Pat Riley Quotes on Basketball, Coaching, and Life

Learn about the former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers during their “Showtime” era via these Pat Riley quotes. He has also coached and served as Team President for the Miami Heat. Having coached five NBA championship teams, Riley has a keen perspective on today’s game.

Best Pat Riley Coaching Quotes

You can never have enough talent.

A champion needs motivation above and beyond winning.

Discipline is not a nasty word.

Short Pat Riley Quotes

Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers.

When you face a fork in the road, step on the accelerator!

Whatever it takes to win.

“Shouda, coulda, and woulda” won’t get it done.

Great effort springs naturally from a great attitude.

There are only two options regarding commitment; you’re either in or you’re out. There’s no such thing as life in-between.

See Structured Basketball Plans for Youth Teams.

Good Pat Riley Quotes

You have to defeat a great player’s aura more than his game.

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.

You have no choice about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again.

Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.

Giving yourself permission to lose guarantees a loss.

There can only be one state of mind as you approach any profound test; total concentration, a spirit of togetherness, and strength.

The Ten Commandments were not a suggestion.

You prove your worth with your actions, not with your mouth.

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.