The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a statue over the weekend honoring the great Pat Riley. The former Lakers player and coach was the architect of the Showtime dynasty, winning four titles in his 10 years as the head coach of the purple and gold.
Riley was one of the figures most commonly associated with L.A. until he moved on to other organizations, including the Miami Heat.
He coached the Heat for 11 seasons and has been a high-ranking executive there for 18 years. In that time, he’s added three NBA titles and four more Finals appearances. And perhaps one of his most defining features was that he did all of it while wearing an Armani suit for each and every game and public appearance.
Riley is one of the most well-known figures in basketball history, and comes from an era where suits were the norm for non-players. When speaking with the media after his statue unveiling, Riley was asked if he wishes coaches would wear suits again, and his answer shouldn’t surprise.
“It’s very simple. Some people like to wear Levi jeans and that’s it. T-shirts and whatever it is. But I met Mr. Armani in 1978 in Milan and he started to make some things for me at that time,” Riley began. “This was before I was even an assistant coach, I was working with Chick. We had a relationship for a long time, so my wife, she goes out and she shops and there’s a lot of new fashion and a lot of new trends and great things that are going on. But we’re up there in our 70s and 80s and so a lot of people are going back to vintage Armani, which are the 80s and 90s. And I didn’t have to go buy any. I just went right into my closet and pulled them out, recut them and they looked a little more contemporary.
“Everything I’m wearing today is Armani. And everything on my feet are black pad leather. You see out on that statue. They went out of business and sold to another company, and the owner called me and said ‘We sold the business, we’re not going to be making that shoe anymore.’ Then I ordered 20 pairs of each color and I still have a bunch of them left in my closet.
“I never changed much. I think what a coach should wear, I think they should go back to coaching in ties. I think an audience wants to see somebody on the sidelines who looks like a leader, dresses like a leader and acts like a leader. It’s OK to get little bit crazy whether it’s Armani or a jumpsuit doesn’t make a difference. There’s a casualness about it that I think the fans back in the 80s sort of expected that, and it was OK for me to give it to them.”
Riley has been extremely consistent in who he is and what he values over his time becoming an NBA legend. There’s a reason that success has followed him to each destination, and why the Heat have been a model of consistency in his decades there.
Suits likely aren’t coming back to sidelines any time soon, but that won’t stop Riley from trying.
Lakers’ James Worthy rips effort vs. Celtics
Another Lakers legend that made a fairly public statement was studio analyst — and former player for Riley — James Worthy. He spoke after the Lakers were handed a blowout loss by the Boston Celtics, saying that the team’s effort against a bitter rival was nowhere near up to the purple and gold standard.
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