Doc Rivers reveals he once got into a heated argument with Pat Riley that taught him one of the biggest lessons of his career: never coach people for who they are today, but push them toward who they can become
“Coach Pat Riley, when I was playing for the Knicks, Coach Riley and I had the biggest argument in my entire playing career. I know all you players thought, you know, I used to go at coaches too.”
“And during the shouting match, Coach looked at me and said, ‘One day, when you’re a head coach, and you will be one, you’re going to understand exactly where I’m coming from.’”
“And I literally yelled back at him, ‘Are you crazy? I am never going to coach. Every coach that I know, they’re nuts.’ Well, I want to tell Coach Riley thank you for being right on all accounts.”
“And one of the lessons he told me was to never coach a person for who they are today, but to push them to who they should be someday. That was very important for me.”