[Amick] Jimmy Butler told those close to him that Pat Riley referenced his recently deceased father several times during the meeting, offered “unsolicited and unwanted” parenting advice and even shed tears before ending the meeting by telling Butler he loved him.
According to multiple league sources with knowledge of the meeting, tears welled in Riley’s eyes as he attempted to connect with Butler on a human level. Both men had lost their fathers, and Riley’s famed toughness faded in the moment as he thought about Butler mourning his father’s death last season.
But Riley’s vulnerability did not land with Butler.
From Butler’s vantage point, Riley was “unhinged and disturbing,” as a league source close to him described it.