January 24, 2024 • 44 mins
In Part 2 of Episode 2 of "The Why with Dwyane Wade," Dwyane sits down with fellow Heat legend and Hall of Famer Pat Riley. They discuss the difficult decision to trade for Shaq, the incredible run to the 2006 title and how Riley created Heat Culture in Miami.
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome back to the Why with Dwayne Wade.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is part two of my conversation with the legend
Pat Browley. Coming up, We're going to talk about some
of the things I would do in games to make
him mad, and also too, we're going to talk about
the decision to trade for the big Fella Shack which
sent my good friend Lamar Oldham and Caron Butler to
La but broad Shack that came with the championship. Later,
(00:40):
we're also going to discuss how he coached was built
from scratch.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We'll get into all that we come back, you're my coach,
and then staying with my coach, then you're my coach.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But the message was the same, yeah, right, nothing changed
from the standpoint of the message. And the message was
that we were going to work our asses off right
and we were going to do it, and we were
going to build this unity, this family, you know, this
brotherhood together and we're going to win, to get a
loose together, and so to be able to come in
and three years later to be in the NBA Finals
(01:21):
with one.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Of the greatest players I ever played in shock.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I know for me and because I knew about being
a fan of the game that those moments don't come often, right,
and so I knew I had a moment and I
wanted to seize it. Where were you at at that
point in your profession where you have already won but
you didn't win. As we talked about it was eighty
eight was the last time that you had won, and
now you're back in the seat again. Where were you
(01:45):
at in that moment of two thousand and six when
we entered the NBA finals Because we weren't the best
team all year? So where were you at and understanding like, Okay,
I may not have the best team, but what did
you knew you had to be able to win that championship?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, if you get there, you know, if you get
there with you and with Shack, I got a shot.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
If we get there, we got If we.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Get there, we got it. We got a shot. And
and we did have a checkered regular season. I remember
a game you know that year, and you know, GP
was the best. He was my favorite that year, Gary
Payton senior, And so we got our ass whipped one
night in Dallas during the regular season was really bad,
(02:27):
remember about forty about forty and so you know, I
wasn't too happy after the game, and so you know,
the locker room was quiet. I know where you were
sitting in the corner of shack, was like everybody was quiet.
I'm just walking back and forth for like four or
five minutes, just just walking, didn't say a word, just walking.
And then Gary, Gary shouts out. He said, okay, coach,
(02:53):
what we all do? What are we going to do?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Okay? I said, and I yelled back at him, Okay,
what do you think we should do? Gary?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
What do you what do you think we should do?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
You know? And then I got off.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I went off. I started talking about you know, I
think you need to have an attitude adjustment. You Gary
Peyton Senior, who's never won a titles. I went off
like that, I think go off on everybody. But I said,
if you will follow me, I said, Gary, if you
will follow me, I can get you there. That's all
I can do if you'll follow me. But if you won't,
(03:26):
then then we're not going to have a chance.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So the players somewhere have to believe that that a
head coach can get him there. He can't win it
for him, he might be able to get him there.
It's like if I if I diagram or play for you,
you know, to win a game. My job is to
get the ball to you. I can't create the shot. Now,
(03:49):
if I can create a play off of an out
of bounds play, they get you a wide open shot.
Well that's that's something that maybe I scouted. The important
thing is to get it to you. And I remember
the pass. I remember the pass at half court in
game three? Was it game three when we came back
and we it is the last shot where you had
(04:10):
to dribble through everybody? Oh yes, yes, yes, it was
half caught. It was imbounded in the air and you
saw it. You were going to go in to the
back court for violation.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, I was in the front court, right, I jumped
in the back court.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
You had to.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I had to jump in the back court because I
was yeah, because if I would have called it in
the front court first, and so I need to give
myself some space. But I had to catch. I had
to jump back because I couldn't have both fee here.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And then you took off the two five guys that
wasn't me, that was not met went through there through
the legs to the right. There's three guys coming at you.
Somehow you got it to the rim and then the whiskey,
you know, followed you on the player and they followed you.
There's no doubt, there's no doubt. But you know that
whole thing about giving players, you know, that opportunity. I
(04:58):
don't even know where I went. We're off into another
tangent here. So what was the question you asked me?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well, just well just about yeah in two thousand and six,
like what did you see like to help us get there?
And you said, it's really just making sure like it's
kind of like putting you in a position follow me
and get me here. Then from there, Yeah, y'all got
to do what y'all do.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Y'all I thought against Detroit in game six here at
the at the Arena when we won the Eastern Conference
finals the year before, we lost the seventh game because
you were hurt, you know, with the rib. And then
and then that next year, you know, when we blitzed Detroit,
I mean, Jay Will was ten.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Out of eleven. We just had a great game. Then
we smashed them.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I mean it was it was a wonderful celebration here.
But that might have that also might have softened us
a little bit you know, and so we went to Dallas.
We got we got wiped the first two games, did
not play well at all, and we're down thirteen in
the third quarter. But but I always feel like, you know,
you know, tell us feel the over. I mean, we're
(05:59):
pretty much in dires traits, and then you took over
and got us that first win. And then I always,
I always say that you got us the first win,
and then Dallas helped us in the second and third wins.
We went sequestered everybody.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Up in for.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I remember hotels and so there's drama and everything. And
so but if you get to the finals, I think players,
you know, will understand that, like you saying, you can't
let this opportunity get away because you'll never get it again.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I think star players got to win you two games.
I think your coach got to win you one, and
I think your real players got to win you one.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That's how you get to your four, right, Like, and
so in my mind, I was like, I gotta win.
I gotta win us two games, right if we're gonna
win this championship.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You did those games three and four. Yeah, I went
off a game, oh yeah, and I went off a
game four.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I know, and it was just it's just an incredible thing,
as you say. And then in game six you needed help. Okay,
they're coming after you. And I mean four of the
biggest baskets in the fourth quarter, I mean, Posey hit
the corner. Three you D hit a baseline jumper. U
D hit an elbow jumper. U D got the offensive rebound.
(07:17):
And then and then we get caught with about five
seconds ago in the court on the clock and James
Posey's in the right corner, left corner, and I said, no,
you're being denied by three guys. And James drives to
the middle and hits a little runner. You know, Shack
got a dunk in that hole run. So besides you
(07:39):
missing the two free throws at the end of the game,
they could have solidified it.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
See, put a little drama in the game.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I can't believe to this day, I cannot believe I
missed both of those three throws.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I was so confident going in the line.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I screwed you up because we had a little quick
conversation before.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
But here's what you did. You see, you you created
almost what is a sacrilege at that moment when you're
on the brink of winning a world title, of thinking
this is one because we had a time out. He
called timeout, and so we had a time out. I
know you're going to get two. We're ahead three.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
He's just got to just hit like six in a row.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And so he stands up before he breaks the huddle
and he puts his arm around my shoulder like this
is over, and I said make the and then he
missed both and then Gary Payton picked up full court
and he followed the ship out of Jason Terry grabbed
(08:41):
his jersey and.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
We ended up winning the title.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
The greatest image, though, the greatest image is when when
I saw it, miss I knew we're winning again. When
I saw it missing, go way up and you get
the rebound and then you threw it in the air
and then that was it. It's that moment, that moment. Think
about it, Duane. That moment is the most UFOKD moment
(09:05):
in sports. It's the moment when you know you just
want a title. Now you're hugging your kiss, everything is great,
and celebrate. Everybody loves everybody. So it was our first
great moment, really great moment of celebrating absolute recognition.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know if it's the same for you,
but knowing your story, I remember you guys lost them
with eighty four and then you came back and won
in eighty five. Yep, and that was probably probably one
of your favorite championships, right, And so to lose and
five like we did, come back and winning six the
way we did, to me, that's my that's my eighty
(09:43):
five moment at all the things that I accomplished. That
if that felt the best because of the year before,
losing a game seven of these commerce finals.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Definitely, you know, those kinds of experiences because you learn
from you know a lot from those experiences. We didn't
have the hate I hate to use that word for
Detroit that the Lakers had for the Celtics, and so
that whole rivalry was different.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
We would have.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Probably developed that kind of relationship with Detroit if you
played them five or six times, you know, so especially
in the playoffs Detroit or Dona, Detroit, Detroit like the
Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So we didn't have that.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
So we lost to them the year before you got hurt,
and then we won it, but we didn't. It wasn't
one on because we hated them. We just beat them,
you know, we beat them really good.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
We were better.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And you know, for a player to be able to
I think rise, you know, rise above it, which is
what you did.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And in certain role players, you.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Know, I can remember I mentioned Jay will in that game,
but also and I mentioned Posey and you Donna's and
in Shack. They weren't role players, but there were significant
players that had no fear at the end of the game.
