$15 Million Deal Not Enough To Keep Riley With Knicks

To Pat Riley, it wasn’t the money. It was power.

When the New York Knicks balked at his bid for greater authority, the coach resigned Thursday, walking away with a year left on his contract and turning down a fiveyear, $15 million extension.

Knicks president Dave Checketts said Riley - the league’s highest paid coach and one of the NBA’s most prominent figures - sought part ownership of the club.

“I emphasize that the decision to leave the Knicks had absolutely nothing to do with money,” Riley said in a statement released through his public relations firm. “The financial package which we had been discussing was extremely generous. Regrettably, there were serious differences and questions about authority and final decision-making.

“I do not believe that any team can realize its potential when its head coach, the person most intimately involved with the players, cannot make final, critical decisions on matters bearing directly and intensely on the team, its performance and its future.”

Those decisions are made by Checketts and general manager Ernie Grunfeld, and Checketts was surprised at Riley’s characterization of their split.

“He made it sound like there had been all kinds of control issues,” Checketts said at a news conference. “Ernie and myself gave him complete control and autonomy over the basketball operation. He wanted ownership autonomy, a number of things we couldn’t give him… . I’m not going to beg anybody to coach this team.”

When Checketts became head of Madison Square Garden earlier this year, Grunfeld took over the front office.

With Riley’s five-year contract expiring next year, the Knicks offered the extension in midseason. It had been on Riley’s desk, unsigned, since. Last month, Checketts said he would press the coach for a decision.

He gave him one Thursday, by fax.

“For the last two years, I had consistently and repeatedly expressed to Knick management my desire and need to be charged with ultimate responsibility for all significant aspects of the ballclub,” Riley said. “During this time, I had tried my best to reach an agreement with management on these issues. Unhappily, the gap between us could not be bridged.”

Checketts said Riley had significant influence in every phase of the team’s operation and veto power over every player transaction.

“It’s unfair to portray this as some sort of power struggle,” he said. “I’m not going to apologize for having someone run the organization, and I chose to do that.”

Madison Square Garden, which owns the Knicks and New York Rangers, was bought by ITT Corp. and Cablevision Systems Inc. just over three months ago.

Checketts said he learned from Riley’s representatives on June 6 that he wanted to quit and that decision was reiterated in a meeting with Riley three days later. He said a search for a new coach has already begun.

Candidates might include Chuck Daly, Don Nelson and Tom Penders. Penders, the University of Texas coach and a New Yorker, nearly got the Knicks job the last time there was an opening.

Apart from the Knicks, the only other NBA coaching vacancies are with the Miami Heat and the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies. If Riley were to attempt to coach next season in the NBA, the Knicks might make a legal challenge.