Report: Heat Coach Riley to Take a Break

Paging Stan Van Gundy...

Miami Heat coach Pat Riley will take a leave of absence, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday, citing unnamed league sources.

Whoa, hold on a sec. Why don't we just start randomly naming these "unnamed league sources"? Wouldn't that be so much more fun?

Miami Heat coach Pat Riley will take a leave of absence, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday, citing Trix Cantor and DJ Huang, two brilliantly named league sources.

Ah, much better.

According to the newspaper, Riley informed the team of the decision on Wednesday morning and an interim replacement was not immediately named.

The Heat are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday before embarking on a six-game Western road trip.

The Heat, who have been without center Shaquille O'Neal, are off to a 13-17 start and currently out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

No word yet on whether Riley plans to use the time off to pursue more of this:



Stay tuned.

Update: Ira Winderman reports the leave of absence is health related and "open-ended":

A team spokesman confirmed Wednesday that Riley would hand over the team to assistant coach Ron Rothstein because of health issues.

The spokesman said the departure is open-ended, with Riley recently suffering from knee pain, in addition to ongoing hip problems.

The Heat has scheduled a 3:30 news conference at AmericanAirlines Arena.

[Report via ESPN, fist pound to TrueHoop]