00:00And Alonzo Mourning joining us there.
00:01Zoe, how are you?
00:03I'm excellent.
00:04I appreciate it, man.
00:06How are you guys doing?
00:07I'm good.
00:07Thank you for working through your patience
00:09and working through the tech issues with us.
00:10Thanks so much.
00:12This honor for Pat Riley, we were wondering,
00:15we saw Pat Riley get pretty emotional
00:16when Mickey gave him the news.
00:18As a guy who cares about Pat Riley a lot,
00:20did you get emotional seeing Pat Riley get emotional
00:23with learning the court's going to be named after him?
00:26I did.
00:27I did.
00:27And believe it or not, I've seen a lot of different emotions
00:33from Pat over the past.
00:36I've been knowing him since 1995.
00:39So I've seen a lot of different emotions.
00:41And all of his emotions were channeled
00:47towards winning and carrying and uplifting people.
00:51And that's all he put his heart and soul into.
00:55And this moment that we're going to have tomorrow
01:00and have an opportunity to really celebrate him
01:04and commemorate his legacy is an emotional moment for me
01:11because I'm a part of that legacy.
01:15And I'm grateful.
01:17And I just walked off the court.
01:20We were in practice.
01:21And I was just sitting next to him.
01:22I told him, I said, look, man, thank you
01:26for bringing me in in 1995 and giving me an opportunity.
01:33And I want to just congratulate you on this incredible honor.
01:39And he's kind of brushed it off.
01:42I'm like, well, so it all started with you.
01:47It all started like, come on, man, this is about you.
01:51It truly is.
01:52This is about you.
01:54So I'm excited.
01:55I really am.
01:56And I hope that the basketball world, not just people here
02:03in South Florida, but the people that understand the game,
02:09that are fans of the game, that understand the impact
02:13that this man has had over the past 50-some-odd years
02:18on the sport of basketball.
02:20He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of coaches.
02:23He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of basketball coaches.
02:30And I can attest to his passion, the gift that he's given us.
02:39Now everybody wants Pete Coulter and their organization,
02:42whether it be hockey teams, baseball teams,
02:45basketball teams.
02:46Everybody's seeking to try to figure out, OK,
02:50how do you do it?
02:51And it requires a lot of patience.
02:55And it requires a lot of identifying the right who.
03:00And it requires a lot of preparation,
03:04consistent, everybody speaking the same language.
03:08And it all started with his vision.
03:10And I'm proud to have been a part of this whole 50-year
03:18process, man.
03:19I'm very proud.
03:20I was watching this sit-down that he had with D. Wade
03:23over last spring, and he told a story about you at a practice
03:27where he was really trying to motivate everybody.
03:29But he particularly went at you because he knew it would
03:32trickle down to everybody else, so much that you got mad
03:35at him, Zoe.
03:36What do you remember?
03:37You were cursing Pat Riley out, and then you're like,
03:39well, am I actually going to have to, do you want me to leave
03:41this practice?
03:42What do you remember about Pat Riley, the motivator,
03:46so much that he would get heated with your practices?
03:49Hey, listen, man.
03:50We were both very emotional individuals, so I think that
03:57was the only practice I ever got kicked out of.
03:59But I'm going to tell you his strategy, and I could tell
04:05you all a ton of stories over the years, but this one
04:09I can remember, yeah, we got into it.
04:13We got into it.
04:14I got kicked out of practice.
04:15But he called me in his office the next day, and he said,
04:21look, you know, you know why I get on you.
04:27You know why I get in your ass.
04:30I mean, as a coach, I'm averaging 25, yeah, I just got
04:35player of the month.
04:36I'm averaging 15 rebounds, three, four blocks a game.
04:39I mean, what the hell are you getting in my ass for, you know?
04:43And he said, I get in your ass because I know you can take it.
04:48And if they see me getting in your ass, then it's easy for me to get in
04:55theirs.
04:56So I understood this, you know, his strategy, you know, and it
05:02was, it wasn't just about X's and O's with him, man.
05:04It was really about a way to motivate his guys on a regular
05:09basis, and the hardest thing about coaching is to get 12, 15 guys to do
05:16what you want them to do, and to do it as hard as you want them to do it,
05:22and to sometimes do what they don't want to do.
05:25That's the hardest thing about coaching.
05:28So it's not just about X's and O's, it's about teaching them and helping
05:34them understand that the things that I'm trying to get you to do as a
05:39coach are winning habits, and this organization is not for everybody, and
05:47the guys that stick around long enough, eventually they understood.