They didn't have any fear. And to close it, and
it's hard to close the game. It's hard to championship
came out close one.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
How do you how do you continue to muster it up? Right? Okay,
you got that championship in O six. You've done it.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You're at the mountain top. Now you want to do
it again and again and again.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
But you have the years in between when you lose,
you lose, you lose.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
How do you keep redefining yourself and keep wont team
to be on that stage again?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Like, what is it in you that that breeds that well?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
You know, I think the point that I was trying
to make in the last segment era of the last
comment was see this two thousand and six championship ring,
that one right there, Okay, that championship ring, you know
with the bezel in the back, and I mean with
the trophy that was the eighty five exactly the eighty
(11:47):
five version, but very small. So when we won in
two thousand and six, that's what I showed Mickey, and
I said, that's what we should keep it simple and elegant,
not too big. But it reminded me of eighty five,
you know, going back and how we had to come
back from what they called the Memorial Day massacre. And
so even though it's symbolic, I mean, you go all
(12:09):
the way back and remember, you know what you're talking
about that you know eighty four, you know, was an
absolute choke on our part. I hate to use that word.
The Lakers and myself, the lose when we probably could
have solidified, they went a little bit like in two
thousand and ten eleven, we might have we should have
(12:30):
won Game two. But that's over with and you learn
from that, Yeah, you know, you really do.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Har losses horror lessons right there.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And then in eighty five reminds me of what your
breakthrough was was when James Worthy. See in eighty five,
besides Kareem being the MVP of the series. James Worthy
arrived as a young player in eighty five because he
had a tough eighty four series. But in eighty five
you just dominated. And so somewhere another player will actually
(12:58):
rise to the occasion. When you got Cream and when
you got you know, Worthy and Magic and Cooper and
Scott and all of these these great players, one of
those guys will rise to the occasion in three or
four games, you know, and ended up ended up helping
you really win a championship. So and uh so that
(13:18):
was your year, yeah in two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, how do you? How do you muster it up?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Like you've been in I mean you've you your first
coaching was in eighty one. I was one eighty two,
So that's been forty two years for you, fifty five
and Solus from sixty seven, right, so sixty how do
you fifty five years in this pat Like, how do
you keep it? How you keep going to want to
be the best.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
It's not about that anymore. But for me, it's not
about being the best anymore. It's not about and we
talk about legacy. Everybody else can can talk about those things,
and people have asked me to retire and move on.
And so there's the one thing that that that I
still love about the game is I love the competition.
(14:04):
So I love the competition. I'm not a big fan
of today's game.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I'm not, but I have to.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Adapt like everybody else does, to the contemporary game and
the contemporary player, which I have done. The people that
have been working with me here for twenty eight years,
you know, I respect so much that they can. They're
now doing whatever they're doing at a very high level.
And when I leave, they can just move and keep
(14:34):
the ship going unless they want to change it. So
I do it because I can't see myself doing anything else.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
You know, I can't retire. I hate golf. I'm about
as good as you are. I don't like golf. I'm
not gonna know.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I don't do tennis, I don't do pickleball. I play
pool very good. I play Texas hold them really good. Okay,
I can play back game and then chess really good.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
They're not going to give you, and I'll give you
what that arena give you them.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You know, I used to love I couldn't get into
the games. But all the games that you guys had
up in the front playing those poker games.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I want oh, I wanted in really. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I used to go up there and I used to
see all this money in the middle of the table.
And it happened in New York too, because you have
a bunch of gamblers there. The guys, I mean, they're
like thousands of dollars in the pots and stuff like that.
And I used to go up and say, okay, let's
shut this down here a little bit, and they look
at me like what I said, because one of you
you're going to get hurt And they say, what do
you mean hurt? No, one of you are going to
(15:42):
lose one hundred grand one night, and you're going to
be hurt by. I don't care who it is, right.
We had one player do that and he was like
depressed for like I said, I want all of you
to give the money back to that guy so we
can get him back playing again. So but anyhow, that
doesn't keep me in the game. But that's why I
don't have any other real hobbies out there. Chris and
(16:04):
I are you know, solid, kids are growing, They're in Colorado,
have places to go.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I still live in Malibu and I love the game.
That's it.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
So tell Mickey says, you know, if I keep forgetting
all the time, he's okay, you know, let's but I
just love the game. I love these guys. I love
second guess and everything every day, you know, and I
tell USPO, I second guess you all the time.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
You know, I just do. It's a coach, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
So I was talking to him yesterday about what I
call the DMZ zone. Now, the DMZ in this game. Okay,
that's the the the military's eyes zone. Okay, in d
m Z zone, it's like in the military, you can't
go over it or back one of them. It's a
it's a d m Z line. They have it in
South Korea North Creek. It's called the d m Z
(16:53):
line up there. They don't let anybody go across either way.
And so and so from the free throw line to
the other free throw lined is the DMC zone.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
You know it very well. He knows his line very well.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Because what is the one thing that you used to
do to piss me off all the time?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You didn't what run back?
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, but I took into account that that used to
drive to the basket, you know. Twenty times a game
and get knocked down by teams. Yeah, and so he's
always hitting the floor, and of course they'd run out
and then he'd be getting up. Sometimes he'd be upset
at the official and yelling at the official. But they're
(17:33):
scoring at the other end. And so that DMZ zone
between free throw line and free throw ligned today is
the most important part of building your defense because you've
got a transition. You take a look at Indiana. If
you're not getting back against Indiana, for instance, they're scoring.
I mean, it's unbelievable the pace that they're playing at.
(17:54):
So it's really hard to go from offense. And especially
for Jimmy Butler is the same way today because he
hits the floor all the time. Is to get up
and get back. And if if, if you can't get
up and really get back, then there has to be
two guys that are saving that's holding the fort, that's
saving it until you can get the last guy coming back.
(18:16):
So and then when he didn't get across half court,
I used to call it a dog trot. I said,
you know, Dwayne, you're a dog trotting.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Last night he didn't like that one.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And but you have you have if we can conquer
that this year as a team the DMZ and get
back for real and turn and defend, you could save
sixteen seventeen points a game.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
How do you do that?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Building trust to it's effort. It's transitioning for your guys
right for the guys to hold hold it down. It's
a trust that built.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
We used to call it back on the rays. Okay,
back on the rays. So every time somebody raised on
a jumper, okay wherever the jumper came from on the rails,
people were heading back, except for maybe one offensive rebound
like Zoe or Shock go to the offensive boards. And
so you got to get two guys back and then
the third guys got to get back. And it has
(19:11):
to be for real, and it's got to be something
that is defensive, not defensive defensive because when you're back pedaling,
you got the ball coming at you, so it's.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Hard to guard that.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And if you don't have enough guys back, then then
guys are gonna get shots that will, they're going to
get layups, so they're going to get threes. And that's
today's game, and the fact that every team in the
league has trained for the early transition layups or the
early transition libs or the early transition threes. You got
to get back otherwise you're going to get beat by
(19:43):
teams that run. You look at what happened last night
and and they just all ran, and they had one
hundred and thirty five points in the game. And I'm
talking about Indiana over Milwaukee in the nd season tournament.
So conditioning is the biggest part of that. One of
(20:08):
the problems that I had as a coach, and I
didn't change it enough, is I I had too many
hard practices. I did whoa wow, But I had too
many hard practice.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Somewhere rolling over and his gray somewhere all these players
was like what.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah, But I didn't realize it until later on.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
You know, but that but everybody practiced hard at the time.
But but I had too many hard practices. And then
I started to change it. In matter of fact, my
shot came and instead of pounding the court the day
after a game, what we do right, And we had
the heart monitors on and they were all attached to
(20:53):
one big screen and we had number three up here.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
We read a practice. So I didn't want like pound,
but this was okay.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But I wanted to get the heart rate up, and
so and Bill was out there and Bill would would
monitor everything. And so we do forty five minutes of
a real interval training to get your cardiovascular up. And
so that's what I see today, guys who aren't in shape,
but their bodies are two thirty and five percent body fat.
(21:24):
Their cardio is not there because they're not doing enough running.
