At the very moment that Shaquille O'Neal was traded to Miami, a lot of people started thinking the same thing:  How long would Pat Riley stay away from coaching the Heat again, now that the league's most dominant big man patrols the middle?

So for Stan Van Gundy, the Heat's successful first-year coach last season, the clock begins ticking, because it may not be long before Pat Riley is back on the sidelines again.

Van Gundy accomplished a lot last season, going from 0-7 to 42-40 and his team's first playoff berth in three years.  But until last year, Van Gundy was a career NBA assistant.

Remember, Riley even attempted to see if he could coach Shaq as Laker.

"I do think that (the opportunity to coach Shaq) was what sort of led me to my little sojourn to Los Angeles," Riley says of his June meeting with Lakers' management.

"The day I knew that we were going to get Shaquille O'Neal is the day that I said to myself, 'Now I'm really glad that I can sit in this chair and observe and really enjoy watching,' " he says. "Would I have loved to coach Shaquille sometime when I was coaching? It would have been a blessing."

Riley insists he wants to remain in the front office.  But that might change.  

"Now I get to be president of a team, with Shaquille here, allowing a young coach to develop with him, just like I did with Kareem," he says. "I think he's going to help Stan tremendously."

"Pat has never said anything about that to me," Van Gundy says, "and I've never brought it up to him."