Page 1 of 1
Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Tue Mar 4, 2014 11:42 pm
by crazyeights
For someone who was too young to remember Showtime, it's interesting to get a sense of how it all ended. I knew Riley was hard on the team, but the meltdown is pretty epic:
Coming off of the finals sweep at the hands of Detroit, and having lost center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to retirement, the Lakers were supposed to take a few more steps back toward the rest of the NBA pack.
Instead, the opposite occurred. For the first time in franchise history, Los Angeles went undefeated in eight exhibition games, then opened the regular season by winning ten of eleven. Everything was going swimmingly—centers Mychal Thompson and Vlade Divac were teaming to average more than 18 points and 12 rebounds per night, Magic Johnson and James Worthy were (as always) playing at All-Star levels and A.C. Green had continued his emergence as one of the league’s three or four best power forwards. The bench—led by Divac, Larry Drew and Michael Cooper—was its deepest in years. “We were unbelievable,” said Drew, Johnson’s backup. “From the day I arrived, I felt a focus and determination I’d never seen before. I’ll never forget when I first got there, and Magic educated me on each player—where they liked the ball, how to use them most effectively, who was the first option, who was the fourth. The whole team worked so hard in practice and off the court, when the games started, it was a breeze.”
But, for too many Lakers, it was no longer fun. Save for Divac’s quirky antics and scattered moments of levity, Johnson and Pat Riley, the veteran coach, were sapping the joy from the franchise. The star point guard would win his third MVP award in four seasons, but devoted too much time to berating and screaming. Having played so long for Riley, he was now becoming Riley. His practice comments no longer included soothing touches. If you messed up, Johnson rode you hard. With Abdul-Jabbar’s departure came a certain behavioral liberation. Johnson’s inner-dictator was emerging. This was not a good thing. “He was really pushing us in practice, telling us, ‘Hey, you got to do this better, you got to do that better,’” said Cooper, his closest friend on the team.
Gotta read the whole thing:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1967588-exclusive-book-excerpt-bitter-dark-days-of-pat-riley-and-the-showtime-lakers
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Wed Mar 5, 2014 12:19 am
by Kilroy
I generally take books like this that are written so far after the fact with a heavy dose of salt... Perceptions get skewed over time and a personal agenda can cloud the facts...
That said, I always thought Riles seemed a little coked out that season... It was a let-down year on a lot of levels because Vlade seemed like a homeless man's Kareem... I remember the heat he got and I felt deserved, at the time, but in retrospect, maybe he wasn't that bad... Just not Kareem.
But Riley noticeably wasn't the same "3-Peat" guy he had been previously... In some respects, it's natural for Magic to start exerting his will on the team at that stage of his career. But Riley seemed to burn out a little then.
He paints a totally different picture of his departure from the Lakers though... Saying he consulted with Dr Buss about other offers he'd received and Jerry saying he had to take the Knicks job... Glossing over the Commentator job... But he was clearly done in LA...
It's a shame though... You wonder what might have been if he'd stuck around... He'd probably have retired when Magic did, but West might have stuck around too...
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Wed Mar 5, 2014 11:29 am
by aaron_gray
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Wed Mar 5, 2014 10:09 pm
by crazyeights
Twitter has ruined the world. Can you imagine these sort of parties going on with Instagram and Twitter? I'm sure things like this are happening all over, but still...
Also, can you imagine someone like Kevin Ding live-tweeting the playoff game where Riley only ran plays for Magic/Worthy and forced them to shoot? That would have been an epic meltdown. Feel like it could not go unnoticed....
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Wed Mar 5, 2014 10:11 pm
by Slava
Magic Johnson's instagram would have outsold any pron site.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 12:21 am
by crazyeights
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 12:49 am
by Jakay
That was quite the read.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 1:03 am
by Kilroy
Slava wrote:Magic Johnson's instagram would have outsold any pron site.
Not going to lie... This **** me up for a while.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 1:29 am
by Jakay
He has this garlic butter he sautées them in. True, it's a bit odd to buy prawns online, but it's hard to argue with results.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 2:05 am
by Dr Aki
Slava wrote:Magic Johnson's instagram would have outsold any pron site.
*cough* wilt *cough*
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 2:54 am
by DEEP3CL
The book uncovers only a few things I didn't know, but most of that I clearly remember. The Lakers always made the general public believe that they just parted ways, truth is he was fired. The guys got tired of him and that death camp in Palm Springs was the last straw. Riley robbed the Lakers of a winnable title in 90.
A few years later when Riley was doing TV for NBC before taking the Knicks job he accidentally let out on air about being fired. He was talking about some coach winning COY, and when he mentioned it about him winning it he said...." last time I won COY I was fired". He won COY in 1990...
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 3:00 am
by DEEP3CL
So who's getting the book ?
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 3:00 am
by EArl
I wonder how long Riley is going to be in Miami for.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 3:04 am
by DEEP3CL
EArl wrote:I wonder how long Riley is going to be in Miami for.
He ain't going nowhere. Arison lets him run the show.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 4:52 am
by Jakay
Even in Miami there was all that talk about Riles wandering the sideline again once James signed on, in lieu of Spolstra, and that mostly involved talk of Riley's overbearing style. But it seems this is a well understood phenomena, and I'm sure Spolstra acts as a buffer zone there, as would any subsequent hirings.
Long story short, yeah no, he's not going anywhere right now, for sure.
I do wonder how much of his coaching got Shaq to regain his form (well, most of it) during that '06 run though.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 4:53 am
by Slava
Dr Aki wrote:Slava wrote:Magic Johnson's instagram would have outsold any pron site.
*cough* wilt *cough*
Wilt seems the lazy type to not share stuff on social media. Magic on the other hand ran a brazzers in his compound.
Re: Book Excerpt: The Demise of Pat Riley & Showtime
Posted: Thu Mar 6, 2014 4:35 pm
by Sedale Threatt
The only time I've ever seen Jerry Buss in person was at a Spurs game about 10 years ago. He was what, early 70s at that point. He was with a pack of about four or five kids, male and female, who couldn't have been any older than 20. They're all dressed out with hip-hop and club gear and he's got on his Member's Only jacket or whatever. Can only imagine what was going on in his hotel suite. Fairly repulsive.
At any rate, still going to buy this book even though I've already read so much. Pearlman's a very respected reporter/author who apparently talked to more than 300 people. Read an interview from him about how his favorites were Jeanie, Linda Rambis and Michael Cooper's ex. The latter gave him a great quote he didn't use, about Lakers' legendary philandering on the road: "That's one less blow job I have to give at home."
http://thebiglead.com/2014/03/02/jeff-p ... -swimsuit/
