Pat Riley on his GOAT, LeBron's main motivation, and current players' load management / News - Basketnews.com

Pat Riley chose Kareem Abul-Jabbar as the greatest player of all time, praised LeBron James' skills, and weighed in on how current NBA players handle load management.

Credit: REUTERS/Andrew Innerarity Credit REUTERS/Andrew Innerarity

Pat Riley is an institution in the NBA. His lengthy coaching tenure includes five NBA rings with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat, in addition to winning the Lakers' first-ever title as a player in 1972.

LeBron James

Team:Los Angeles LakersPosition:SFAge:38Height:203 cmWeight:113 kgBirth place:Akron, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Currently serving as the Miami Heat president,Riley spoke to ESPN about the next record that LeBron James is going to break, probably in a couple of weeks if everything goes as expected. Lebron is about to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38,387 career points, a record standing since 1989.

Like most of the NBA, Riley, as the Miami Heat's president, has been watching James' incredible finishing kick. He is averaging a staggering 35.1 points a game since turning 38 on Dec. 30 - with a mix of awe and reverence.

Unlike most of the NBA, however, Riley has seen this kind of late-career dominance before: from Abdul-Jabbar.

"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."

There are all kinds of parallels to be drawn between Abdul-Jabbar and James as they approach this shared moment in history, including the way they take care of their bodies and the circumstances of the contract extensions they signed with the Lakers heading into their age-38 seasons.

But perhaps most significant is that James, just as Abdul-Jabbar was, is still an excellent player at an age when most of his contemporaries have retired.

Riley continued: "We don't win championships without the greatest player in the history of the game, who had the greatest weapon in the history of the game. The skyhook was unstoppable. Last minute of the game, it's going to one guy. Kareem was the guy, and he'll always be the guy," Riley argued.

LeBron James

MIN:36.5PTS:30.17 (56.1%)REB:8.51As:7.15ST:0.98BL:0.61TO:3.15GM:41ProfileNBA2022/2023

Riley was the one who brought LeBron to Miami and has a good personal relationship with him. In 2012, when the forward played for the Heat, he named him the BOAT (best of all time ), but not the GOAT (greatest of all time), the term often used to name the most outstanding person in a discipline. A technicality that is well explained by another of his answers in the ESPN interview in which he points to Kareem as The Player with a capital letter.

"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."

Riley does not believe, as he has heard many people say so far this season, that LeBron is playing at a very high level just for the motivation of breaking that record, and even believes that the Lakers have chance to fight for the title.

"I'm not speaking to anything that he might say in the media, but that's his only reason to continue to play. Breaking the scoring record will be big for him if it happens, and it will happen.

But he wants to win titles; that's what drives him. And so for him to continue to play at this level, with that hope that this team will come together out there and Anthony Davis gets back, I think they got a shot. I really do. And I believe he believes that too."

Despite what outsiders might assume, Riley said he still roots for James, except when the Lakers are playing the Miami Heat, of course. Riley and James have a shared history, from the two titles they won with Miami from 2010 to 2014. But mostly, Riley just appreciates James' commitment to his craft and the game.

"So for LeBron [James] to be able to play during this era, from 2003 to now, during this period, it just shows just how great he is as a player," Pat Riley said.

"It's hard for me to talk about what the players were like in the 1970s and '80s versus what the mentality is like today," Riley said.

"Back then, it was a badge of honor to play in every game. And so it was a different mentality. That was a badge of honor. And today, it's not. It's about rest, it's about taking care of everybody, it's about making sure you don't do too much or you might get hurt. It's a little bit more cautionary today, and I think that's good. But it's a different mentality," Riley added.

"So for LeBron to be able to play during this era, from 2003 to now, during this period, it just shows just how great he is as a player," the 77-year-old legend concluded.

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