Pat Riley Says that LeBron Wanted Him To Replace Erik Spoelstra In Miami, Back In 2010
The 2010 NBA season was this first season that LeBron James played for the Miami Heat. Although with the ‘Big 3′ that included Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and James, the Heat had a rocky start to the season. Starting out with a record of 9-8 at the start of the 2010 season was frustrating to James and his teammates, especially with every NBA fan paying an ungodly amount of attention on them.
James’ frustration was so bad that Pat Riley recalls James having a one on one moment with him, hinting that Riley should take over Spoelstra’s coaching job. Now Riley in the past has been a coaching genius with multiple accomplishments and having coached some of the greatest players to ever step foot on the court. Riley has won five championships as a head coach (82, 85, 87, 88, 06) and won coach of the year three different times (90, 93, 97).
Riley was recently on the Lowe Podcast discussing this in saying,
“I remember LeBron looking at me and he said, don’t you ever get the itch?”
“And I said, the itch for what?”
“He said, the itch to coach again.”
“I said, no I don’t have the itch.”
Picture of Spoelstra, James, and Riley