They're not doing enough cardio at home, they're not and
we don't do it here. And so that was my
way of softening the practices. But you guys would rather
run up and down run down?
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean, I think we all know.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
It's it's a conversation out there about the culture, and
everyone wants to know, like what's the secret sauce?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Right, Everyone's like, even with me, they're like, what's the sauce?
What's the sauce? How?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I mean, we talked about a little bit going back
to why and how you got on the basketball floor,
and so I understand a little bit more of how
the culture where was built that, But how do you
feel about something as simple as the culture that you
brought in being someone that's trying to get duplicated A
year at the year out the year from all these
different relations, it's.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
A continuity of it.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
And you know, I mean there's so much written about
culture today and a lot of it in reference to
the heat that a lot of people want to throw up.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
They're tired of hearing about it.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah, and that like it's almost like, are they the
only ones that have a culture?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
No, everybody has a culture.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
And the culture is simply a shared vision and of
what it is you want to do to get to
where it is you want to go, and so as
a shared vision of what you.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Have to do to get there.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And so it's up to the coach to create the philosophy.
It's not just the acronyms of hardest working, best condition
and most professional, unselfish, toughest, nastiest, meanest dislike team in
the league, whatever, you know, whatever that moniker is. You
can take each one of those acronyms and you can
(23:12):
talk about that for thirty minutes. Hard work, conditioning and
what it takes and all that stuff. And so once
you set the tone about what your philosophy is going
to be, and you have to then paint the picture.
And it's like an image, you know, you paint the
picture of what it's going to look like because we
(23:33):
do these things, this is what it's going to look like.
And then you start showing pictures of championship parades and
you know, confetti coming down and baseball hats, you know,
with them in caps, you know, with championships now, and
you start showing them that's what we want and this
is how it's going to look. And then you have
(23:55):
to sear that image into a team in a player's mind,
and every day, you have to talk about it every
day so they see it, they believe it, they'll do
the things that it's going to take.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
To get there. But you got to hold them accountable.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
No, yeah, but that determines their behavior and it fuels
their their motivation and it inspires them. But yeah, you
still have to motivate them and you have to push
them every day towards that image. You know, some guys say,
you know, I'm enough already. Okay, that's like six months
down the road. You know, let's not even talk about championships.
And so I was opposite of that. I was always
trying to paint that picture of what it looked like,
(24:34):
you know, and things. So a culture is important it's
one that becomes more organic. Guys gravitate the message, Guys
buy into it, and guys start to talk to each
other about it. And guess who holds the Guess who
holds those accountable? We hold each other account the locker
(24:54):
room holds each other accountable. And when there's one bad
one in the locker room, or two or three bad
ones and I don't say this, or naysayers that don't
want to buy it, then you got to get their
head straight or you got to come into my office.
So you got to trade that.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Guy because he's not helping.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
And so I've always sort of depended on the players
to sort of manage, to manage that that kind of
culture magic did it? You know, uh as Patrick in
New York, you know in the beginning, so and Tim,
Tim believed in it, even though he didn't like it.
You know, you became the culture carrier. And we always
forget about you know, U d that year that you
(25:35):
got drafted, we ended up getting Probably if you were
to redraft that year, he'd probably be a lot of repick,
you know, ud as good as he was, you know,
So you.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Got to have those kind of men, Dwayne. Otherwise it
doesn't work. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I tell people all the time on the outside when
they ask me, I always say, you know all these things,
but I say, if if no one is holding you
accountable to these things, then it doesn't even matter, right,
Like best condition Okay, who's holding me accountable to be
best conditioning? Because a lot of people are saying things
but there's no follow through with it, or it's they're
allowing for mistakes to continue to happen. It's like there's
(26:08):
no accountability to make sure that that players ran perfect
five five won't.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Want whatever it is right.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
And so it's that accountability that allows your culture to
stand up strong.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
And knowing that there's no such thing as perfection, right,
that there's always going to be mistakes, and that you
learn to deal with them and overcome them, develop the
intelligence not to continue to make the same mistakes, but
you will again and again and again, and and you
know from that standpoint, so you know, the players hold
(26:40):
each other accountable. The head coach simply has to devise
a system and a plan whereby he can do these
things where he can, you know, set up practices that
will you know, if I believe in closing out with
the inside foot up, to make sure we're pushing everybody baseline.
(27:01):
Then that's what we're teaching on our closeout drills. You know,
we're running out left foot, inside up, We're going to
force some baseline, We're gonna slide, We're gonna try to
take them to all of these things that we used
to do. If you remember three line rush, we would
start with you know, oh I remember, and then we'd
go right to you know, advance retreat, defensive drills. Then
(27:22):
let's do six, we come back, we do a driving line,
let's do nine, let me come back and do and
so thirty five or forty five minutes running and defensive
work period. That started our practices, and then we'd get
into running five on oho offense or whatever it was
at the time. So I have to devise the plan.
(27:45):
The players have to say this is good. I remember
Eddie Jones said to me one time. We used to
call it the five series, and we used to run
a lot of stuff for Eddie different than you, but
a lot of the stuff too, we put in. So
I remember in training camp Eddie Jones, you know, we're
(28:05):
running all his place one day and he's, oh, man,
this is good. Stuff, coach, I'm all love this stuff,
you know. And and then of course he came and
took it all away from him.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But uh, we ran it for both of you.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And so I had you on one side, he was
on the other side. You had a good team that year.
That stands first year was a really good I love
to actually really loved that that team could have developed.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, you ain't let it develop.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
When Shaq came on the market, I said, he's got
at least three more years. And I and I also
believe Dwayne deserves it, you know. And you know I
hated to give up. Oh God, I hated to give up.
And hello, you know, and and and and I hated
to get Brian. Brian had to go because of the money.
But but I mean, lamar Odom and Kron, But the
(28:55):
three of you could have just stayed together for three
or four more years, we probably would have I would
have got another center.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
And whether if it wasn't shocked or something.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Did that happen often, But where you have those moments
where you're like, I hated, I hate to give up.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yes, I hated to make that trade, but but.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I also.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Was it my desperation that I needed a title after
all these years and versus eighty eight, and I said,
you know what, I got about another year left to me.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I want to go for Dwayne. And believe me, they
hit me over the head with the back to get you.
That was it. No no, no, no no.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
And then eventually I cracked on on l Oh from
that standpoint, but we ended up getting the result. So
and that's what my job was at the time. Do
you yeah, do you have any regrets? Yes, but but
not many because you can't. You can't as a player,
and because they're just so many repetitions and so many
(29:58):
things that happened, so many games and somebody things misshots
at the end that I wish I would.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Have done this. I wish I would have done it.
I wish you have it back. Yeah, you can have
it back, you know, you know, you don't get them back.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
And that's sports, that's professional sports. And sometimes it's very
very painful to go through something that you know that
you might have done wrong, or you made a mistake,
a bad decision. And I mean that's life, Yes, that's
all it is.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
But it does that.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
But does that regret or because we learn in those moments, right,
that's what we grow in those moments.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yeah, I think, I think you regret it when you're younger.
When you're my age, you don't regret it anymore. It
becomes sort of maybe maybe wisdom. You know that it happened.
These are the things that happened to me in my
life that actually keeps me where I am today. And
because I learned from it, I would say, if there's
(30:54):
one thing I could, you always say, could I do
it over again? If you're in a teacher's mode of coaches,
mold or something for so long?
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Is I wish I would have used.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Different words in talking to my teams and the players,
that's all. And so I only learned that as I
got older and older and older, you know, and so.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
That that's the only thing. I wouldn't do it differently.
But I would have talked to players differently because I
was a yeller and screamer, you know, That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
And so now we can do a therapy session take
me all the way back to my upbringing.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I don't want to do.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
That throughout this old journey of all the things in
basketball which had been I mean, you have one of
the greatest basketball stories that has ever has ever been
(31:58):
been put out here? But how has it been to
be able to watch your other family grow? You know,
I love to hear you talk about being a granddad
because it softens you up a little bit. How has
that been like throughout this whole time, being able to
have Crisp by your side? You guys go through this
fifty five, here's a basketball together, to watch your kids
(32:19):
grow and now to be a granddad at the same
time of having all this success on this side, how.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Has that been? Well, it's just I think that's the
circle of life for you. You know.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
They call the golden years for older people like myself,
the golden years, and they're not because when you get
to the golden years, you think that everything's going to
be easier in palm trees and oceans. You're telling me
it's not, no, because it's painful. You're managing illnesses and
(32:51):
diseases and y'all and kids. And you think the kids
are tough when they're like teenagers or less than that.
