Quote:
By Jim O'Brien
And I told him I would never have him leave his legs on the practice floor. He had to stretch with the team and start practice with us, but leave it to me to take him out. I never had a problem with him about practicing.
His famous "practice" comments came in 2002. Can we talk about practice?
It's true he doesn't need practice to be a great player. But back then what he sometimes did not recognize is that for the team to play its best he needs to practice -- the group needs reps to gel defensively and offensively.
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And Riley hasn't had those punishing practices in YEARS (since he made a comeback as a coach, in fact). There were a number of stories in the papers during the Finals talking about how much Riley had mellowed in regards to practice.