Pat Riley says he doesn’t know if he’ll be returning to coach the Heat next year. And since he’s always talking about how draining and gratifying it was, and it’s taking him so long to decide… I don’t think he’s coming back.

And that just puts Stan Van Gundy in a hell of a spot. How can they ask him to come back? “Oh, hey, Stan, what’s up. Yeah, it’s Pat. Listen, I just proved to the world that I’m at least ten times the coach you are, and Shaq has told anyone who would listen that I was the only coach who could’ve accomplished this. And if we do bring you back, we’re pretty much saying to our players and our fans that we are once again ready to accept mediocrity. So whaddaya say, big guy? You up for it?”

Tough spot here for Stanley. Imagine being a player for the Heat. A legendary coach just came out of retirement, and pushed the team to heights that it had only previously imagined. How excited would you be to go back to the last guy? I’m not saying Stan’s a bad coach… on the contrary, I think he’s a good coach. But the fact of the matter is that the Heat played basketball differently for Pat Riley than they did for Stan Van Gundy.

I’m not blaming Pat Riley for anything he did, either. He did what he had to do, and recent events prove that he did, in fact, have to do it. Riley was right to axe him and take over the team when he did. But at the same time… Stanley’s kinda screwed here. Not only is his dream job ripped away from him, and he’s in a position where he can’t say a damn word about it, but… now it’s been absolutely proven that the guy who took is job is a much better coach, and a return would be, at the very least, awkward as hell.