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| Riley won his first ring as an executive in 2012 |
In
this column, Windhorst takes a look at the executive of the year race in the
NBA and makes a case for Miami’s Pat Riley, who he considers as a longshot to
win the award despite his team’s success and his big summer in 2010.
Windhorst
begins his feature column by informing the reader that Pat Riley did not win
the executive of the year award following his acquisition of the Big Three
(James, Wade, and Bosh) nor is he considered to be the front runner to win the
award this year. While Windhorst depicts
his opinions in the column and names Houston Rockets general manager Daryl
Morey as the likeliest winner of the award this year, Windhorst exhibits a
pro-Riley bias through his analysis of Riley’s newer acquisitions and use of
well-placed quotes. In particular, the Daryl Morey quote, "Pat Riley should win every year for getting LeBron James," gives Windhorst credibility after establishing Morey’s
strong case for the award. In addition, Windhorst examines the 2011 executive
of the year race in which Pat Riley came in second to the Chicago Bulls despite
his ”generational coup” of signing LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade.
Windhorst’s
ability to contrast the 2011 and 2013 award races and successfully analyze Riley’s
lesser impact moves, such as the Shane Battier, Ray Allen, and Chris Anderson
signings, makes his argument very compelling.
In 2011, Riley tied Bulls GM Gar Forman, each receiving 11 votes, but
Chicago Bulls president John Paxson also received 3 votes. While Miami made the
big name free agent signings in the summer of 2010, Chicago hired Coach Tom
Thibodeau, made a number of smaller impact signings highlighted by Carlos
Boozer, and clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Thus, Pat Riley
has a case to win the award this year in spite of a relatively low key
offseason due to his team’s strong and improving play.
After
reading this article, I wonder if a similar story will be told of the Los
Angeles Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak in a few years. While Kupchak
clearly made the sexiest moves this past off-season by acquiring Dwight Howard
and Steve Nash, the Lakers have not lived up to expectations on the court this
season. If the Lakers resign Howard and live up to the lofty expectations set
for them in 2013-2014, Kupchak could have a strong case to win the award in the
future by sticking with a team of stars he put together this season.
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