Pat Riley described LeBron James' decision to leave the Miami Heat to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014 as the biggest shock of his tenure.

Riley successfully signed James in 2010 and the team went to four straight Finals, winning two. Since James has left, the Cavaliers have reached the Finals in both seasons while Miami has rebuilt on the fly.

“Since I came here, we’ve had the same owner, same president, two coaches, same support staff,” Riley said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys working for us who played for us. Players come and go, great players. When LeBron left, that was the most shocking thing to me – not to say he was right or wrong – and the most shocking thing to the franchise. But our culture is the same. You have your up years and your down years, but what can’t change is the way you do things.”

Riley made strong comments in a press conference after the 2014 Finals before the start of free agency that James reportedly didn't care for.

"I think we need to have a perspective about things," Riley said to the media in 2014. "I think everybody needs to get a grip—media, Heat players, organization, all of our fans—we got to get a grip on greatness and on teams. I've been here for 45 years in the NBA, and I've witnessed dynasties, I've witnessed great teams. The '80s Lakers, five championships in 12 years. So what does that mean? Seven times they didn't win. In that run, they didn't win. You got to deal with it, you got to come back."