The championship coach doesn’t choose the typical two.
Pat Riley has cemented his legacy in basketball history especially with the Los Angeles Lakers. He has helped win one championship as a player and four championships as a head coach for the team — plus a sixth, in 1980, as an assistant coach under Paul Westhead. Those long roads to success saw him face off against some of the best players to ever touch the basketball court.
The current Miami Heat team president of basketball operations joined ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne for an exclusive interview shortly before LeBron James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring record. He pinpointed who he believes to be the greatest player of all time and it is not the superstar who helped bring his franchise two rings in 2012 and 2013.
“I always said that Kareem was the greatest player of all time because of his longevity,” Riley recalled.” Kareem was unique from the standpoint that he could play at a high level, play 80 games a year … get beat up because of double- and triple-teams and guys just taking shots at him. He just developed this mental toughness along with a great physical body to really last forever.”
One of the biggest debates among basketball fans is the stigma created by the older generation that the game is no longer as physical as it once was. Riley has been able to witness both James and Abdul-Jabbar firsthand, but chose the UCLA alumni as his number one.
Riley’s biggest reason for his selection of Cap was his ability to still perform at an incredibly high level when he began to age. Abdul-Jabbar is currently the oldest player to ever win a Finals MVP when he did so against the team rival Boston Celtics at age 38.
Riley actually placed a different face at number two instead of James.
“I put Michael [Jordan] in there too,” Riley said. “But Kareem was the greatest at that time because of his longevity and the fact that he continued to perform at a high level when he was in his late 30s and 40s.”
While this debate will never be able to be truly answered, it’s always nice to hear from someone who truly knows the game and knows the players he’s talking about.
