Part 1 – Legacy, Leadership and Heat Culture with Pat Riley | The Why with Dwyane Wade

Part 1 – Legacy, Leadership and Heat Culture with Pat Riley | The Why with Dwyane Wade

Welcome to the why with Dwayne Wade I am honored to be able to sit and have a conversation with a legend icon named Pat Riley R thank you for taking you kidding me man taking this moment comeing into my office here my presidential office downstairs entertain

Everybody just tear it apart and set up you and I look good where are you up there I feel good being in the main chair this the main chair right here P feel a good chair 21 years old but Dwayne anywhere anytime we can sit down

And chat you know yeah anytime so last time we seen each other or start there yeah okay it was uh it was at the hall of fame yes it was it wasn’t your your first time there um how but question to you when you were able to have players

You’ve had a lot of players going back to Magic and Kareem and James when you’ve had all these players who have these great careers and then they end up in that Hall of Fame moment how does that feel from from you from your eyes sitting there in those se’s watching your players up

There uh you they’re so unique uh all of the players that become you know Hall of Fame players they’re they’re unique athletes very very talented you know all of them highq players high IQ players but all of them contrary to maybe public opinion you they’re Grinders too they really grind and and

So all of the people that I knew that I coached that made it into the Hall of Fame I knew their past I I knew their history where they come where they come from and maybe what it was like maybe I didn’t live it but I knew it and uh to

See them up there it’s such a sacred Moment For The Individual that even family members don’t understand and it’s the Pinnacle so if there’s a legacy uh and I don’t really believe in legacies uh really I think no I don’t uh that’s a narrative by somebody else who wants to create a

Legacy uh I understand I’ve been part of teams that have legacies and I’ve been around players who are you know have a have a legacy but when you’re standing there at the hall of fame and I’m watching I gave a speech you gave a speech was incredible

And and it brings tears to my eyes because I know that’s the last thing that we sort of do and getting the acknowledgment and the recognition for a career but not just a career for a life because those people who Le you into the Hall of Fame don’t know what you had to

Do to get the first level the first level and once you get to the first level and you get recognized and you’re hungry you say is this all I got to do to be great uh or is this all I have to do to be recognized is play basketball

And then we get better and better and better and so that final recognition is uh is one that you know very few people have you have one I have one you know but all the players that we hang from the rafters here is just an incredible

Feeling to see you know to see I get very melancholy when I when I listen to the players that I coach speak and um it was wonderful you know it does actually feel like that like when I took the stage and I took a minute just to look

Out I was like it’s going to be other the Great Moments in life but from basketball and everything I put into this sport this is this is the last moment like this and I just kind of like took that deep breath and took it in you know great and and that’s what I’ve

Noticed you know over the years I remember when I went in uh and I love him to death and we always used to have have fun and so they gave a seven minutes uh you had a seven minute speech that’s all you had there was no

Telepromter back then and so uh I was the very last one of 11 that that gave speeches that night wait yours were seven minutes no oh I had it I had it at seven and then dick Bal who I love to death was right before for me he went 37

Minutes so I’m going with my 7 minute speech here and uh and you know dick was great and he went off and uh and had a great speech and then when I I went up there and I looked at the audience they were it was like three and

A half were I was last yeah so like me we were last and um and so I messed my speech up I didn’t really give a great speech I had a good speech but then I messed it up because I started to go Rogue you

Don’t want to do that at the hall of fame you know I’m saying so you had that blue card up there didn’t you you had that you had your blue card my blue card right there I had like everything I was going to say in order I had it you know

Thank yous that’s it just thank you to everybody and then I went off yeah you which I had a tendency to do when I spoke to the team I would just divert but it’s uh it it really is a special a special place and um and so yeah there’s not much more you

Can say about it you know I look at it as you know the final thing for me in my career but you know as a coach but you know I I continue on you know yeah are there glaring like characteristics when it comes to players that can be capable

Of being on that stage one day that you look that you look for when you’re you know trying to build team around a certain kind of talent what are those characteristics well I think you see it almost immediately I mean I mean I think players eating other players I I think

