Pat Riley Details Where He Learned To Coach In New Documentary

Riley is featured in new documentary on the Los Angeles Lakers

On Monday, Legacy: The True Story of the Los Angeles Lakers premiered on Hulu with the first two episodes of a 10-episode documentary. 

 The documentary details the rise of the Lakers as they have become one of the most dominant and popular franchises in professional sports. Riley started as an assistant with the Lakers before taking over and winning multiple championships. 

While interviewed in the documentary, Riley revealed where he learned to coach.

“I learned from my pro, college, and high school coaches," Riley said. "I just had away about Xs and Os that I knew what they were talking about, where to go, and how they moved on the court." 

Interim head coach Paul Westhead shared why he picked Pat Riley as his assistant coach.

“Jack McKinney, who is the guy that brought me out here and was friends. So, I went down to the hospital, they said they were going to run some tests on him, and they wouldn’t know for a least a day or two the depth of his injuries. So, the next day I sent to the shoot around ten o’clock in the morning. Back then, in the NBA, there was only one assistant; if I didn’t go, there wasn’t a shoot-around. It was my first season in the NBA. I had nine years of head coaching experience at La Salle College. Still, I had no experience coaching professional players, and what that all meant, and I don’t have an assistant coach,” said former Lakers coach Paul Westhead.

“The only person that I know in the NBA is Pat Riley. He had been in the NBA as a player and never coached anyone. I went to Jerry Buss, and I think I like to offer Pat Riley the job to be the assistant. He [Jerry Buss], in his classic way, said, ‘Well, why don’t we think it over? When Jerry Buss says to you think it over, [that means] I don’t think it is a very good idea, but I don’t want to tell you that. A week or two went by, and finally, he said, ‘OKAY, if that’s what you want. He made it clear that is what you wanted.”