Two years ago, it wasn't even necessary. The intoxicating quench of championship champagne and the planning of a prideful parade sort of clogged their postseason schedules.

Heat president and coach Pat Riley and owner Micky Arison simply skipped their annual end-of-season meeting with one another in the days after the team's 2006 NBA title run.

Of course, those were the best of times for the 20-year-old franchise. Two years later, these are the worst.

''The championship year, we didn't even meet,'' Riley recalled after the Heat ended its most disappointing season last week by tying the franchise's worst record (15-67). ``But just the magnitude of this year -- what happened this year, how we want to plan financially, the kind of players we want bring in, the whole thing -- I think it needs to be discussed.''

And, there's also that little matter regarding Riley's coaching future.

It's against that backdrop of issues that Riley and Arison will meet this week, possibly as early as Tuesday, to discuss the direction of a team looking to regroup from a season that began ugly and only deteriorated. In recent weeks, Riley, who said he was spending last weekend evaluating his options, has sounded as though he were leaning toward stepping down as coach after 25 seasons that have included five NBA titles and 1,210 victories, third-most in history.

But after the Heat's season-ending victory against Atlanta last Wednesday, Riley talked about being re-energized by the challenge of leading Miami through an offseason makeover. Miami, with the NBA's worst record, has a 46.5 percent chance to land one of the top two picks in the May 20 draft lottery.

The team also must make decisions on as many as 12 of the 17 players who finished the season on the roster, including pending free agents Ricky Davis, Jason Williams, Dorell Wright and Chris Quinn. Riley has said any retooling would have to complement a nucleus of Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem and Shawn Marion, who can opt out of $17.2 million he's due next season but wants a long-term extension.

Riley's fingerprints are expected to be all over the offseason makeover. Whether his voice will continue to be heard from the bench is another matter.

''I don't really have a sense, neither,'' Wade said after his exit meeting with Riley last week. ``Every year, he's made up his mind when he's felt like making it up. But he's made a commitment. One thing we know for sure: He'll be the president.''

Arison has maintained that Riley will have the leeway to decide his role, though Riley has repeatedly admitted to making several personnel mistakes as president and bad decisions as coach during the worst season of his coaching career.

They started with failed moves last summer, when the Heat signed free agents Smush Parker and Penny Hardaway.

Parker was removed from the team after a November incident with a valet attendant and later released. Hardaway was cut in early January.

Riley and Shaquille O'Neal frequently clashed until the center was traded in February for Marion. Riley recently said there's been a roster-wide problem with bad attitudes. Players also haven't played with consistent effort. And that was before season-ending injuries claimed Wade (knee), Wright (knee), Haslem (ankle) and Marion (back).

The Heat also has compiled about $12 million in luxury-tax penalties for the past two seasons -- with only a 59-105 record to show for its excessive spending on player salaries.

''They had absolutely nothing go right -- I mean nothing,'' said former long-time assistant and Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, now coach of the Orlando Magic. ``And then, everybody is hurt at the end of the year. It's just a very difficult year.''

And that all might make it a very difficult decision for Riley, , who seems to be holding himself to the same accountability standards he has demanded of his players this season.

''The conversation with [Arison] is going to be very important for a lot of reasons,'' Riley said. ``I really want to do what's in the best interest of the Heat. It's sort of hard to judge -- not hard for me, because I'm hard on myself -- but this has been just a disastrous, awful year. We're bringing ourselves out of the abyss.''

 

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