Uh you know GMS and presidents that that draft you know or sign uh I think you see it it being incredible Talent you see that and then when when the whole package is is refined and honed and a player needs two or three years of experience in the league even if they’re talented

Um you know you see something unique so the one thing that always you know for me you know was you know the Integrity that a player had in getting better would they would they really work to get better I remember the first year that you came here as a rookie and I remember

Stan working with you from half court to each elbow to each elbow working on your handle behind the back whatever it is going left going right and pulling up on that jumper going all the way and just over and over and over and so you know

Once you see that in in a player where he’s already great he’s already gifted he’s already talented I saw you you know in you know in the Marquette game and and and then you arrived you arrived in the second year you got hurt but you really arrived in the finals that was

The Breakthrough and so every great player has a has a real breakthrough moment when their back is so against the wall yeah and and you said I’m not going out like this out yeah you find out made scored 15 in a row but uh that was a

Magical time and that’s why I always say that at that time in those moments every player is the greatest player in the world over a period of two months the playoffs 6 weeks whatever it was and that’s where you had landed at that time your third year

Thirdd year you were the greatest player on the planet man and everybody knew it I used to get those uh those text messages from you before four games and it you know it’ll start with BW little Pearl yeah little BW it set me it set me right though you know that that gives

You a mindset you know you don’t have to give a long text to a player most of the time a player look at a long text they just won’t even read it I think but like the BW best in the world that’s the responsibility of those initials for me

Wasn’t just go out there and score a lot of points no what I what I look at is best in the world to be that so many other things that I have to bring to the game and bring to my teammates and so I took pride in those those three letters

Because it was like all right like I I need to be a leader I need to I need to defend a night I you know I need to do more than just you know highlight real and so I took a lot of a lot of pride in

Those letters all comes uh Dwayne uh the process of real leadership and it’s very simp simple you know leadership is an interactive relationship you know whereby you get put in a position you could hired uh players vote you in uh you just rise to that position and you take it and to get

A result that’s what leadership is it’s an interactive relationship whereby you do these things to be in that position but we get a result and that result usually is winning on your part and so uh but to be able to grow and and and to smooth all the edges off of your game

And your personality the first two or three years in the league you arrived probably in the third year where it was complete and it lasted for the rest of your career yeah and you made adjustments and you had to make adjustments throughout your career for the Personnel that we had coming in and

So even though your best years were your best scoring years were after Shack left you know I mean I was getting to the money and no the MVP those were the I call the M the real MVP years we just didn’t have have the kind of team that we needed

Yeah you know no I’m not going to even go there I was going to go to my team that I was having a ball and knowing you ain’t got a chance in a lot of games I remember one game we’re were playing the Lakers yeah and uh I had you know Earl

Bar was my center and I had you know these kind of guys and Kobe looked at me he was they was trapping me and I was like calling for help and he just start laughing at me he was like yeah you about to go through it you know like go

Through what I what I went through good luck and helps it does absolutely it doesn’t humble you I mean you it makes you more angry I mean you used to get angry you would be seething you know and and and well I can’t do it

All uh but I do need a little bit of help and and they gave you as much as they could they could always give you what their level of talent was and what I allowed them you know to do around you you know as a coach so some are your

Favorite years though too you know like everybody thinks on outside that the championship years automatically has to be your favorite but some of those years where you’re playing with guys who are maybe not at that level that you know like a LeBron and Shaq those become some

Of your favorite Seasons because you get so much more out of those sometime and you squeeze all the juice out the lemon and those teams and you see you you you learn a lot about yourself you see a lot of growth in your teammates and so sometimes you walk away like you know

What we didn’t win but this was a successful year from that standpoint right yeah well as as you said you know you sque lemon you get exactly what’s inside of it lemon lemonade okay and uh and I always used to use that analogy that if you squeeze a player when

There’s pressure yeah you get exactly what’s inside also yeah and you don’t want Lemonade you know so and uh and so pressure has a tendency to change uh over the course of a career a season and then especially when you go through adversity like you went through won the

