Before things really came to a head with Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, team president Pat Riley sat down for a lengthy interview with Dan Le Batard. The episode, released on Thursday, includes Riley's answer to what he's learned and how things are different in the player empowerment era. Again, just to stress, these comments were given before Butler went public with his discontent and was suspended by the team and everyone involved felt this much pressure to find a way forward.
"I understand this generation of players and how they want to go about living their life," Riley said. "It's different in the music they listen to and how they brand themselves and what they wear and how they dress. It might be a little bit more flamboyant than what I want but that's who they are and I respect that."