Sometimes in their thirties they're even challenging. But the grandkids,
Olivia and Connor, beautiful children. You to spend Thanksgiving with them.
(33:12):
My two children are very responsible, you know, from the
standpoint Elizabeth and James and and their spouses and and
so I'm happy to see that they're happy, and I'm
happy to see that they're growing and that they're independent.
And when I and we go visit, Chris and I
go visit, you know, I leave a message, you know,
(33:36):
I said, when we come, you know, how mom and
dad are, you know, as far as we want things,
but you know a certain thing I don't want to
have to work, you know, when I come out to visit,
to visit you guys. And so they both live in Colorado.
I miss them dearly. Chris facetimes every single night. She
(33:57):
brings me in with Connor and we can't get him
off the computer. He's just like his father. They're both
like digital geniuses and algorithms and everything. Already he's just
turned twelve and Olivia is three, and she's.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Just a little doll. What a little sweetheart she is.
So they've done a great job. So it's great.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
That's I think the one thing about it that gives
somebody like me, who is an absentee father. Okay, when
you're an NBA player or a coach and you're traveling,
you know, six months a year, and you're gone a lot,
you miss a lot. And even when you're home, there
(34:38):
are times that you're absent minded because you're thinking about
the game or you're watching film when you should be
given James a bath or Elizabeth a good night story
or something. And I was guilty of that. I think
we all are because we're surviving, we're successful, and we
(35:00):
want to create something for the future. And sometimes that's
the sacrifice that you have to give up, and sometimes
you do it unbeknown's. Sometimes you come back and try
to be a super dad then, but you still got
the game on your mind. You always do, and it's
just it's impossible not to. So, you know, any marriage
(35:23):
like mine that can last fifty five years. You know,
my wife is a saint. She's a saint. Chris is
a saint. She's a prayer warrior. And the things that
she has done, you know, over our lifetime together, not
just with the kids, but with friends and being like
you know, missus coach when I was coaches Christ and
(35:46):
Pat she was sew into family and trying to bring
the wives together and.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Our holiday Christmas parties.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
You know, I remember one time you know, we had
a holiday Christmas party I won't name the name of
the play was over at cole Gables. And she spends
the whole month getting ready for this holiday party, you know.
So she puts a lot of time and effort in it.
She has no expectation other than having everybody have fun
and the gift exchange and they call that food. And
(36:17):
so one player didn't show up one night and didn't
come to it. And so the next day, you know,
we're on the wall at the American Airlines screen.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
At the time, we're.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
On the wall, on the wall with me and my
high school coach was backs against the bleachers.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
He made us stand at least I let you guys
sit out.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
So around the wall and we're talking about okay, games
ahead of us and all that, and so and so
I looked down at the player and I said, what
did you do? You have a problem last night not
coming to the party, you know, the holiday parties, family
parties for everybody. He said, the worst thing you could
(37:02):
ever say to me, I fell asleep. I said, you
didn't fall asleep. I said, you made the biggest mistake
of your life. I'm going to tell you one person
to stay away from him for the next month. Okay,
her name is Chris Ryley because you insulted her by night,
you insulted her, you know. I mean, so, you know,
players have to understand that there are certain things you
don't want to go to, but there are certain things
(37:23):
you gotta go to. And coaches realize there are certain
things that they have to go to for players. You know,
we can't go to everything because now everybody has ten
twenty things going on, right, so you know, so it's hard.
But the holiday party, I don't know, and so I
made him pay for about a week for not coming
(37:45):
to the party. I set out to Chris Riley.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
See, you know one thing I love about Chris from
the first time I met her to when I see
her the next time is it's a consistency in her Ye.
She know, she comes with the same joy, the same inness.
It's time, no matter what is going on, no matter
if we're winning, no matter we're losing, no matter if
you and I are bickering, no matter what was going on.
In these twenty years, she's been consistent, you know, with
(38:13):
who she is, and so really shout out to Christmap.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
She has a tremendous spirit about her, and I like
what you said that regardless of what the situation is,
she knows that Duyne and I are not doing very
good to whatever Shaq and I are not.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
She goes right after you, I don't.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Care, I said, I'm fine, I don't have a problem,
goes up and gives you a big hug and nothing's
going on. And she does that to everybody. She's got
this spirit about her, in this light about her. Don't
mess with her, no, okay, but she has she has
that and she brings that to my life every single day.
(38:51):
And so she's my prayer warrior. She has told him
to keep the gate open for me, and and she
does that every single day. And and she says, he
told me that you're going to have to break the
gate down whatever you know. So but anyhow, Uh. She
(39:14):
has a group of of of great women called the
Wednesday Warriors, and they every Sunday, I don't know why
they call it Wednesday, but every Sunday they get on
the phonem for a couple of hours and they just
they talk to each other man and you know about
and they're reading the Bible, reading verses and when she
comes out of that meeting. Man, It's like it's like
this is a glowing from that standpoint.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
So faith is a big part of our life, pay
real big part. Well, I got one more question for that.
I don't want to I could talk to you all day, obviously,
And when I started off, I said, the name of
my podcast is the why, the why, the why, and
the reason it is that because a lot of people
have been messing on my name.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
My whole life. Why.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
But I think it's a great question to end on
and always is. You know, you're seventy eight years old,
You've been in this game fifty five years. What's your
why going forward? As we sit here?
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Well, know, my why going forward is very very simple. Now,
It's about my health. Okay, about my health so I
can be there for Chris and for my children as
long as I can have great health. Happiness, okay, to
(40:32):
be as happy as I can be. And I have
a tendency to become very depressed. I'm an irishman. Okay,
alcoholism and depression go with the Irish. But I have
a tendency to be a little bit depressed, but happiness.
(40:53):
Continue to be hungry about life and what's in front
of you, you know, from that standpoint, and I definitely
learned about humility and being humble. So I call them
the four hs. I'm always coming up with either three
h's or three d's or four.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
So in family, it's all about family and friends now,
but the game is still central to everything. But my
why is to however many good years I had left
on this planet, is to enjoy them in that context,
you know, with the people that I love the most,
you know, and I love being around the game. You know,
(41:34):
so many players that I've coached in my life that
lifted me up, I mean the greatness of I mean,
I'm the luckiest person ever to enter coaching, and I
entered with the greatest team possibly in the history of
the game, other than maybe the Celtics of the sixties
(41:55):
or maybe Jordan's team. And I never stopped having the
opportunity of coaching great players that were there when I
showed up, Patrick, you know Oak, you know Stark's, Derek Harper,
you know Anthony Mason, Herb Williams.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Then I came down here and the first thing that happened,
I got Alonzo and Tim, you know, and we had
a five year run, and then you came into the
life of pat Riley, and then Shaq came into the life.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
So he's been good.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
He's been surrounding me, he said, you know what, don't
mess this up too many more times, he said, but
I have been so fortunate and to have great players,
and then to have an owner like Mickey Harrison, who's
you know, opened everything up, and we're here together for
twenty eight years. It's almost hard to believe that in
(42:48):
this league that I could still be in the same
organization and all the same people for twenty eight years.
So everybody that works here with me, I want them
to do well. I want them to succeed, and when
I leave, I want them to take whatever they can
from it.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
That's that's I think.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
That's what somebody's legacy is is not you know what
they write about you is that you know, when you leave,
you're leaving.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Something for somebody else. That's good, and that's that's what
I want to do well.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
I will end by saying this, you said like lifting
you up and when you when you're in it, sometimes
it's hard to see it right. But when you get
away from it, as you know, you get to see
the people that's putting.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Your life to help lift you up.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
And so I just want to thank you on behalf
of players that are here now, the players have come
before me and with me for being that figure to
want to lift us up and to be that person
that is willing to be a leader, say the tough things,
say the things you don't want to hear, the uncomfortable things,
but also at the same time, in the midst of it,
(43:54):
grab you and give you the hug and so that
which means a lot.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
So I just want to I just want to say
I appreciate it. Just like you signed in the book.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
It's forever and for always. It's forever and for always.
I love Dane Wade, yes, sir, and everything about it.
Patrick Riley, you know, man, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Look at that.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Also hard telling yourself up with the holiday just in
case I forget one day, grand kids to help me.
