A: The Heat's hiring of Battier in an analytics role is more likely the first step toward a ruling post-Riley front-office troika of Shane Battier, Andy Elisburg and Nick Arison. It would provide the Heat with the player insight of Battier, the business-of-basketball acumen of Elisburg and the financial direction of Nick Arison. Based on the Shane's approach to the game, he would appear far more interested in sweating out the analytics than working up a sweat on the practice court like a Juwan Howard or Chris Quinn. The relationship Battier has had with the Arison family dates to his Duke ties, and it almost seemed inevitable that whenever the Riley influence would step back, the Duke influence would increase, albeit not with Mike Krzyzewski, as some initially postulated. And yet, for those who see this as the beginning of an end game with Riley, I'm not so sure that he would ever want to fully step away from the game. But I could see Pat moving into more of a Jerry West-type role, there to recruit when needed, but not having to deal with the day-to-day drudgery of the front office. And he's earned that, too.