Pat Riley is not done with the Miami Heat yet

In the opening monologue of his annual presser, the Heat president reiterated his drive

Ethan Skolnick

MIAMI -- Thirty-one years.

That's how long it has been since the Miami Heat snatched Pat Riley from the New York Knicks, at first as both team president and head coach -- and the Heat organization has reached the NBA Finals seven times and won three championships since, while the Knicks are at one and none.

Still, Riley has been under fire more of late than at previous times in his Heat tenure, now coming off a seventh Heat season that fell short of the postseason. And as he even noted Monday, in his annual end-of-season press conference that came a lot earlier than usual, it's been some time before the Heat have won 50 games.

So, with him now 81, his current and future roles in the organization have come under some scrutiny. Riley is aware of this and so, as he sometimes but not always does, he opened the press conference with more of a monologue. It lasted for longer than 10 minutes before he took questions for the next 50 minutes -- again, longer than his usual overall availability.

Pat Riley starts by saying he has no intent to retire or resign. "I have the same desire."

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Riley began by saying he wanted to "clear up" what he believes are "inaccurate portrayals." He said he had not spoken to long-time Heat managing partner Micky Arison since the Heat season ended with a loss to Charlotte in the play-in tournament, and that he had "one long conversation with (CEO) Nick (Arison) after the exit interviews."

But this, he said with a laugh, is what was not discussed:

"I'm not going to retire. I'm not going to resign. I'm not going to step aside."

Riley said one thing has not changed in 31 years.

The opening to the opening Pat Riley monologue pic.twitter.com/aAmf8R9fMG

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"I have the same attitude as I had in that press conference on the (Carnival) Imagination ," Riley said. "I want another parade down Biscayne Blvd. It may come, it may not, whatever. But that has always been my desire. I would appreciate from all of you, the respect of not going down that road, of talking about, just to clarify. It's not going to happen."

To be fair, there hasn't been a lot of speculation about that in the local media -- even as some on social media push for that. There's been more conversation about how loud his voice now is in the Heat front office, which is more of a committee of roughly seven people (four of whom Riley promoted to their current roles, plus the Arisons). But Riley did make it clear that he's never really had final say, and that he doesn't really want it -- acknowledging that others have always needed to stamp his decisions. And that he spends most of his time brainstorming with general manager Andy Elisburg, and then ultimately bringing their discussions and recommendations to ownership.

Riley says "when it comes down to the final decision," he had control a lot with Micky "when Micky was building a cruise line. There were times he said no."

"I don't have final say here, I never had it. I never had it when I came. And quite frankly, I don't think I want it."

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While Riley spoke throughout his press conference about being in better position to transform the roster than in the past few offseasons, with the Jimmy Butler era fully behind and being "flexibility flush" in terms of two draft picks and four contract exceptions at his disposal, he did acknowledge that he was "pissed" and "disappointed" and "disgruntled"..... "just like everybody else in the organization that understands what we're about, that we're about winning" that the Heat haven't been contending of late.

"It's been something that I'm not proud of, that we're not proud of," Riley said. "You're always trying to compete at the highest levels, whether you're doing it from a play-in standpoint, or to get the six seed, or the top three or four, the machinations and the feelings about how you go about things are the same. And we've always been a team that tries to win, and that competes to win."

He admitted there were three times in his tenure that they packed in seasons -- 2002-03 and 2007-08 come to mind -- but that won't be the customary approach with him around, and he spoke disdainfully of the entire concept of "tanking."

"That's not my philosophy," Riley said. "That's not ours. We're always going to try to compete, we're not going to apologize for it. If we're competing for the very last spot in the play-in, we will fight to our very last breath."

No, that won't change as long as he's with the Heat.

And he has no intention of setting an end point on that.