to the finals about every three years.
Erik Spoelstra is the coach and makes the decisions, but Riley—the president of a team seeking a 10th championship—remains at the helm of the Heat. The Heat tied the Denver Nuggets to one game in the NBA Finalswith Game 3 of the title series in Miami on Wednesday night.
They have created a culture. It’s their way. It works, said Denver veteran Jeff Green. “They’ve created something that’s been good for them, and it’s got them places over and over again that a lot of teams haven’t. A lot of respect for them. A lot of respect for Spo, how he gives his guys the confidence to go out there and produce no matter who’s on the ground, obviously. Pat pat…. You have to respect where you deserve respect.”
Every team, every business, and every organization has a culture. Few revere the term as closely as heat. Under Riley, it was their trademark. No, really — The Heat is trying to trademark “Culture,” and filed to do so in late May with the US Patent and Trademark Office. Heat lists a range of potential uses, and even notes that the word could be used on T-shirts.
“Culture” T-shirts have been a big seller in Miami for years. Culture has been Riley’s selling point for the longest time.
“It’s not always easy,” Riley said in 2020. Per his usual postseason tradition since ditching coaching, he’s not doing much in the way of interviews at the moment. “But I think you have to have an environment where you create something in some way, shape or form where everyone can thrive.”
He’s been in the NBA Finals in each of the past six decades – the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, 2010, and 2020. He’s gone with long, floppy hair and a mustache, he’s gone with the gel look, and he’s now as stylish and distinctive as ever, Even at the age of 78 years. He’s in rehearsals, watching from the side. He’s on fire, watching everything intently with Heat Braintest. Spoelstra uses it as a resource, and there are often suggestions from the man Heat calls Godfather. But Riley leaves the ex-assistant who was tapped to replace him in 2008 in charge on Earth.
“It’s something we believe in,” Spoelstra said. “It’s for us. It’s not for everyone.”
Those last three words — “not for everyone” — are another hit dogma.
Long gone are the days of marathon workouts and Riley obsessed with a player’s body fat readings so much he’d bring out calipers for pop-up tests of some sort. But there are absolute rules in Heatland, about showing up, working hard, and doing it the right way. That’s why many of the contributors to this Heat roster started out as undrafted players. Miami saw something in all of them and then asked if they were willing to do the work. Not everyone. However, those who say yes tend to get a payback.
“It’s no secret,” said Heat point guard Gabe Vincent, one of the unskilled players who has thrived. “We are working.”
The mission statement, from day one of the Riley era in Miami in the mid-1990s, was the same: that the Heat would be “the hardest working, best conditioned, most professional, unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in the NBA”.
It really goes back to 1971, when then-Los Angeles Lakers coach Bill Sharman told Riley—then a four-year NBA veteran—that if he wanted to stay on the team, he had to be the best player on the roster. Riley took his words to heart. Sharman saw the work Riley had done and kept it. Perhaps not coincidentally, this season was the first in which Riley went to the NBA Finals. He got his first ring that season, too.
And here he is again. Back in the NBA Finals. Still looking for more episodes.
“Through it all, you see what got us to this point,” said Heat veteran Udonis Haslem, who spent 20 years with Riley and the franchise and will retire after this season — but wants to stay with Riley as part of the front office. “For me, I think this team embodies more of what the Heat culture is about. We’re not for everyone. Doing the hard stuff. It’s just not for everyone. It’s kind of hard out here. We work hard.”
Riley wouldn’t have had it any other way. Which is why he liked something Jimmy Butler said in December, after winning the regular season in Boston. Butler was asked how he thought the rest of the season would go.
“Heroism,” Butler said.
The heat was 11-12 at that time. But Butler thought big, because that’s what Riley—”Coach Pat,” often out of respect—wanted him to do from the moment he brought him to Miami.
Culture dictates that it be the only goal.
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Tim Reynolds is a national basketball writer for the Associated Press. Write to him at treynolds(at)ap.org
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