Fifteen is that's that's seventy five. That's seventy five, and
I actually became one of the top seventy five players
and they missed it.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
This that's right. That is run. Yeah, we both make
good runs. Keeping going
Welcome back to the Why with Dwayne Wade.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is part two of my conversation with the legend
Pat Browley. Coming up, We're going to talk about some
of the things I would do in games to make
him mad, and also too, we're going to talk about
the decision to trade for the big Fella Shack which
sent my good friend Lamar Oldham and Caron Butler to
La but broad Shack that came with the championship. Later,
(00:40):
we're also going to discuss how he coached was built
from scratch.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We'll get into all that we come back, you're my coach,
and then staying with my coach, then you're my coach.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
But the message was the same, yeah, right, nothing changed
from the standpoint of the message. And the message was
that we were going to work our asses off right
and we were going to do it, and we were
going to build this unity, this family, you know, this
brotherhood together and we're going to win, to get a
loose together, and so to be able to come in
and three years later to be in the NBA Finals
(01:21):
with one.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Of the greatest players I ever played in shock.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
I know for me and because I knew about being
a fan of the game that those moments don't come often, right,
and so I knew I had a moment and I
wanted to seize it. Where were you at at that
point in your profession where you have already won but
you didn't win. As we talked about it was eighty
eight was the last time that you had won, and
now you're back in the seat again. Where were you
(01:45):
at in that moment of two thousand and six when
we entered the NBA finals Because we weren't the best
team all year? So where were you at and understanding like, Okay,
I may not have the best team, but what did
you knew you had to be able to win that championship?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, if you get there, you know, if you get
there with you and with Shack, I got a shot.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
If we get there, we got If we.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Get there, we got it. We got a shot. And
and we did have a checkered regular season. I remember
a game you know that year, and you know, GP
was the best. He was my favorite that year, Gary
Payton senior, And so we got our ass whipped one
night in Dallas during the regular season was really bad,
(02:27):
remember about forty about forty and so you know, I
wasn't too happy after the game, and so you know,
the locker room was quiet. I know where you were
sitting in the corner of shack, was like everybody was quiet.
I'm just walking back and forth for like four or
five minutes, just just walking, didn't say a word, just walking.
And then Gary, Gary shouts out. He said, okay, coach,
(02:53):
what we all do? What are we going to do?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Okay? I said, and I yelled back at him, Okay,
what do you think we should do? Gary?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
What do you what do you think we should do?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
You know? And then I got off.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
I went off. I started talking about you know, I
think you need to have an attitude adjustment. You Gary
Peyton Senior, who's never won a titles. I went off
like that, I think go off on everybody. But I said,
if you will follow me, I said, Gary, if you
will follow me, I can get you there. That's all
I can do if you'll follow me. But if you won't,
(03:26):
then then we're not going to have a chance.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So the players somewhere have to believe that that a
head coach can get him there. He can't win it
for him, he might be able to get him there.
It's like if I if I diagram or play for you,
you know, to win a game. My job is to
get the ball to you. I can't create the shot. Now,
(03:49):
if I can create a play off of an out
of bounds play, they get you a wide open shot.
Well that's that's something that maybe I scouted. The important
thing is to get it to you. And I remember
the pass. I remember the pass at half court in
game three? Was it game three when we came back
and we it is the last shot where you had
(04:10):
to dribble through everybody? Oh yes, yes, yes, it was
half caught. It was imbounded in the air and you
saw it. You were going to go in to the
back court for violation.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, I was in the front court, right, I jumped
in the back court.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
You had to.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I had to jump in the back court because I
was yeah, because if I would have called it in
the front court first, and so I need to give
myself some space. But I had to catch. I had
to jump back because I couldn't have both fee here.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
And then you took off the two five guys that
wasn't me, that was not met went through there through
the legs to the right. There's three guys coming at you.
Somehow you got it to the rim and then the whiskey,
you know, followed you on the player and they followed you.
There's no doubt, there's no doubt. But you know that
whole thing about giving players, you know, that opportunity. I
(04:58):
don't even know where I went. We're off into another
tangent here. So what was the question you asked me?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well, just well just about yeah in two thousand and six,
like what did you see like to help us get there?
And you said, it's really just making sure like it's
kind of like putting you in a position follow me
and get me here. Then from there, Yeah, y'all got
to do what y'all do.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Y'all I thought against Detroit in game six here at
the at the Arena when we won the Eastern Conference
finals the year before, we lost the seventh game because
you were hurt, you know, with the rib. And then
and then that next year, you know, when we blitzed Detroit,
I mean, Jay Will was ten.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Out of eleven. We just had a great game. Then
we smashed them.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I mean it was it was a wonderful celebration here.
But that might have that also might have softened us
a little bit you know, and so we went to Dallas.
We got we got wiped the first two games, did
not play well at all, and we're down thirteen in
the third quarter. But but I always feel like, you know,
you know, tell us feel the over. I mean, we're
(05:59):
pretty much in dires traits, and then you took over
and got us that first win. And then I always,
I always say that you got us the first win,
and then Dallas helped us in the second and third wins.
We went sequestered everybody.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Up in for.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I remember hotels and so there's drama and everything. And
so but if you get to the finals, I think players,
you know, will understand that, like you saying, you can't
let this opportunity get away because you'll never get it again.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I think star players got to win you two games.
I think your coach got to win you one, and
I think your real players got to win you one.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
That's how you get to your four, right, Like, and
so in my mind, I was like, I gotta win.
I gotta win us two games, right if we're gonna
win this championship.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You did those games three and four. Yeah, I went
off a game, oh yeah, and I went off a
game four.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I know, and it was just it's just an incredible thing,
as you say. And then in game six you needed help. Okay,
they're coming after you. And I mean four of the
biggest baskets in the fourth quarter, I mean, Posey hit
the corner. Three you D hit a baseline jumper. U
D hit an elbow jumper. U D got the offensive rebound.
(07:17):
And then and then we get caught with about five
seconds ago in the court on the clock and James
Posey's in the right corner, left corner, and I said, no,
you're being denied by three guys. And James drives to
the middle and hits a little runner. You know, Shack
got a dunk in that hole run. So besides you
(07:39):
missing the two free throws at the end of the game,
they could have solidified it.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
See, put a little drama in the game.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
I can't believe to this day, I cannot believe I
missed both of those three throws.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I was so confident going in the line.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I screwed you up because we had a little quick
conversation before.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
But here's what you did. You see, you you created
almost what is a sacrilege at that moment when you're
on the brink of winning a world title, of thinking
this is one because we had a time out. He
called timeout, and so we had a time out. I
know you're going to get two. We're ahead three.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
He's just got to just hit like six in a row.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And so he stands up before he breaks the huddle
and he puts his arm around my shoulder like this
is over, and I said make the and then he
missed both and then Gary Payton picked up full court
and he followed the ship out of Jason Terry grabbed
(08:41):
his jersey and.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
We ended up winning the title.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
The greatest image, though, the greatest image is when when
I saw it, miss I knew we're winning again. When
I saw it missing, go way up and you get
the rebound and then you threw it in the air
and then that was it. It's that moment, that moment. Think
about it, Duane. That moment is the most UFOKD moment
(09:05):
in sports. It's the moment when you know you just
want a title. Now you're hugging your kiss, everything is great,
and celebrate. Everybody loves everybody. So it was our first
great moment, really great moment of celebrating absolute recognition.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know if it's the same for you,
but knowing your story, I remember you guys lost them
with eighty four and then you came back and won
in eighty five. Yep, and that was probably probably one
of your favorite championships, right, And so to lose and
five like we did, come back and winning six the
way we did, to me, that's my that's my eighty
(09:43):
five moment at all the things that I accomplished. That
if that felt the best because of the year before,
losing a game seven of these commerce finals.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Definitely, you know, those kinds of experiences because you learn
from you know a lot from those experiences. We didn't
have the hate I hate to use that word for
Detroit that the Lakers had for the Celtics, and so
that whole rivalry was different.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
We would have.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Probably developed that kind of relationship with Detroit if you
played them five or six times, you know, so especially
in the playoffs Detroit or Dona, Detroit, Detroit like the
Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So we didn't have that.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
So we lost to them the year before you got hurt,
and then we won it, but we didn't. It wasn't
one on because we hated them. We just beat them,
you know, we beat them really good.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
We were better.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And you know, for a player to be able to
I think rise, you know, rise above it, which is
what you did.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And in certain role players, you.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Know, I can remember I mentioned Jay will in that game,
but also and I mentioned Posey and you Donna's and
in Shack. They weren't role players, but there were significant
players that had no fear at the end of the game.
