Riley knows all about the disease of me

Sporting News, The, Sept 4, 1995 by Mike Lupica

Pat Riley came to New York four years ago and almost immediately restored credibility to Madison Square Garden and the Knicks. Now he has left town with much of his own credibility gone. It's not where you start, it's where you finish.

Riley did not have the contractual right to leave the Knicks for another team, or negotiate with another team, but did that anyway, in violation of NBA rules. He had friends approach the Heat on his behalf and then Riley himself wrote down a list of demands. All this happened in a season when Riley gave speeches about greed and selfishness and questioned the dedication of his players.

In the same season when Riley gave speeches about the Knicks making a commitment to each other, he did everything he could to get a commitment from the Heat.

People always said that if Riley left the Knicks, it wouldn't be about money. Then when Riley left the Knicks, all these experts said, oh no, this isn't about money. Riley had decided he couldn't win with this Knicks team, and winning was supposed to be everything to him. The Knicks were going south, we were told, and Riley didn't want to stick around for that.

But the real story had nothing to do with the Knicks. Riley was the one looking to go south, because that is where the big money is.

Only he did not say that and will not say that. If he wants to make a money grab, go ahead, just tell the truth. He came into town a great hero and leaves a cheap hypocrite, even if he does come with an expensive price tag. His resignation letter made it sound as if he had to leave the Knicks because of a struggle for power with Dave Checketts, president of the Knicks and president of the Garden. Lie. It is an outrageous lie, as a matter of fact. Anyone who has been around the Knicks for as long as an afternoon knows it.

"There isn't a coach in the league with more power than Riley," Charles Oakley says. "I laughed when I read his letter of resignation. I think the whole team did."

You could go into Riley's book, "The Winner Within," and wade through the New Age claptrap and hang him with his own words, especially words about the Disease of Me. I love that one. But there is no need. Riley has done it to himself now with his actions and a list of demands that must make Micky Arison, the Heat owner, wonder if he is trying to hire Shaquille O'Neal.

In the end, Riley is as obvious a hustler as Mike Keenan, who beat him out the door at the Garden by a year. They are equally dishonest about their reasons for leaving. The only difference between them is that Keenan at least produced a title.

If Riley had been legally clear to negotiate with the Heat, good for him. But he was not. And he did not have a legal right to have a friend of his, Dick Butera, act as a go-between with Arison. He did not have a right, under the laws of his league, to shop himself around to the Heat or anybody while under contract to the Knicks. You want those rights in your contract, those options, have a smart lawyer put them in. That's what a real sharp winner within would do. And he would be a winner in court, if it ever came to that.

I have said the same thing all along, even before this ridiculous paper trail caught up with Riley and his gang: Why did he sniff at the Knicks' offer? Because he knew, probably all the way back in February, that he had a better one. Period.

"When they say it's not about money," Giants General Manager George Young once said, "that means it's all about money."

There was a moment once when Checketts pointed out to Riley that $3 million was twice as much as any of the other top coaches were making. "I'm not like other coaches," Riley said.

He is a great coach. Before I found out he was halfway out the door during the playoffs, I still wanted him to stay as coach of the Knicks, finish the job he came here to do. He has the best protfolio since Red Auerbach, I used to point out all the time. But today he is just in there with Rudy Tomjanovich and Phil Jackson and Larry Brown. And Don Nelson. And Lenny Wilkens.

Remember the season. Riley called his players selfish. He called them greedy. And they were so much better than he was, so much more worthwhile, it is not even funny. Apparently Riley quit them before they ever quit him.

While telling Anthony Mason to worry less about his new contract and more about the Knicks. While worrying about a lack of values not just in the NBA, but in society.