05:51They understood, and many of them have incorporated a lot of Pat Riley's
05:56tutelage in their own lives, in their business interests, and what have
06:01you, and some of them have gone on to coach.
06:03They've taken a piece of what Pat Riley has given them.
06:08You look at people like Doc Rivers, who played under Pat, and you look at
06:16the Van Gundys, I mean, the list goes on, man.
06:19He has so many disciples and people that he's planted.
06:22You look at Sposter now.
06:23You look at the seeds that he's planted in all these folks that have had
06:29the opportunity to be a part of his tutelage, Byron Scott.
06:34I mean, the list goes on.
06:37Magic Johnson, and I'm one of them as well, so again, I'm grateful for the
06:43opportunity, and tomorrow night, I'm excited for him because it's an
06:49incredible honor, and it's a well-deserved honor, and it's long overdue.
06:53So what is it like watching these games these days with you and Pat?
06:58Like, you guys are always side by side, whether it's home or road, but are
07:03you guys still living and dying with it now that you guys don't have
07:06exactly all the control on it anymore?
07:08Like, what's it like with you two watching these games these days?
07:10Listen, there's winning, and there's misery, all right?
07:16So we suffer through it together, you know?
07:20We suffer through it together, you know?
07:23Listen, we walk through these doors, and if you ever had an opportunity to
07:31walk through our practice facility and our lounge, every door has a
07:36picture of the Larry O'Brien trophy on it, every door.
07:39So it's just a pleasant reminder of why we come to work every day.
07:43That's why we come to work every day, you know?
07:46And I wear this ring that I have on, you know?
07:50This is one of the three that we won, so I can remind the players that,
07:55hey, man, this is what we're here for, you know?
07:58Because we live in this toy department of human affairs, you know?
08:05We get kind of distracted from the main thing, and the main thing has
08:11always been the main thing since he walked through these doors in 1995,
08:15and that's winning.
08:16That's it.
08:17That is it, winning, by any means necessary, you know?
08:21And we have built our culture around that and helping to understand that
08:26everybody speaks that winning language, and if you don't speak that winning
08:30language, you know, you're out the door, you know?
08:33So we talk it, we practice it, you know?
08:37It might not always, you know, fall into place for us, you know?
08:42But that has been the consistent focus of our efforts since his tenure back
08:51and started, the genesis of his tenure started in 1995.
08:57Talking to Alonzo morning, Pat Riley getting the court at the Casillas
09:01Center named after him tomorrow night.
09:03You can, of course, hear all that coverage right here on 560 WQAM and
09:08very much looking forward to that night.
09:10So I want to take it back a little bit.
09:12The last time we had you on the show, we were actually interviewed on a
09:16cruise ship, and we asked you about Bam on a buyout.
09:22He was not even 20 yet, so, and you said back then, you thought that he
09:26was going to get his jersey race thereafter and lead the franchise.
09:30Oh yeah.
09:31What did you see in him back then?
09:33And then how is it, I guess, how has it been seeing that all unfold that
09:38you kind of nailed that one?
09:40Hey guys, you can't teach hunger.
09:42I mean, the man grew up in a trailer park.
09:45Okay.
09:47Single mother.
09:49Okay.
09:51We've done our due diligence on our players.
09:53You know, we know their background, where they came from, you know, and
09:57watch tape of them during that time in Kentucky.
10:05And, you know, I'm a good judge of talent, you know, I've been around this
10:08game for a long time, you know, and I can forecast it.
10:12I can, you know, when I saw Bam, you know, I saw a little bit of me.
10:18I really did, you know, and, you know, I, you know, God willing, although I'm
10:24around that we can, you know, I can be a part of that celebration.
10:29And when we do raise his Jersey to the rafters, you know, because he has
10:35gotten better every year that he's been here, you know, and I don't expect
10:40this year to be any different at all.
10:44And I think that the next obviously individual goal on his mantle would be
10:51defensive player of the year.
10:53You know, he's been flirting with it for quite some time, you know, but,
10:55and I thought he earned it last year, you know, but I think this is the
11:00year I really do, you know, so I'm excited for Bam happy to see happy,
11:06happy to witness the growth overall, you know, and yes, yes, we will be
11:12raising his Jersey to the rafters one day.
11:15What was that?
11:16That first conversation like we saw you post on Instagram this summer with
11:20did, what did you like learning about the young man after you guys took him?
11:25Well, my first, when I first met him was in that it's your Instagram is
11:33when I first met him, uh, I walked up to him and I said, welcome to the
11:38family.
11:40And then I told him, I said, you have an opportunity to be one of the
11:46greatest players in franchise history.