They didn't have any fear. And to close it, and
it's hard to close the game. It's hard to championship
came out close one.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
How do you how do you continue to muster it up? Right? Okay,
you got that championship in O six. You've done it.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You're at the mountain top. Now you want to do
it again and again and again.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
But you have the years in between when you lose,
you lose, you lose.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
How do you keep redefining yourself and keep wont team
to be on that stage again?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Like, what is it in you that that breeds that well?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
You know, I think the point that I was trying
to make in the last segment era of the last
comment was see this two thousand and six championship ring,
that one right there, Okay, that championship ring, you know
with the bezel in the back, and I mean with
the trophy that was the eighty five exactly the eighty
(11:47):
five version, but very small. So when we won in
two thousand and six, that's what I showed Mickey, and
I said, that's what we should keep it simple and elegant,
not too big. But it reminded me of eighty five,
you know, going back and how we had to come
back from what they called the Memorial Day massacre. And
so even though it's symbolic, I mean, you go all
(12:09):
the way back and remember, you know what you're talking
about that you know eighty four, you know, was an
absolute choke on our part. I hate to use that word.
The Lakers and myself, the lose when we probably could
have solidified, they went a little bit like in two
thousand and ten eleven, we might have we should have
(12:30):
won Game two. But that's over with and you learn
from that, Yeah, you know, you really do.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Har losses horror lessons right there.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And then in eighty five reminds me of what your
breakthrough was was when James Worthy. See in eighty five,
besides Kareem being the MVP of the series. James Worthy
arrived as a young player in eighty five because he
had a tough eighty four series. But in eighty five
you just dominated. And so somewhere another player will actually
(12:58):
rise to the occasion. When you got Cream and when
you got you know, Worthy and Magic and Cooper and
Scott and all of these these great players, one of
those guys will rise to the occasion in three or
four games, you know, and ended up ended up helping
you really win a championship. So and uh so that
(13:18):
was your year, yeah in two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah, how do you? How do you muster it up?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Like you've been in I mean you've you your first
coaching was in eighty one. I was one eighty two,
So that's been forty two years for you, fifty five
and Solus from sixty seven, right, so sixty how do
you fifty five years in this pat Like, how do
you keep it? How you keep going to want to
be the best.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
It's not about that anymore. But for me, it's not
about being the best anymore. It's not about and we
talk about legacy. Everybody else can can talk about those things,
and people have asked me to retire and move on.
And so there's the one thing that that that I
still love about the game is I love the competition.
(14:04):
So I love the competition. I'm not a big fan
of today's game.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I'm not, but I have to.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Adapt like everybody else does, to the contemporary game and
the contemporary player, which I have done. The people that
have been working with me here for twenty eight years,
you know, I respect so much that they can. They're
now doing whatever they're doing at a very high level.
And when I leave, they can just move and keep
(14:34):
the ship going unless they want to change it. So
I do it because I can't see myself doing anything else.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
You know, I can't retire. I hate golf. I'm about
as good as you are. I don't like golf. I'm
not gonna know.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I don't do tennis, I don't do pickleball. I play
pool very good. I play Texas hold them really good. Okay,
I can play back game and then chess really good.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
They're not going to give you, and I'll give you
what that arena give you them.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You know, I used to love I couldn't get into
the games. But all the games that you guys had
up in the front playing those poker games.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I want oh, I wanted in really. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I used to go up there and I used to
see all this money in the middle of the table.
And it happened in New York too, because you have
a bunch of gamblers there. The guys, I mean, they're
like thousands of dollars in the pots and stuff like that.
And I used to go up and say, okay, let's
shut this down here a little bit, and they look
at me like what I said, because one of you
you're going to get hurt And they say, what do
you mean hurt? No, one of you are going to
(15:42):
lose one hundred grand one night, and you're going to
be hurt by. I don't care who it is, right.
We had one player do that and he was like
depressed for like I said, I want all of you
to give the money back to that guy so we
can get him back playing again. So but anyhow, that
doesn't keep me in the game. But that's why I
don't have any other real hobbies out there. Chris and
(16:04):
I are you know, solid, kids are growing, They're in Colorado,
have places to go.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I still live in Malibu and I love the game.
That's it.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
So tell Mickey says, you know, if I keep forgetting
all the time, he's okay, you know, let's but I
just love the game. I love these guys. I love
second guess and everything every day, you know, and I
tell USPO, I second guess you all the time.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
You know, I just do. It's a coach, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
So I was talking to him yesterday about what I
call the DMZ zone. Now, the DMZ in this game. Okay,
that's the the the military's eyes zone. Okay, in d
m Z zone, it's like in the military, you can't
go over it or back one of them. It's a
it's a d m Z line. They have it in
South Korea North Creek. It's called the d m Z
(16:53):
line up there. They don't let anybody go across either way.
And so and so from the free throw line to
the other free throw lined is the DMC zone.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
You know it very well. He knows his line very well.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Because what is the one thing that you used to
do to piss me off all the time?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You didn't what run back?
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, but I took into account that that used to
drive to the basket, you know. Twenty times a game
and get knocked down by teams. Yeah, and so he's
always hitting the floor, and of course they'd run out
and then he'd be getting up. Sometimes he'd be upset
at the official and yelling at the official. But they're
(17:33):
scoring at the other end. And so that DMZ zone
between free throw line and free throw ligned today is
the most important part of building your defense because you've
got a transition. You take a look at Indiana. If
you're not getting back against Indiana, for instance, they're scoring.
I mean, it's unbelievable the pace that they're playing at.
(17:54):
So it's really hard to go from offense. And especially
for Jimmy Butler is the same way today because he
hits the floor all the time. Is to get up
and get back. And if if, if you can't get
up and really get back, then there has to be
two guys that are saving that's holding the fort, that's
saving it until you can get the last guy coming back.
(18:16):
So and then when he didn't get across half court,
I used to call it a dog trot. I said,
you know, Dwayne, you're a dog trotting.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Last night he didn't like that one.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And but you have you have if we can conquer
that this year as a team the DMZ and get
back for real and turn and defend, you could save
sixteen seventeen points a game.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
How do you do that?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Building trust to it's effort. It's transitioning for your guys
right for the guys to hold hold it down. It's
a trust that built.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
We used to call it back on the rays. Okay,
back on the rays. So every time somebody raised on
a jumper, okay wherever the jumper came from on the rails,
people were heading back, except for maybe one offensive rebound
like Zoe or Shock go to the offensive boards. And
so you got to get two guys back and then
the third guys got to get back. And it has
(19:11):
to be for real, and it's got to be something
that is defensive, not defensive defensive because when you're back pedaling,
you got the ball coming at you, so it's.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Hard to guard that.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
And if you don't have enough guys back, then then
guys are gonna get shots that will, they're going to
get layups, so they're going to get threes. And that's
today's game, and the fact that every team in the
league has trained for the early transition layups or the
early transition libs or the early transition threes. You got
to get back otherwise you're going to get beat by
(19:43):
teams that run. You look at what happened last night
and and they just all ran, and they had one
hundred and thirty five points in the game. And I'm
talking about Indiana over Milwaukee in the nd season tournament.
So conditioning is the biggest part of that. One of
(20:08):
the problems that I had as a coach, and I
didn't change it enough, is I I had too many
hard practices. I did whoa wow, But I had too
many hard practice.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Somewhere rolling over and his gray somewhere all these players
was like what.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah, But I didn't realize it until later on.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
You know, but that but everybody practiced hard at the time.
But but I had too many hard practices. And then
I started to change it. In matter of fact, my
shot came and instead of pounding the court the day
after a game, what we do right, And we had
the heart monitors on and they were all attached to
(20:53):
one big screen and we had number three up here.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
We read a practice. So I didn't want like pound,
but this was okay.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
But I wanted to get the heart rate up, and
so and Bill was out there and Bill would would
monitor everything. And so we do forty five minutes of
a real interval training to get your cardiovascular up. And
so that's what I see today, guys who aren't in shape,
but their bodies are two thirty and five percent body fat.
(21:24):
Their cardio is not there because they're not doing enough running.
They're not doing enough cardio at home, they're not and
we don't do it here. And so that was my
way of softening the practices. But you guys would rather
run up and down run down?
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Yeah, I mean, I think we all know.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
It's it's a conversation out there about the culture, and
everyone wants to know, like what's the secret sauce?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Right, Everyone's like, even with me, they're like, what's the sauce?
