Riley has no time for idle Twitter
MIAMI — Pat Riley is on Twitter, but he does not have a burner account.
Just a few weeks after Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo resigned when it was learned his wife used fake Twitter accounts to discuss team business and criticize players, the Heat’s president was asked if he has his own Twitter burner account.
“I still have this kind of phone that flips,” Riley said following Thursday’s NBA draft. “Is that what a burner phone looks like? I don’t have any. I’ve tweeted one time. I do have a Twitter account. Only because I need to follow a lot of people like you, which is very interesting. I actually get alerts on all you guys. But I never tweeted out anything except one picture. My boss and his wife and myself and my wife and three championship trophies. I think it’s out there. I think I put it down as soon as I put it up.”
Using an anonymous Twitter account to monitor NBA news is not unusual for league executives. Other members of the Heat’s staff own similar accounts, with little to no tweets posted but active nonetheless as an observer.
Heat owner Micky Arison is an active tweeter, though. His account has included over 14,000 tweets and has attracted upwards of 222,000 followers since joining Twitter in August 2011.
Arison was even fined $500,000 by the NBA in 2011 during the lockout for responding to a fan who wrote: “How’s it feel to be a part of ruining the best game in the world?” Arison replied: “You are barking at the wrong owner.”
But Riley is fine with just watching and not tweeting.
“Micky is a pro,” Riley said. “But no, I don’t have that stuff, get into those kinds of conversations. I really don’t know how people do it. I understand how you (reporters) have to do it. But I don’t understand how the average person who wants to live a normal life gets into arguments with people they don’t know. You need to do that. I don’t need to do that.”
Preseason schedule announced: The Miami Heat will open the preseason at San Antonio on Sept. 30 and play three consecutive road games before returning to Miami for three games in five nights.
The six-game schedule includes games in San Antonio, Charlotte and Washington before coach Erik Spoelstra’s team returns home for games against Orlando, New Orleans and Atlanta.
Game tickets for the three games at AmericanAirlines Arena will go on sale at noon Tuesday. Tickets can be purchased by logging on to heat. com or Ticketmaster.com. They are also available at the ticket center at AmericanAirlines Arena.
The complete broadcast schedule for the preseason will be released at a later date.
The Heat will begin training camp in late September at a site yet to be determined.
The Heat’s complete 201819 preseason schedule:
■ Sept. 30 at San Antonio, 5 p.m.
■ Oct. 2 at Charlotte, 7 p.m.
■ Oct. 5 at Washington, 7 p.m.
■ Oct. 8 vs Orlando, AmericanAirlines Arena, 7:30 p.m.
■ Oct. 10 vs. New Orleans, AmericanAirlines Arena, 7:30 p.m.
■ Oct. 12 vs. Atlanta, AmericanAirlines Arena, 8 p.m.