Champion ship separated your shoulder surgery you know rehab the Olympics you know all that stuff and then you know we draft bees yeah I love Mike man what a talent yeah what a talent it his day and and I want to keep him when we got the

Big three but uh uh but we had to move them and Mike came in but but that team was where you could almost know use it as a canvas in how how you’re going to get to the next level and I think that team taught you

How to sort of get to the next level also by having to share the court so you walk in a lot of rooms nowadays and you’ve been doing it for a very long time yeah and you talk about like leader right A lot of people talk about leading

And being a leader how do you actually do that how do you actually take that first step to say you know what I’m gonna lead I’m G to stand up in front of a group of men women and I’m going to I’m going to be king I’m going to be

Leader what is how do you do that well it’s an attitude for first I mean and it’s born out of uh I mean I wasn’t a leader uh I was always a guy that you know was on the you know bench as a player so uh I knew how to follow

Leaders I knew how to take Direction I knew how to how how to sort of deal with my role so I learned a lot you know about not being a leader or uh seeing what leaders really do coaches and players uh in my career

Until I became a coach and so and and I remember when Jerry West um I was always good at clinics so when I went to a clinic I was good I could teach drills I could talk to kids and so I had I had this inside of my brain

About X’s and O’s and moving things around and I remembered what coaches used to say to me and stuff and so but when Jerry West pushed me through the door in 1981 November 9th or whatever it was 19 1981 or 18th and he said uh he said to me he

Said this is you this is yours yeah you know I’m going to be the head coach of a $100 million franchise and Jerry bus was very he was saying what Pat never coached a day in his life or and things like that so when he pushed me through

The door and I went home that night and I said to Chris I’m going to coach the Lakers for the next month until they find somebody else um I said I don’t know what I’m going to say to him tomorrow and uh she said you know why don’t you keep it

Simple you know Chris is a a prayer Warrior you know and so you know we’ve been together 55 years and she said house divided against itself surely will not stand that’s what you said to me start there which is a Biblical verse obviously and because we were in

Disarray and Ascension and all that stuff at the time and that you’re either with me or against me mhm you’re either with us or against us so that’s the message that I I just walked right in with that message and then I started to

Uh to talk about where we had to go and and um and so I always belied Dwayne that when you’re in in a position of leadership as a coach I always had to figure out what I was going to say to the guys you know the next day you know pre-practice post practice

Pregame halftime I thought about all these things I used to write down little words about okay this would be a good little place to start maybe at halftime if we’re up or down so you got to have something to say to them that might resonate with them some won’t like it

Some will and then when you go directly at somebody which I didn’t have a I didn’t have a problem doing that because I think it was the truth yeah now was criticism constructive criticism but a lot of players would resent it and but I felt that I had to get to that

Truth I remember when zo when I was coaching zo and I was pushing them real hard in practice one day and and zo was the best you know he worked hard so I I shouldn’t even just went after him but but I went after him one day and uh not in a real

Negative way but I went after him hard because I wanted to motivate him to motivate the other guys and so he gave me the fu everything comes to a silence you know in the practice and we’re over at Bal at the time that’s when we played

The Miami arena and uh I looked at him and he looked at me and he said to me he said should I go I said where should I leave the practice floor I said you’re right you’re out here so he walked into the locker room and on the way out I said I

Said I yelled at him I said zo if you ever say that to me again that’s fine I just want you to teach me something as to why you said f you to me teach me why I can take it and he came into my office

After that and he would he would tell me exactly what he thought as a leader that I was doing that was disrupting the players and so I listen to them you know like the conversations I used to have with you guys yeah I got a funny story

About you but I won’t tell it now but anyhow you gotta have something to say Dwayne I had stuff to say every day you know so you got to have something to say as a leader every day to your troops but not to overwhelm them yeah what do you

Think about all these things that have come out about your motivational speeches like some of them are real some of them are not like people say You’ Tad bags over your head You’ they’re all real I just needed you to say you saw a few of them

I dunk my head you D your head in a water bowl thing yeah but uh I think I would do them to get their attention one because you know it’s hard to keep a group of guys attention for 82 games for Jesus nine months and practices and

