The past several months have been an "emotional time" to be around Heat President PAT RILEY, as this past NBA season challenged him "as much as any in the past 50 years," according to a profile by Wright Thompson of ESPN THE MAGAZINE. Riley recently said that the "scariest thing in the world was 'extinction,' or the emptiness that might swallow him if he ever managed to leave basketball behind, which he's considering." The "troubles began swirling" in the summer of '14 when LEBRON JAMES returned to the Cavaliers after four seasons in Miami in which the Heat won two NBA titles. The next season, the Heat missed the playoffs with Riley "consumed with self-doubt, his own mind whispering that he'd stayed too long." But Riley still "spends a lot of time imagining the future he might have." And while he "obsesses over the Heat, in this or any other year, part of Riley's mind is never far from his estate on the Pacific in Malibu." Last year he "took the most concrete action he's ever taken to make that dreamed future a reality." He "signed a new five-year contract, with the understanding that he can work anywhere." Riley is still "trying, still deeply invested in the positive parts of building and running a team but saying he's free at last from the negative motivations he's never been able to control." The week before this season's All-Star break, now Bulls G DWYANE WADE said that a "driving reason for his departure from Miami was hurt feelings over Riley never calling him" during free agency. Wade said that Riley "didn't reach out, and Dwyane felt he deserved respect after helping deliver three titles." Mostly, Riley just "wishes the whole thing had gone differently" (ESPN THE MAGAZINE, 5/8 issue).
