Around the NBA: Filling Riley's shoes is no easy task.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Israel Gutierrez

MIAMI _ Kevin O'Neill is starting his NBA head-coaching career this season with the Raptors, but he has been studying the craft for several years as an assistant. What he has learned is why former Heat coach Pat Riley was as successful as he was for 21 years.

``For me, as a young coach looking at coach Riley, he's one of the best coaches ever in team sports,'' O'Neill said. ``His attention to detail is amazing. He's meticulous in preparation. He has done an awful lot of good for a long time. The reason people are playing defense the way they are in this league right now is because of him.''

O'Neill also has high praise for Riley's replacement, Stan Van Gundy, but O'Neill also acknowledges the difficulties that will come with his transition. Van Gundy's brother, Jeff, first hired O'Neill, a former Northwestern coach, to be an NBA assistant with the Knicks.

``The challenge first of all is to go from being an assistant, which is a different role, to being a head coach in the same organization,'' he said. ``The second thing is, you can't ever match the respect that coach Riley got. No matter who goes in there, you're not going to get the same kind of respect from anybody. You have to earn your way a little bit more than normally you would have to.''

ODD COUPLE

The pairing of 70-year-old Hubie Brown and erratic point guard Jason Williams was supposed to be doomed from the start in Memphis.