Everything and so every now and then and or to make a point you know I can remember and this came from Jimmy Johnson you know I remember I brought oh God I brought a two by 4 by 12 into the locker room 2×4 where you get this from

Got YouTube no no and so I brought the 2×4 in the locker room and I placed it down all the guys were ready because we had a rule you had to be taped ready dressed and everything ready and then you got to rush out of there under the

Court and so I they all looked at the 2×4 and I got on the 2×4 and I walked across it without falling off it balance myself walked right across it and I said well somebody else can come up and and walk and the a couple guys came up and

Walked across it and they laugh I could do it too I said what if we put that 200 feet in the air that now is spanning two buildings 200 feet in the air changes it changes the whole thing it’s called fear I’m not doing that you know here

It’s easy but up here is where you have to play and so you know my my whole theory about that is that you can play on the floor but if you want to beat Dwayne or you want to beat Michael or you want to beat Kobe or you want to

Beat any of these guys you got to meet him at The Rim you got to get up there at the rim and meet him there otherwise they’re going to dunk on you and embarrass you uh but also a subtle message was sent about you meet somebody at The Rim what

Happens I mean what happens it’s a collision man yeah the floor that’s right and I had one rule I said I said if you meet him at the rim and you take somebody out you got to go out with them you don’t want to hurt anybody but you got to meet him

At The Rim Yeah Michael you got to meet him at The Rim or it’s over and so um that’s why playing up here playing on 2×4 by 12 that changes everything down here to up there so anyway I would think about some of these things and I would I

Would talk to either Stan or I’d talk to you know to Bab or somebody and I’d say you know what do you think oh that’d be great go ahead do that and OB say that’s stupid that’d be stupid they’re gonna laugh at you I said well maybe they need

To laugh or something you know like that but um I remember I remember ours with you but I’m not going to get into that any when when the cameras were off we were talking going back to your Laker days for a minute when the cameras were off

We were talking about uh Jerry West who you reference a lot throughout your playing career obviously going into coaching but we talked about one of the the main pillars of this heat culture and it’s the it’s best condition right and so you talked about how as a player

You had to make sure that you were in top right shape and condition and a lot of it was to prepare the other best players which is Jerry West to be ready can you talk about that because now I know where we where we got all this conditioning from and all this

Sure that’s one of it but but the other thing was you know you know you know it’s the fight or flight uh you know syndrome because I I had tremendous fear yeah uh that I wasn’t going to survive and have a job so there were no no cut contracts back

Then except for stars so I never had a guaranteed contract and so I was told by Bill Sharman uh when he came to coach the Lakers in 7172 he came over from the Utah stars in the ABA and of course you know he’s a former Celtic and he brought

Casey Jones with him and Jerry West calls me on the phone and said said I can’t believe that Jack Ken Cook went hired Bill Sharman and Casey Jones who beat me six times in the finals in Boston you know so this was like the Boston Celtics and red arback coming to

Coach the Lakers and so he was really upset about it but he he realized how good great a coach that that bill was so Bill sees me in the summer calls me in for meeting and he says look at I don’t know how this is going to go you know

And I’m thinking my careers over with the Lakers he said but if you will come to training camp and if you win the mile he used to have a mile race okay and then you rent all the the Sprints and you win all the suicides and and you

Play defense against Jerry and Gail Goodrich and Jim McMillan every day hard and elen Baylor uh I said he said ‘ if you do that and show me that he said ‘I I think you can make the team and help us as a Defender and so that whole summer that’s

What I did I got in the best shape of my life and I didn’t I realized that I wasn’t in great shape and then I got into the best shape of my life I went to training camp I accomplished all those things yeah and I made the team and so I

Said if this is all I have to do to make the team then I’m going to do it and and you know what happened the residual reward of that was I didn’t play for the first six or seven games yeah and then I started to play he called my name

Because I was in shape and he sent me after Frasier he sent me after all of these guys R Monroe and you know it’s like meeting somebody at The Rim my job was to survive so I manhandled them and they used to let your hand check back in the

