Pat Riley always had a very different style. He was competitive and strict about his discipline. As much as he recently claimed that he had conflicts with almost all the players. Even in the past, there were some who speculated an air of tension between Riley and his players. While his comment does hint at the same, it was also clear that the players had great respect for the former coach. Reflecting on one of the toughest moments of his life, when his mother passed away, former Coach Riley recalled how his team extended their support.

He mentioned how his players weren’t particularly fond of the tactics he used in work. However, they were all in it together when times were tough. Riley recalled how, when his mother passed away, both Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal showed a heartwarming gesture by putting their hands on his shoulder. The team was in Chicago, and the former coach felt that he had his extended family with him.

“I remember you know DWade just putting his hand on my shoulder you know Shaq putting his hand on my shoulder so it’s an extended family cuz I think we all go through it and so one of the best things that came out of that,” Riley recounted.

He recounted another story of that time. Riley had crushed all the flowers from his mother’s funeral and made rosary. When he asked the Miami Heat players to throw their personal items into the 15-personal pit, he himself threw in three or four rosaries. When they finally won the championship in 2006 and everyone began throwing their stuff up in the air, both Riley and Shaq, worried about the rosary, began looking for it.

“Shaquille found out about it and I remember the night that we won the championship in Dallas and and at the end of the game we all came in. They started throwing those cards and everything up in the air and around and I said God I said did we take our rings and our rosary beads and everything out of there and Shaq is down there helping me look for it,” Riley shared.

Luckily, the staff had already taken care of it, as they knew the team was going to make it to the championship that year. Speaking of that year, he recalled that the team had only one goal in mind which was to win a championship title. The former coach even touched upon the reason that convinced him why the players didn’t see eye to eye with his ethics.

How strict was Pat Riley with the players?

Riley mentioned that back when he was young, he was much different than he is now. “I didn’t want to fine people and but I took a lot of possibly sometimes their pride and their ego,” Riley said. 

The former coach’s rules were so strict that Shaquille O’Neal had a hard time understanding their values. Riley had a very strict rule regarding body fat percentage for players in different roles. O’Neal was surprised when Antoine Walker and James Posey were suspended for being overweight during a practice check.

Has that ever caused any trouble between the former coach and the players? The former coach thinks so. In the interview, he admitted that he had some conflicts with the players. “I had conflict with all my players. All the players who had a certain level of greatness there was some conflict which is good,” Riley noted. Although he has changed, there hasn’t been much change in his work ethic.