2:30 pm:
I watched and listened to the whole thing. It went over one hour, longer than I had remembered these annual things going previously; he was right on time at 1 pm, ended at 2:06.
I'm tired. You know why I'm tired? Because listening to Riley is like reading a Tom Friedman column--you have to pay close attention to every word and study to get his main point(s), which are often surrounded by less consequential statements. Which is one reason I stopped subscribing to the New York Times!
(more (I have to study my notes))
*Updated:
To me, the most important things Riley said, in order of importance:
1) In answers to two questions (in the middle of the press conference, see above) Riley said he is going to have discussions with Erik Spoelstra on the "wheel" offensive philosophy. There could not be a basketball philosophy more antithetical to Riley's history and experience, but Spo is the coach and Riley deferred to him on this (and to positionless basketball a decade earlier) in 2025.
The first question was if Riley thought the roster needed to get bigger and longer.
A: There are different philosophies, e.g. playing big, playing small and fast, pace and space. Spo has a philosophy. (Spo invented "positionless" also.)
: Style of play and personnel dictate philosophy. Not the other way around. Riley then used a metaphor for his own philosophy, a traffic light. I hadn't heard this before and wasn't expecting it and it was confusing the way that Riley presented it. I understood Riley's philosophy to be an upside-down traffic light, red on top, cautionary yellow, green on bottom. He said Spo's philosophy was the traffic light right-side up: green, yellow, red. At first, I thought Riley was using the traffic light exclusively about playing fast or slow. He is not a fan of the "wheel", not a fan of breaking possessions down into three eight-second segments, whoever gets the ball last (since they're all positionless) takes the shot. Riley doesn't believe in that. Riley believes that when the clock is in the last segment "You get it to your guys", the main scorers.
Reading over my notes, he was also using the traffic light as metaphor for commitment and change. At the end of last season in this event, he attempted his own variation of, "If it's not necessary to change, it's necessary not to change." It was mangled and confusing (like the traffic light this time). But when you do decide to change, you have to commit whole-heartedly to it. Riley made this statement in the context of discussing Kel'el Ware and Bam Adebayo playing together. The question was very direct:
"Is it time in your mind to tell Spo to commit to Ware and Bam as a tandem or I'm going to get you a prototypical big (a big, slow space eater who can only play one position) to play with Bam?"
He likes Kel'el and Bam playing together, thinks Kel'el should be playing with Bam in the same unit, said Spoelstra "was up and down with it for a number of reasons" and gently criticized Spo for not being more committed to it.
In the second question he made the same point on Tyler Herro and Norman Powell sharing the floor:
"They can coexist if you're playing the right style."
And again in his answer to the last question from "Tim", noi:
"We have the kind of players who can play in Spo's system but I will talk to Spo about making tweaks."
My global take on this first major point is that he is not real happy with the job that Erik Spoelstra did this season.
2) Answer to Ira Winderman's first question (and first of session):
"We're not good enough."
In answer to Ira's third question:
"I didn't think that we were championship material." ( i.e., at trade deadline)
In the middle of the presser, in answer to unid'd pencil:
"You need talent to win in this league."
But he loves everybody in the rotation, specifically naming Bam, Tyler, Davion (twice) Jovic, Ware, Powell. He will "try" to upgrade but the overall tone was that he believes that this roster, with growth and development, has enough. eye roll.
In answer to Anthony Chiang's second question:
"We like our roster."
3) "I'm not retiring."
4) "I'm really pissed. I'm disappointed. Disgruntled." (confirming Dwyane Wade)
5) Is not trading Bam, confirming Barry Jackson.
6) Confirms that he loves veterans over rookies.
