Pat Riley Is Quick to Back Down

I don't really care for Pat Riley much. I know he's a legend, but he also lends himself way too easily to non-stop clowning, like a fancy, pomegranate juice and Viagra-swilling version of Larry Brown. But heading into this draft, he at least seemed strong in his principles. All we'd heard for weeks was that Beasley wasn't in line with his vision of a real basketball player. O.J. Mayo, with his glasses and long-term thinking, was.

And yet, in the end, he buckled and went with the enfant terrible of Manhattan, KS. With a little help from his staff:

Riley said his top personnel staff -- general manager Randy Pfund, player personnel VP Chet Kammerer and director of college scouting Adam Simon -- "got me in a room and made sure that Mr. Beasley was going to be part of the Miami Heat."

Riley even ended up turning down deals being lobbed his way, since, you know, he'd all but called Beasley an incompetent child molester. Talking to the press, he endorsed the pick with an ethusiasm that was somewhere between Bill and Hillary's new found love of Obama. Me, I'm disappointed. Say what you will about Riley -- like that he's an idiot, or stubborn, or really should retire already -- but he made such a stink out of the Beasley issue, you kind of had to respect him. It was like Brown's "right way," minus the nausea and Catholic school vibe. It was a matter of honor -- that of the players, and of Riley himself.

And then, presto, it was gone. I don't buy the smokescreen argument, since the only sneaky move the Heat could pull would've been to waste the high pick. If they were looking to trade it, this certainly didn't help its appeal. Let's just say that, while I take a perverse pleasure in seeing Larry Brown take an unformed French project, Riley's reversal just feels like a man's spin draining down the side of his leg.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.