Day and even though they’d still score on me I would I would do things but my conditioning always kept me in the game and then it got me into the rotation and I I became part of what they called in 7172 the Magnificent 7 I was with Flynn

Robinson and myself so that is why okay I carried that with me okay best condition and but you know as well as I do you can’t uh you can’t you can you you could not have played at the level you played and the way that I coached you or

Anybody else coached you unless you were in top shape you just couldn’t you couldn’t be efficient yeah and you were the best conditioned uh athlete you know one of them that we’ve ever had here and so and it and the results showed that how do you how do you like telling

Someone get in shape right okay how do you know that you in like how do you know you’re getting in shape like how do you know you at that level like what did you do to because you said you thought you were in shape and then you got in

Shape well you know I I mean you just no I mean I used to push yourself past like yeah I I didn’t have any like monitors on me telling me that stuff I just you know I could see it I had a believe I

Had a six-pack I I did sit-ups I used to run in the sand uh there’s this this this uh this long 600 Foot Hill on Sunset Boulevard by UCLA i’ I’d run up that and run back go into the gym and play run the steps whatever I could to

To push myself I just knew I was in shape and and uh and it saved my career one time too you know you one of the great stories nobody really knows about was 7172 so Jack Kent cook uh reads the story about this the street ball player

A really great player in New York in Rucker uh the Rucker league and everything guy named Joe Hammond he was called the helicopter and so there was some noise around the NBA back at the time that that Joe Hammond who never played college basketball was going to come off

The streets and play in the NBA somewhere and that the Lakers were interested in them so we’re flying back to New York to play the Knicks and we get out of the cabs at the hotel No Buses back then cabs and and uh Casey

Jones comes up to me and he says um he said go and get dressed and come on back downstairs we’re going to go to practice I said I thought we had the day you know the day off or so I come downstairs Bill Sharm and

Casey Jones myself get into a cab and we go to a gym somewhere walk into the gym I look across and I see Joe Hammond and a friend and uh so Casey says to me you better be good today because it’s a one-on-one deal yeah and U and he was great he was

Talented talented player absolutely better than I was you know and so I said said the bill I said could we warm up for like 10 minutes first so we can get a good sweat I just got off a flight and I said him too and so we started running

Suicides okay okay now let’s do some shooting get warmed up okay and he started to get gassed because he wasn’t in any kind of shape I was in then we played oneon-one and you know at the end of the day you know he won some I want

Some we went okay can we go set run run so it’s a full cord game and and so and so we get back in the car go back to the hotel and I’m like worried to death Casey calls me on the phone he said don’t worry about it you know I mean

This we can’t we can’t bring Joe you know to La so it was him or you like this was that kind of workout I think I think it was you know but the story goes if you Google it up and I did Joe Hammond said he kicked my ass even to

This day he said when I worked out uh against Pat Riley they sent Pat Riley in in to work out with me and I kicked his ass and and I didn’t want to play for the Lakers or whatever it is and uh I never got to meet him I I wanted to meet

Him again somewhere just to say hello to him it sort of reminds me of uh of the game that I played in ‘ 66 you know Glory Road game against Texas Western I became very good friends with all those guys yeah and but I would have liked to

Get got back with Joe because those were the moments some of us go through you know from that standpoint I don’t know got into that story but I did no I’m glad you said not a lot of people have heard that look at that photo right

There but I put that photo up there it is who is that guy right there well look at look how cut I was man I mean in shape body fat was probably 5% beard was perfect Sunny Bono look that’s what it is sunny Bono look at that guy yeah look at that

Guy so did you get did you get a chance to pick your number back then or you just got a jersey 12 no I was number 12 did you pick 12 or they just gave it to you I PI 12 I don’t know why but I

Picked 12 uh I had a jersey I was 42 5442 and then 12 was my number yeah you know but you see this wristband right here uhuh guess what cuz my hands are so small is that underneath that wrist wristband was a bunch of stickum so I’d

Always put stickum and I’d get all over my finger so I could handle the ball yeah and it used to really upset all the players like Jerry West knew when I was because the ball would be he didn’t like it he says and he give it to the

