Basketball Coach Quotes Pat Riley Quotes

Pat Riley Quotes

Pat Riley has won five NBA Championships over his coaching career.

Riley has coached the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Miami Heat.

Throughout his career, he’s been no stranger to controversy, either with his anger, player treatment, or GM decisions with the Heat.

However, Riley is one of the most successful basketball coaches ever and has great insight to offer through his sayings and quotes over the years.

As part of our Basketball Coach Quotes Series, we bring you “Pat Riley Quotes”.

When you’re done enjoying the following Pat Riley quotes, you can visit our Great Basketball Quotes for hundreds of more basketball quotes.

Now, on to the Pat Riley Quotes!

“Don’t let other people tell you what you want.”
“If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.”
“A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning…”
“There are only two options regarding commitment. You’re either in or you’re out. There’s no such thing as life in-between.”
“Shoulda, coulda, and woulda won’t get it done. In attacking adversity, only a positive attitude, alertness, and regrouping to basics can launch a comeback.”

“A particular shot or way of moving the ball can be a player’s personal signature, but efficiency of performance is what wins the game for the team.”
“Great effort springs naturally from great attitude.”
“Being a part of success is more important than being personally indispensable.”
“Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.”
“To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way.”

“Discipline is not a nasty word.”
“Each Warrior wants to leave the mark of his will, his signature, on important acts he touches. This is not the voice of ego but of the human spirit, rising up and declaring that it has something to contribute to the solution of the hardest problems, no matter how vexing.”
“When you’re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you’ll fight for the winner’s circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor.”
“Giving yourself permission to lose guarantees a loss.”
“When a great team loses through complacency, it will constantly search for new and more intricate explanations to explain away defeat.”

“You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again.”
“Look for your choices, pick the best one, then go with it.”
“There’s always the motivation of wanting to win. Everybody has that. But a champion needs, in his attitude, a motivation above and beyond winning.”
“Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers.”
“Management must speak with one voice. When it doesn’t management itself becomes a peripheral opponent to the team’s mission.”

“The Ten Commandments were not a suggestion.”
“There can only be one state of mind as you approach any profound test; total concentration, a spirit of togetherness, and strength.”
“People who create 20% of the results will begin believing they deserve 80% of the rewards.”
“You can never have enough talent.”
“From nobody to upstart. From upstart to contender. From contender to winner. From winner to champion. From champion to Dynasty.”

“You have to defeat a great players aura more than his game.”
“Coaches who let a championship team back off from becoming a dynasty are cowards.”
“When you face a fork in the road, step on the exhilarator.”
“When a milestone is conquered, the subtle erosion called entitlement begins its consuming grind. The team regards its greatness as a trait and a right. Half hearted effort becomes habit and saps a champion.”
“When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, its ready to climb.”