What's the sauce? How?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I mean, we talked about a little bit going back
to why and how you got on the basketball floor,
and so I understand a little bit more of how
the culture where was built that, But how do you
feel about something as simple as the culture that you
brought in being someone that's trying to get duplicated A
year at the year out the year from all these
different relations, it's.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
A continuity of it.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
And you know, I mean there's so much written about
culture today and a lot of it in reference to
the heat that a lot of people want to throw up.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
They're tired of hearing about it.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yeah, and that like it's almost like, are they the
only ones that have a culture?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
No, everybody has a culture.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
And the culture is simply a shared vision and of
what it is you want to do to get to
where it is you want to go, and so as
a shared vision of what you.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Have to do to get there.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
And so it's up to the coach to create the philosophy.
It's not just the acronyms of hardest working, best condition
and most professional, unselfish, toughest, nastiest, meanest dislike team in
the league, whatever, you know, whatever that moniker is. You
can take each one of those acronyms and you can
(23:12):
talk about that for thirty minutes. Hard work, conditioning and
what it takes and all that stuff. And so once
you set the tone about what your philosophy is going
to be, and you have to then paint the picture.
And it's like an image, you know, you paint the
picture of what it's going to look like because we
(23:33):
do these things, this is what it's going to look like.
And then you start showing pictures of championship parades and
you know, confetti coming down and baseball hats, you know,
with them in caps, you know, with championships now, and
you start showing them that's what we want and this
is how it's going to look. And then you have
(23:55):
to sear that image into a team in a player's mind,
and every day, you have to talk about it every
day so they see it, they believe it, they'll do
the things that it's going to take.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
To get there. But you got to hold them accountable.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
No, yeah, but that determines their behavior and it fuels
their their motivation and it inspires them. But yeah, you
still have to motivate them and you have to push
them every day towards that image. You know, some guys say,
you know, I'm enough already. Okay, that's like six months
down the road. You know, let's not even talk about championships.
And so I was opposite of that. I was always
trying to paint that picture of what it looked like,
(24:34):
you know, and things. So a culture is important it's
one that becomes more organic. Guys gravitate the message, Guys
buy into it, and guys start to talk to each
other about it. And guess who holds the Guess who
holds those accountable? We hold each other account the locker
(24:54):
room holds each other accountable. And when there's one bad
one in the locker room, or two or three bad
ones and I don't say this, or naysayers that don't
want to buy it, then you got to get their
head straight or you got to come into my office.
So you got to trade that.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Guy because he's not helping.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
And so I've always sort of depended on the players
to sort of manage, to manage that that kind of
culture magic did it? You know, uh as Patrick in
New York, you know in the beginning, so and Tim,
Tim believed in it, even though he didn't like it.
You know, you became the culture carrier. And we always
forget about you know, U d that year that you
(25:35):
got drafted, we ended up getting Probably if you were
to redraft that year, he'd probably be a lot of repick,
you know, ud as good as he was, you know,
So you.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Got to have those kind of men, Dwayne. Otherwise it
doesn't work. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I tell people all the time on the outside when
they ask me, I always say, you know all these things,
but I say, if if no one is holding you
accountable to these things, then it doesn't even matter, right,
Like best condition Okay, who's holding me accountable to be
best conditioning? Because a lot of people are saying things
but there's no follow through with it, or it's they're
allowing for mistakes to continue to happen. It's like there's
(26:08):
no accountability to make sure that that players ran perfect
five five won't.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Want whatever it is right.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
And so it's that accountability that allows your culture to
stand up strong.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
And knowing that there's no such thing as perfection, right,
that there's always going to be mistakes, and that you
learn to deal with them and overcome them, develop the
intelligence not to continue to make the same mistakes, but
you will again and again and again, and and you
know from that standpoint, so you know, the players hold
(26:40):
each other accountable. The head coach simply has to devise
a system and a plan whereby he can do these
things where he can, you know, set up practices that
will you know, if I believe in closing out with
the inside foot up, to make sure we're pushing everybody baseline.
(27:01):
Then that's what we're teaching on our closeout drills. You know,
we're running out left foot, inside up, We're going to
force some baseline, We're gonna slide, We're gonna try to
take them to all of these things that we used
to do. If you remember three line rush, we would
start with you know, oh I remember, and then we'd
go right to you know, advance retreat, defensive drills. Then
(27:22):
let's do six, we come back, we do a driving line,
let's do nine, let me come back and do and
so thirty five or forty five minutes running and defensive
work period. That started our practices, and then we'd get
into running five on oho offense or whatever it was
at the time. So I have to devise the plan.
(27:45):
The players have to say this is good. I remember
Eddie Jones said to me one time. We used to
call it the five series, and we used to run
a lot of stuff for Eddie different than you, but
a lot of the stuff too, we put in. So
I remember in training camp Eddie Jones, you know, we're
(28:05):
running all his place one day and he's, oh, man,
this is good. Stuff, coach, I'm all love this stuff,
you know. And and then of course he came and
took it all away from him.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But uh, we ran it for both of you.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And so I had you on one side, he was
on the other side. You had a good team that year.
That stands first year was a really good I love
to actually really loved that that team could have developed.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, you ain't let it develop.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
When Shaq came on the market, I said, he's got
at least three more years. And I and I also
believe Dwayne deserves it, you know. And you know I
hated to give up. Oh God, I hated to give up.
And hello, you know, and and and and I hated
to get Brian. Brian had to go because of the money.
But but I mean, lamar Odom and Kron, But the
(28:55):
three of you could have just stayed together for three
or four more years, we probably would have I would
have got another center.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
And whether if it wasn't shocked or something.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Did that happen often, But where you have those moments
where you're like, I hated, I hate to give up.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yes, I hated to make that trade, but but.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I also.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Was it my desperation that I needed a title after
all these years and versus eighty eight, and I said,
you know what, I got about another year left to me.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I want to go for Dwayne. And believe me, they
hit me over the head with the back to get you.
That was it. No no, no, no no.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
And then eventually I cracked on on l Oh from
that standpoint, but we ended up getting the result. So
and that's what my job was at the time. Do
you yeah, do you have any regrets? Yes, but but
not many because you can't. You can't as a player,
and because they're just so many repetitions and so many
(29:58):
things that happened, so many games and somebody things misshots
at the end that I wish I would.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Have done this. I wish I would have done it.
I wish you have it back. Yeah, you can have
it back, you know, you know, you don't get them back.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
And that's sports, that's professional sports. And sometimes it's very
very painful to go through something that you know that
you might have done wrong, or you made a mistake,
a bad decision. And I mean that's life, Yes, that's
all it is.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
But it does that.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
But does that regret or because we learn in those moments, right,
that's what we grow in those moments.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Yeah, I think, I think you regret it when you're younger.
When you're my age, you don't regret it anymore. It
becomes sort of maybe maybe wisdom. You know that it happened.
These are the things that happened to me in my
life that actually keeps me where I am today. And
because I learned from it, I would say, if there's
(30:54):
one thing I could, you always say, could I do
it over again? If you're in a teacher's mode of coaches,
mold or something for so long?
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Is I wish I would have used.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Different words in talking to my teams and the players,
that's all. And so I only learned that as I
got older and older and older, you know, and so.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
That that's the only thing. I wouldn't do it differently.
But I would have talked to players differently because I
was a yeller and screamer, you know, That's what it was.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
And so now we can do a therapy session take
me all the way back to my upbringing.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
I don't want to do.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
That throughout this old journey of all the things in
basketball which had been I mean, you have one of
the greatest basketball stories that has ever has ever been
(31:58):
been put out here? But how has it been to
be able to watch your other family grow? You know,
I love to hear you talk about being a granddad
because it softens you up a little bit. How has
that been like throughout this whole time, being able to
have Crisp by your side? You guys go through this
fifty five, here's a basketball together, to watch your kids
(32:19):
grow and now to be a granddad at the same
time of having all this success on this side, how.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Has that been? Well, it's just I think that's the
circle of life for you. You know.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
They call the golden years for older people like myself,
the golden years, and they're not because when you get
to the golden years, you think that everything's going to
be easier in palm trees and oceans. You're telling me
it's not, no, because it's painful. You're managing illnesses and
(32:51):
diseases and y'all and kids. And you think the kids
are tough when they're like teenagers or less than that.