Official I say no Jerry I need it and he said throw it to the official and and then they start finding and oh you can see it right here you see you see it’s right over there stick him so I could handle the ball and the other guy that

Used to use it all the time was uh Don Nelson he was the same way he used stick them all the time so how do you how do you go I mean this is this is a good looking guy yeah show the camera y go right here

Everybody look at this good guy right here so we go from this goodl looking guy but then we get to the P rally on the Seline phase of Life the ammani suits and the what how did you develop this character right here where did this

Character who I was so this is who you was without being on the sideline on the Lakers I mean that’s who I that that’s who I became in like 7879 when I was a broadcaster okay so before you know then I I was always sort of natal dressed and

My dad taught me at a young age that when you go out of the house be groomed you know and so I always had that in me I just didn’t have the money to buy any clothes you know back then but uh we found a tailor in in La myself Jerry

West uh Happy Harriston and then everybody started to go to this one tailor and he started making the suits and stuff and uh this is long before our M and so I just believed that if if you’re the head coach and you’re going to be put in front of a

Team in front of 20,000 people that a leader should the first thing a leader should have is is he should have a presence and he’s got to be able to communicate and he’s he’s got to be able to deal with real adversity those are the three things but the presence is

Important and so looking the part you know I mean they don’t want me to come out here and look like some guy that was wearing these big college shirts in the 70s or 80s or whatever it is I think the fans want to see somebody who’s respectful as a leader and the players

Also from that standpoint you know so I wasn’t trying to show up and uh then all of a sudden it became something else became bigger than what it was I never tried I never tried to do any of that stuff until ‘ 88 so between 82 and 88 I never did anything

Commercial wise and then I did too much I did too many things yeah even when I went on the New York and that wasn’t good because I think some of the players got upset that I was doing a lot of stuff and they weren’t doing things and

I and so I stopped doing things you so we we talked about that a lot in our in our meetings you always would say keep the main thing the main you know when I start getting these endorsement deals and my time start getting spreaded all around you start you always tell them to

Keep the main thing the main thing because you can lose yourself in the midst of you know of all the the lights right you know that comes with you and I’ve always kept that in mind like even you know even through it all it’s like all right what’s the main thing is it

Family is it what is the main focus and so well that’s a perspective that I think uh anybody in your position anybody who who becomes really great at something in a profession where all of a sudden the outside world wants you they want a piece of you yeah you know to promote

Their products to travel to wear their shoes or whatever it is and I think that’s one of the one of the great things about about today is that players have an opportunity to really because it’s a short career theoretically even though you could play know 20 years or eight or nine or

Whatever it is that you have a chance to really uh create generational wealth in in a way with the outside stuff so but I think most players are very very mindful that continue to be great that this is a part of it okay so if you want

Eight days of filming and six days of photographing and I got to move all you know you got to really negotiate that stuff down otherwise it will distract the hell out of you so it take over so yeah yeah so we oh perfect I was just

About to go to this moment so let’s go to 2003 we got this photo right here of zier and I when we came here to this Arena Now The Story Goes Pat and I tell a story and you told the story that you kind of became aware of me when I played

Against Kentucky absolutely going back before that but that was the game yeah that was the and this photo right here is I mean let’s say weeks later like let’s just go weeks later after after I have my triple double versus uh Kentucky yeah what what did you see in me I mean

I know I wasn’t the first pick in the draft but I was the he’s first pick in the draft that year what did you see in me as a fifth pick that make you take that chance on on me as a player well at that time we were really

Desperate like 25 we had Crown yeah we we had I love Crown shout out to CB you know kown was uh uh he was a guy that felt in the draft he was supposed to be picked fourth and fifth because he had a knee he went 10th he went 10th so he

Fell to us and I said wow I mean we We have crown Butler and I loved his attitude I loved his backstory you know I mean God kurran is to this day that’s why he’s coaching here and not because of that he’s his Integrity his his his

