Miami Heat: Slow Start Puts Pat Riley Between Rock and Hard Place

If the NBA playoffs started today, the 8-6 Miami Heat would be tied with the Atlanta Hawks for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

It's not just that this team of superstars is under-performing—if things don't get better, their chances of making the playoffs could be in jeopardy.

Hard to imagine, isn't it?

President Pat Riley, the man who orchestrated the deals that brought Lebron James and Chris Bosh to Miami to form the "Big Three," sits in the stands at every home game and has to be worried.

It is no longer comforting to tell oneself, "It will be better when 6-8 forward Mike Miller returns from injury" because over the weekend, sixth man and team leading rebounder Udonis Haslem broke his foot. He is expected to be off the court way past the time of Miller's expected return.

Things are not looking good for the Heat! No one with the organization anticipated this kind of start.

Head Coach Eric Spoelstra could be in big trouble. He knows it, the fans are starting to remind him of it and Riley has to be concerned.

If things don't get better over the course of the next two weeks, Riley knows a change will have to be made. There is just too much of owner Mickey Aronson's money invested in this team to let things get worse.

The question then becomes who would replace Spoelstra. Who is out there with the skill to turn this ship around?

There is no one and the Heat President knows it. There is no one, that is, expect himself and even he may not believe this team can become the 60-70 win team everyone expected one month ago.

Riley could be sitting between a rock and a hard place! He knows a change might be necessary and he may not believe it could help.

Riley may be looking at this team and saying to himself, "Something's wrong and it just can't be fixed;" That something could be a lack of what appears to be one of his cardinal requirements—get yourself a hall of fame center.

Everyone knows that Riley has always been accused of never coaching a team without an abundance of talent. This is true and he's never been without one, or two of the best centers of all time.

When he replaced Paul Westhead and started his coaching career with the Lakers, one Kareem Abdul Jabaar was the team's center.

His next head coaching job was with the Knicks. His decision to go to New York may have had something to do with their great center Patrick Ewing.

When he took over as Heat coach in 1995 one of the first things he did was obtain Alonzo Mourning from Charlotte.

At the start of the 2005-06 season, Riley was retired and Stan Van Gundy was the Heat's coach. The team got off to a slow start, similar to the one Spoelstra has gotten off to this year, and Riley decided to replace him.

It wasn't a hard decision—Shaquille O'neal was the Heat's starting center and Mourning was the back-up.

O'neal was still one of the best players in the league in 2005 and Riley took this team on to win the Heat's first and only NBA Championship.

One other thing about Riley and great centers: During his playing career with the Lakers, his teammate was another pretty good big man—Wilt Chamberlain.

So, Riley may have a very tough decision to make. It may be the toughest of his basketball career. He is responsible for signing off on bringing Lebron James and Chris Bosh to Miami—does he want to take the responsibility for coaching this team with all their lofty expectations? 

He may have no choice!