Sometimes in their thirties they're even challenging. But the grandkids,
Olivia and Connor, beautiful children. You to spend Thanksgiving with them.
(33:12):
My two children are very responsible, you know, from the
standpoint Elizabeth and James and and their spouses and and
so I'm happy to see that they're happy, and I'm
happy to see that they're growing and that they're independent.
And when I and we go visit, Chris and I
go visit, you know, I leave a message, you know,
(33:36):
I said, when we come, you know, how mom and
dad are, you know, as far as we want things,
but you know a certain thing I don't want to
have to work, you know, when I come out to visit,
to visit you guys. And so they both live in Colorado.
I miss them dearly. Chris facetimes every single night. She
(33:57):
brings me in with Connor and we can't get him
off the computer. He's just like his father. They're both
like digital geniuses and algorithms and everything. Already he's just
turned twelve and Olivia is three, and she's.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Just a little doll. What a little sweetheart she is.
So they've done a great job. So it's great.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
That's I think the one thing about it that gives
somebody like me, who is an absentee father. Okay, when
you're an NBA player or a coach and you're traveling,
you know, six months a year, and you're gone a lot,
you miss a lot. And even when you're home, there
(34:38):
are times that you're absent minded because you're thinking about
the game or you're watching film when you should be
given James a bath or Elizabeth a good night story
or something. And I was guilty of that. I think
we all are because we're surviving, we're successful, and we
(35:00):
want to create something for the future. And sometimes that's
the sacrifice that you have to give up, and sometimes
you do it unbeknown's. Sometimes you come back and try
to be a super dad then, but you still got
the game on your mind. You always do, and it's
just it's impossible not to. So, you know, any marriage
(35:23):
like mine that can last fifty five years. You know,
my wife is a saint. She's a saint. Chris is
a saint. She's a prayer warrior. And the things that
she has done, you know, over our lifetime together, not
just with the kids, but with friends and being like
you know, missus coach when I was coaches Christ and
(35:46):
Pat she was sew into family and trying to bring
the wives together and.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Our holiday Christmas parties.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
You know, I remember one time you know, we had
a holiday Christmas party I won't name the name of
the play was over at cole Gables. And she spends
the whole month getting ready for this holiday party, you know.
So she puts a lot of time and effort in it.
She has no expectation other than having everybody have fun
and the gift exchange and they call that food. And
(36:17):
so one player didn't show up one night and didn't
come to it. And so the next day, you know,
we're on the wall at the American Airlines screen.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
At the time, we're.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
On the wall, on the wall with me and my
high school coach was backs against the bleachers.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
He made us stand at least I let you guys
sit out.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
So around the wall and we're talking about okay, games
ahead of us and all that, and so and so
I looked down at the player and I said, what
did you do? You have a problem last night not
coming to the party, you know, the holiday parties, family
parties for everybody. He said, the worst thing you could
(37:02):
ever say to me, I fell asleep. I said, you
didn't fall asleep. I said, you made the biggest mistake
of your life. I'm going to tell you one person
to stay away from him for the next month. Okay,
her name is Chris Ryley because you insulted her by night,
you insulted her, you know. I mean, so, you know,
players have to understand that there are certain things you
don't want to go to, but there are certain things
(37:23):
you gotta go to. And coaches realize there are certain
things that they have to go to for players. You know,
we can't go to everything because now everybody has ten
twenty things going on, right, so you know, so it's hard.
But the holiday party, I don't know, and so I
made him pay for about a week for not coming
(37:45):
to the party. I set out to Chris Riley.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
See, you know one thing I love about Chris from
the first time I met her to when I see
her the next time is it's a consistency in her Ye.
She know, she comes with the same joy, the same inness.
It's time, no matter what is going on, no matter
if we're winning, no matter we're losing, no matter if
you and I are bickering, no matter what was going on.
In these twenty years, she's been consistent, you know, with
(38:13):
who she is, and so really shout out to Christmap.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
She has a tremendous spirit about her, and I like
what you said that regardless of what the situation is,
she knows that Duyne and I are not doing very
good to whatever Shaq and I are not.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
She goes right after you, I don't.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Care, I said, I'm fine, I don't have a problem,
goes up and gives you a big hug and nothing's
going on. And she does that to everybody. She's got
this spirit about her, in this light about her. Don't
mess with her, no, okay, but she has she has
that and she brings that to my life every single day.
(38:51):
And so she's my prayer warrior. She has told him
to keep the gate open for me, and and she
does that every single day. And and she says, he
told me that you're going to have to break the
gate down whatever you know. So but anyhow, Uh. She
(39:14):
has a group of of of great women called the
Wednesday Warriors, and they every Sunday, I don't know why
they call it Wednesday, but every Sunday they get on
the phonem for a couple of hours and they just
they talk to each other man and you know about
and they're reading the Bible, reading verses and when she
comes out of that meeting. Man, It's like it's like
this is a glowing from that standpoint.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
So faith is a big part of our life, pay
real big part. Well, I got one more question for that.
I don't want to I could talk to you all day, obviously,
And when I started off, I said, the name of
my podcast is the why, the why, the why, and
the reason it is that because a lot of people
have been messing on my name.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
My whole life. Why.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
But I think it's a great question to end on
and always is. You know, you're seventy eight years old,
You've been in this game fifty five years. What's your
why going forward? As we sit here?
Speaker 3 (40:12):
Well, know, my why going forward is very very simple. Now,
It's about my health. Okay, about my health so I
can be there for Chris and for my children as
long as I can have great health. Happiness, okay, to
(40:32):
be as happy as I can be. And I have
a tendency to become very depressed. I'm an irishman. Okay,
alcoholism and depression go with the Irish. But I have
a tendency to be a little bit depressed, but happiness.
(40:53):
Continue to be hungry about life and what's in front
of you, you know, from that standpoint, and I definitely
learned about humility and being humble. So I call them
the four hs. I'm always coming up with either three
h's or three d's or four.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (41:11):
So in family, it's all about family and friends now,
but the game is still central to everything. But my
why is to however many good years I had left
on this planet, is to enjoy them in that context,
you know, with the people that I love the most,
you know, and I love being around the game. You know,
(41:34):
so many players that I've coached in my life that
lifted me up, I mean the greatness of I mean,
I'm the luckiest person ever to enter coaching, and I
entered with the greatest team possibly in the history of
the game, other than maybe the Celtics of the sixties
(41:55):
or maybe Jordan's team. And I never stopped having the
opportunity of coaching great players that were there when I
showed up, Patrick, you know Oak, you know Stark's, Derek Harper,
you know Anthony Mason, Herb Williams.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:13):
Then I came down here and the first thing that happened,
I got Alonzo and Tim, you know, and we had
a five year run, and then you came into the
life of pat Riley, and then Shaq came into the life.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
So he's been good.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
He's been surrounding me, he said, you know what, don't
mess this up too many more times, he said, but
I have been so fortunate and to have great players,
and then to have an owner like Mickey Harrison, who's
you know, opened everything up, and we're here together for
twenty eight years. It's almost hard to believe that in
(42:48):
this league that I could still be in the same
organization and all the same people for twenty eight years.
So everybody that works here with me, I want them
to do well. I want them to succeed, and when
I leave, I want them to take whatever they can
from it.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
That's that's I think.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
That's what somebody's legacy is is not you know what
they write about you is that you know, when you leave,
you're leaving.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Something for somebody else. That's good, and that's that's what
I want to do well.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
I will end by saying this, you said like lifting
you up and when you when you're in it, sometimes
it's hard to see it right. But when you get
away from it, as you know, you get to see
the people that's putting.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Your life to help lift you up.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
And so I just want to thank you on behalf
of players that are here now, the players have come
before me and with me for being that figure to
want to lift us up and to be that person
that is willing to be a leader, say the tough things,
say the things you don't want to hear, the uncomfortable things,
but also at the same time, in the midst of it,
(43:54):
grab you and give you the hug and so that
which means a lot.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
So I just want to I just want to say
I appreciate it. Just like you signed in the book.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
It's forever and for always. It's forever and for always.
I love Dane Wade, yes, sir, and everything about it.
Patrick Riley, you know, man, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Look at that.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Also hard telling yourself up with the holiday just in
case I forget one day, grand kids to help me.
Fifteen is that's that's seventy five. That's seventy five, and
I actually became one of the top seventy five players
and they missed it.
Speaker 1 (44:28):
This that's right. That is run. Yeah, we both make
good runs. Keeping going
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