11:50I see you have an opportunity.
11:51I said, but you got to put in a whole lot of work.
11:54I see your skill level, the abilities that God's given abilities that you
11:59have, you know, you got an opportunity and he looked at me and said, I'm
12:03ready to work.
12:04I'm ready to work and I'm gonna tell you, man, he has improved over the
12:09summer, just a little bit of time over the summer, uh, training camp.
12:14We've seen drastic improvements, you know, and, uh, I don't expect anything
12:19different from him.
12:20You know, I think that, um, obviously still some things that he has to
12:25improve on, you know, that's obviously he's 20 years old and I think people
12:29feel you, you look at me, you forget that he is 20, he's a 20 year old kid.
12:35And, but I think good things on the horizon for Khalil.
12:39I really do.
12:40You know, he's around, uh, the right veteran core that he can feed off of
12:46and, uh, he can develop the right winning habits and everything, you
12:49know, and he's got all the right people in his ear, so he couldn't have
12:53landed in a better place.
12:54He's going to, he's going to do great.
12:56Going back, you, you know, you were mentioned about, you know, you and
12:58Pat would get any, cause he felt like he had to go at the star sometimes
13:02to, to go at everybody else.
13:04You feel like that was a little bit of what was happening with Jimmy at
13:06the end of the year, because it feels like Jimmy has taken that, uh, whatever
13:10you want to say, the press conference was, and it does feel like the vibes
13:14at camp and the work and playing the back to back in preseason feels like
13:19he's gotten the message.
13:20What do you, what do you make of how Jimmy's responded to, to maybe
13:23Pat's call out?
13:24Listen, man, he's doing everything that is asked of us, of him.
13:29He's doing everything that's asked of him, you know, and that's what we want
13:33out of our, our leader, you know?
13:36Um, and that same thing that the role that I embrace when, you know, I was
13:43the focal point of the franchise, you know, I mean, just, you know, it's not
13:48a whole lot of talk, you know, it's just about being present, uh, setting
13:53the example, you know, and putting the work in and Jimmy's done all of that.
13:58You know?
13:59So we can, we can't expect anything more than that.
14:02Uh, we know what he's capable of doing.
14:05He's shown us that.
14:07And we're excited about the year.
14:08We just hope and pray that everybody stays healthy, you know?
14:12So we have an opportunity to take that next step.
14:16Before we get a chat here, Alonzo morning, tomorrow night, Pat Riley's
14:18getting the court named after him at the Casaya center, that championship
14:22that you guys got together after all those years though, what was, what's
14:26the personal moment you remember with him?
14:28Like when you guys finally got to the mountaintop, like what's the, what's
14:31the image that stands out in your mind?
14:34Uh, I mean, it's a lot of different images, man.
14:40Um, I mean, in that locker room and when we celebrated in 2006, you know,
14:48and y'all remember the famous bin with all the cards and everything to, to
14:53keep sakes in there, you know, that we carried around with us during the
14:56playoffs, you know, and you know, that moment, you know, when those cars
15:02were all over the locker room, I mean, some of y'all had an opportunity
15:05to kind of witness that moment.
15:07Y'all were in the locker room in Dallas at that particular time.
15:10I mean, I think, I mean, finally, I mean, we were able to actually, we
15:14climbed the mountaintop, you know, and we made it to the peak and, um, it
15:21was a lot of sacrifice, a lot of hard work, you know, Pat would always
15:24say, Hey, you never know.
15:26You never know.
15:27You're going to win a championship until it happens.
15:29You know, I mean, you can look great on paper that doesn't guarantee
15:32you anything, the hard work that you put in.
15:35It doesn't guarantee you anything, but without it, you don't stand a
15:38chance and, um, you know, we, uh, he put together the right team for
15:47that moment.
15:47It was our time, you know, it's, it's written in that championship
15:51ring.
15:51It was our time.
15:53And, um, you know, I'm grateful for his, his knowledge and his tutelage
15:58at that particular time, you know, to help us get to that particular
16:02point, you know, and to 13 years for the franchise to get their first,
16:06you know, so, uh, I'm happy to have been a part of it.
16:10Thanks so much for the time.
16:11So we really appreciate it.
16:13Listen, man, it's my pleasure, man.
16:15Hope to see y'all at the game tomorrow.
16:16Very much.
16:17I'm looking forward to it.
16:18I'm looking forward to the great Alonzo morning, giving us some time
16:21talking about Pat Riley, getting the court named after him tomorrow.
16:24Pat Riley court at the center.
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