Grit his life and and what he can teach our guys is incredible and so we had Quran uh you know we had Eddie we had Brian uh and you so we draft you we got and then we got another guy that came in with you that year but uh when I saw you

In Milwaukee we were playing the Bucks and I had to go across the street from the hotel and get on I was on a treadmill M or a bike and they had the game on and so I’m watching the game and I’m pedaling my ass off and you trying

To get a sweat and all that it’s cold as hell and uh and I just saw something special and I say this because you know greatness stands out it just stands out and there are a lot of great players running up and down that Court great athletes great players other players who

Are very good and um who was your teammate the big guy Rob Jackson yes and I liked him too you know the way he played but but you just stood out Dwayne and you dominated and I I I can say I I didn’t know how big they were I said his

Hands are huge you the length of his arms all the things that I think great athletes need in this game to dominate I don’t care what sport it is it’s you know you had it and uh but I saw the fierceness also there and U so I was

Sold at that time but at the draft the night of the draft there’s this story that went around that I wanted to take Chris Cayman yeah I heard because we needed a big zo was gone zo had had left the team and so we needed a big and

Chris was there I didn’t know you know we had the fifth pick if Chris was going to drop or you’re going to get picked early uh it was Lebron carello and uh who was third well Darko went third dark Darko went second he went second car

Went third and so now it’s uh when when Chris Bosch went up to uh Chris went forth to Toronto Toronto then it was our pick and everybody thought I was going to take Chris Cayman who is a good player you know he’s seven-footer he had a nice career in this league but you

Know I mean one thing I always did was was keep my cards very close on draft night very close even the guys inside okay we’d all meet uhuh everybody give their opinion give me your list everybody had their list I take it all in then I’d meet with Chad okay and and

Chad and I would sit there and go over it and usually we would come into an agreement so no you were the best player you were the best player for us at that time yeah and I I thought you were the best player in the draft at that time

Too and then guess what you got to play with Chris and you got to play with LeBron five years later I said wow you know this is nirvana but uh yeah that’s what I saw I saw right off the page he’s a young kid he’s a mature kid um and

Then when we started to dive into into the whole history of of Dwayne Wade then you know you just learned something about you know why you know you got to where you were and how hungry you were and so that picture coming in and holding

Zier uh one years old Z just one year old just and it seems like yesterday Dwayne you know it was 2003 and uh and here it is for you know already 20 years later so it just like time flies I said where where does it go and and and I get

Sad it makes me sad that I said how did those 20 years already go with Dwayne you know and all the other players that that I coached that you know it just it just went by so fast the game is and the seasons are so fast that you sort of

Forget everything and leave it in the dust until you retire and you say how did it go that fast know I mean I can’t believe I’m sitting on you’re interviewing me and I sitting in here you can’t believe I’m like five years from removed sitting on this side I know

Unbelievable right I still think you can play you know they should have an old man’s League I can play my knees don’t want to play with me I can I can hoop no just put some braces on there put some braces on there put some but I’ve always said that you know

You know the three on three uh what’s it called The Big Three yeah uh is to have the the Hall of Famers the the truly great players only maybe have you know six teams and play three on three half court that would be ugly basketball it’d be Ugly we’re going to cut off part one right there it was amazing talking to coach Ry it’s always amazing talking to Coach Riley but getting a chance to talk to him about getting drafted in 2003 uh one of the most important moments for me but also one of my favorite photos is having

My son zier there with me as well and coming up in part two we’re going to talk to coach righ about how heat culture was created this culture word is something that everyone wants to know about how what is the heat culture how is the heat culture what does it mean

And so we were hear from the man himself who created heat culture Pat Riley coming Soon

In Part 1 of Episode 2 of “The Why with Dwyane Wade,” Dwyane sits down with fellow Hall of Famer Pat Riley for an intimate discussion. The two Heat icons talk about the time Riley had to play 1-on-1 vs a streetball legend to keep his spot of the Lakers roster, how Riley first learned to be a leader and the reasons he decided to draft Dwyane in 2003.

(Click here to listen on your favorite podcast app – https://link.chtbl.com/thewhywithdwyanewade)