L.O. is down with the drill sergeant (Photo. Tadder)RealGm links to a story in the Palm Beach Post today about Pat Riley’s reputation as a taskmaster who alienates some players with his task-master approach:
MIAMI — Lamar Odom was neither shocked nor offended the first time the Heat medical staff gently pinched the flesh above his hipbone with a pair of calipers to measure his body fat.
“It was cool because I was in shape,” said Odom, a Heat forward in 2003-04 who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.
It wasn’t cool for Antoine Walker, who was suspended by coach Pat Riley last year for exceeding a team-mandated body-fat limit.
Walker, a forward who was traded in October to the Minnesota Timberwolves, said the Heat checked his body fat weekly.
“Every Monday,” he said. “It gets nitpicky at times.”
That kind of hard-nosed approach - which in the past also manifested itself in unusually exhausting practices - might be why NBA players questioned recently by Sports Illustrated said Riley was the coach for whom they would least like to play.
He was No. 1 in a runaway. Riley received 28 percent of the votes among 242 players interviewed. Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and former Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles were next at 12 percent each.Riley, who has won five NBA titles as a head coach, said he isn’t bothered by the unscientific poll.
“Two years ago I was the most favored guy to play for,” he said, referring to the Heat’s championship season of 2005-06.
His image could be a factor when he hunts for free agents this summer to help rebuild the Heat, which this season is the NBA’s worst team at 11-46.
Again, Riley, who also is president of the team, said he isn’t concerned.
“I’ll find the guys who like me. Don’t worry,” he said.
More from ‘Toine and L.O.:
“He’s a great coach. Don’t get me wrong,” Walker said. “I think the league has kind of passed him by.
“You have to be able to relate with players, the modern-day players. Guys are younger. Guys make a lot of money now.”
While the Heat still conducts regular body-fat checks, lengthy practices are a thing of the past. Riley concedes he has softened his approach since returning to the bench in December 2005 after a two-year hiatus. He has said his lack of toughness contributed to the team’s first-round playoff exit last year and dismal performance this year.
Still, his reputation as a taskmaster survives. Players remember that the legend who built his reputation as coach of the Lakers and Knicks used to put trash cans on the practice court to accommodate players who had to vomit.
“You hear stories about guys throwing up in the summertime and those crazy workouts and that kind of scares a lot of guys,” Odom said. “I was 24, 23 (years old) when I got there and that was exactly what I needed.
“Made me into a man quick.”
Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest, who can opt out of his contract and become a free agent at season’s end, has heard the same stories. He said they don’t scare him.
“He’s got a couple of rings, so he did what he had to do,” Artest said. “I’m not thinking about playing for him, but I wouldn’t have a problem playing for a guy who pushes his players.”
Former NBA coach Mike Fratello, now a TV analyst, said there is a breed that would relish playing for Riley.
“They’re the Marines,” Fratello said. “You can go to the Army, you can go to the Navy, you can go to the Air Force, or you can be a Marine. There’s that group of players who want to be Marines.”
Safe to say, Antoine Walker has no interest in being one of the NBA’s Marines. Maybe if he did his best to stay in shape he’d be able to milk some last semblance of his old game from his body and be more than a bench ornament in Minnesota. We’re just saying …
March 4th, 2008 at 11:26 am
alberto says:
I wonder how big the clamp was to pinch Antoine’s fat…
March 4th, 2008 at 11:28 am
2 Easy says:
Well Im startin to like this 1st
Now Im sorry I believe that Riley’s right to push hard and smart to pull it back a bit cause players dont like gettin disrespected. Toine was a lazy fatty and im sorry but I would not want him on my team on his best day when he could shoot cause he was still fat back then
March 4th, 2008 at 11:47 am
i Fux aka Etheraldinho aka Farouq Obama aka the Immaculate Ejaculate aka Slick Dick Johnson says:
Antoine Walker seems like a little fat bitch. LO is a hardbody type Skinny Dudes that knock big dudes out, RIP Chico Corrales. Ron Ron wouldnt have any issues playin for Riles, Elton Brand Kobe Chris Paul all these types wouldnt have issues.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
yoda says:
if he pays them 10-15mil a year, he has every right to push them to be in great shape so they could win chips. kobe wouldn’t be as good as he is now if he doesn’t push him self as hard as riley would push him. ask malone how he menaged to play some many years on such high level. work work work. and whats with ‘toine? just becouse they are young and rich they shouldn’t work hard? i wonder what mj thinks about that
March 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
GEE... Cold on em! says:
LOL @ 1.
I think players were just harder back then. You have more Divas in the NBA now. Pat is hard work, so you have to have hard work players. When dudes start gaining weight and getting their red carpet on not caring about the game as much, it won’t mix with what Pat is trying to get out of them.
Not to mention if you got old heads doing them drills that won’t work cause they sometimes get caught up in “they paid their dues” so they feel they should get a practice pass.
Pat is cool, I just think things are a little to diva for him now.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
myrie says:
Slick (as we used to call Riles in NYC) has a tough regime; we know this.
I wonder what Ike Austin thought about the tummy pinching?
March 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Steven says:
Yeah I agree that the NBA is getting filled with divas.
Riles has rings aplenty- ’nuff said.
Why Issiah didn’t top the list is beyond me. I’ve never seen a worst coach- the Knicks lost last night game ’cause Issiah sucks- plain and simple!
March 4th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
dagwaller says:
Good one, alberto.
It’s kind of a reflection on the league, where the coach with, what - the 3rd most rings of all time?! - is the coach they’d least like to play for, with Jerry Sloan, another coaching legend, second least, and Scott Skiles, who made the Bulls relevant again (that last one is a bit of a stretch), 4th least. At least they’re smart enough to avoid Isiah.
Regardless, if you’re a “good old days” kind of guy, you have to believe that 15 years ago, players wouldn’t care what the workout schedule was like - whoever was the worst coach would’ve gotten the most votes.
Real quick, being from Baltimore, this struck a chord with me (because of Brian Billick). Pat Riley went from being the orchestrator of one of, if not THE BEST, offenses of all time, to coaching hardnosed, grind-it-out basketball. He didn’t really INVENT the slower game, but he honed it to a point with those Knicks. Then later with the Heat.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
yoda says:
btw, its funny how everyone wants to be on contender (’toine anyone? ) but most of them don’t want to practice. and isn’t there a rule that says no more then once per day full contact practice and stuff like that? 20 years from now, volleyball will be tougher then nba
March 4th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Gregg says:
Probably not as big as Eddy Curry’s
March 4th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Prof. TX says:
I’m just laughing at the mental picture of the team trainer trying to get the calipers wide enough to measure Walker’s fat head.
March 4th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
boogey banger says:
all i have to say is what kind of f’ed up world do we live in where PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES gripe about having to be in shape.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Wags says:
Dime says: “if he did his best to stay in shape he’d be able to milk some last semblance of his old game from his body”
Wags says: With tits like those you better be able to produce something!
That’s a mental image I’m just not ready for!