Everywhere Pat Riley went, success — and his Armani suits — followed.
New York: an NBA Finals appearance, two Eastern Conference finals and a Coach of the Year award in four seasons. Miami: Riley’s third Coach of the Year honor, the NBA Executive of the Year award (2011) and three NBA titles as a coach/executive in a tenure with the Heat that’s lasted over 30 years.
But for Riley, his legendary basketball resume will always come back to Los Angeles.
And that was once again the case on Sunday afternoon when the Lakers unveiled their 8-foot, 510-pound statue of the franchise legend ahead of their home game against the Celtics, their longtime rival.
“You go back and look to that period, and you go back to that time and look where I am today, this is where I ended up. I don’t know how I got here,” Riley said. “But I got here, and now there’s a statue out there and that plaza of stars.
“I’m so grateful. I really am. It’s beyond gratitude. I’m so grateful to be honored and to be with those who are the giants that I jumped up on their shoulders and they carried me.”
Riley was the Lakers’ head coach for nine seasons (1981-90) during the “Showtime” era, leading the franchise to four NBA championships (1982, ’85, ’87, ’88), with two of those titles coming against the Celtics.
The 80-year-old Riley made it clear during his speech before the statue was unveiled that his professional competitiveness against Boston hasn’t changed.
“The time has come to kick some a–,” Riley said. “To kick some Boston a–.”
A 2008 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Riley was part of six Lakers NBA championship teams as a player (one; 1972), assistant coach (one; 1980) and head coach.
Riley’s statue was appropriately placed between the statues of Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — fellow franchise legends whom Riley coached during the Lakers’ dominance in the ‘80s.
The pose for Riley’s statue was of him wearing a Giorgio Armani-tailored suit with crocodile leather belt and the 1985 championship ring and raising his right hand — a signal throughout the Showtime era for Johnson to pass to Abdul-Jabbar for his skyhook.
“Pat, to me, sort of set the standard for modern NBA coaches,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I have always looked at the NBA in sort of two very distinct eras: make the demarcation point either right at merger or in 1980-81, right around that time when Dallas joined as the 23rd team. That, sort of to me, is the beginning of the modern NBA, and that’s right when the Lakers’ run started. And Pat just set the standard for what a modern NBA coach should be. It’s a good-looking statue. We paused a little bit to make sure that we got it right. I thought the statue looked good.”
Even though the focus was on him for most of Sunday, Riley was equally complimentary of Redick.
“I love JJ, I really do,” Riley said. “My teams competed against him in various teams that he played with. He’s a fiery guy. He could shoot the hell out of the ball. He was tough as nails.
“Sometimes I look back and I remember myself at that time, and I looked at JJ and I think they picked the right person. There’s just a quality about him I think that goes above and beyond. And they have a hell of a team for him right here, right now with (Luka) Dončić and (Austin) Reaves and obviously with LeBron (James). And so I think (Lakers president of basketball operations/general manager) Rob (Pelinka) will continue with the new ownership to build that team and to compliment those players. But they have a great opportunity, and I think JJ will be a great coach for it.”
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