The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2023
Pat Riley
- Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2023
- Embed from Getty Images
- Sport(s): Basketball
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Statistics:
6 NBA Championships (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988 & 2006) (1980 as an Assistant Coach)
3 NBA Coach of the Year Awards (1990, 1993 & 1997)
1,210-694 NBA Record
Member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
*1 NBA Championship (1972)
*1 SEC Player of the Year Award (1966)
*Number retired by the University of Kentucky
*As a player
**2 NBA Championships (2012 & 2013)
**1 The Sporting News Executive of the Year Award (2011)
**As an executive -
You don’t have to look like a star to coach them, but it doesn’t hurt. Just ask Pat Riley.
Before he was the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Riley was an SEC Player of the Year at Kentucky (1966) and an NBA champion with those same Lakers in 1972. Riley's playing career ended in 1976, and three years later, he was back in L.A. as an assistant coach before becoming the head coach in 1981.
Riley would look the part with his smart suits and slicked-back hair. With Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as his stars, the "Showtime" Lakers won four NBA titles in the 1980s and won a Coach of the Year Award. Riley was as famous as any coach in sports, and he stepped away near the top of his game.
Broadcasting for a year, Riley returned to coach, this time for the New York Knicks. New York was not as talented as his last Lakers team, but still very good. The difference now was Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and the only time he could reach the finals was when Jordan was playing baseball. That year was 1994, but New York lost the finals to the Houston Rockets.
In 1995, Riley appeared to have taken a step back in quality when he accepted the join the Miami Heat, but he would have complete control as not only their coach but also their president. Riley brought respectability to a new team, and a decade later, with a young Dwyane Wade, and a recently acquired Shaquille O’Neal, the Heat won the title in 2006. He stepped down two years later as a coach but remained the president of the team. Riley later won two more NBA championships (2012 & 2013), and in 2011 he was the NBA Executive of the Year.
We are proud to nominate Pat Riley for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.
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