Miami HEAT VP of Player Development, the Legend Alonzo Mourning joins the show in honor of Pat Riley Court. Mourning expresses his honor and gratefulness on being brought into the organization. He expresses what he saw on Bam Adebayo, witnessing his growth flirting with DPOY and hopes of raising his jersey up in the rafters one day. Kel'el Ware having the opportunity in being one of the greatest players in franchise history. His thoughts on Jimmy Butler after being called out by Pat Riley.
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00:00And Alonzo Mourning joining us there.
00:01Zoe, how are you?
00:03I'm excellent.
00:04I appreciate it, man.
00:06How are you guys doing?
00:07I'm good.
00:07Thank you for working through your patience
00:09and working through the tech issues with us.
00:10Thanks so much.
00:12This honor for Pat Riley, we were wondering,
00:15we saw Pat Riley get pretty emotional
00:16when Mickey gave him the news.
00:18As a guy who cares about Pat Riley a lot,
00:20did you get emotional seeing Pat Riley get emotional
00:23with learning the court's going to be named after him?
00:26I did.
00:27I did.
00:27And believe it or not, I've seen a lot of different emotions
00:33from Pat over the past.
00:36I've been knowing him since 1995.
00:39So I've seen a lot of different emotions.
00:41And all of his emotions were channeled
00:47towards winning and carrying and uplifting people.
00:51And that's all he put his heart and soul into.
00:55And this moment that we're going to have tomorrow
01:00and have an opportunity to really celebrate him
01:04and commemorate his legacy is an emotional moment for me
01:11because I'm a part of that legacy.
01:15And I'm grateful.
01:17And I just walked off the court.
01:20We were in practice.
01:21And I was just sitting next to him.
01:22I told him, I said, look, man, thank you
01:26for bringing me in in 1995 and giving me an opportunity.
01:33And I want to just congratulate you on this incredible honor.
01:39And he's kind of brushed it off.
01:42I'm like, well, so it all started with you.
01:47It all started like, come on, man, this is about you.
01:51It truly is.
01:52This is about you.
01:54So I'm excited.
01:55I really am.
01:56And I hope that the basketball world, not just people here
02:03in South Florida, but the people that understand the game,
02:09that are fans of the game, that understand the impact
02:13that this man has had over the past 50-some-odd years
02:18on the sport of basketball.
02:20He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of coaches.
02:23He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of basketball coaches.
02:30And I can attest to his passion, the gift that he's given us.
02:39Now everybody wants Pete Coulter and their organization,
02:42whether it be hockey teams, baseball teams,
02:45basketball teams.
02:46Everybody's seeking to try to figure out, OK,
02:50how do you do it?
02:51And it requires a lot of patience.
02:55And it requires a lot of identifying the right who.
03:00And it requires a lot of preparation,
03:04consistent, everybody speaking the same language.
03:08And it all started with his vision.
03:10And I'm proud to have been a part of this whole 50-year
03:18process, man.
03:19I'm very proud.
03:20I was watching this sit-down that he had with D. Wade
03:23over last spring, and he told a story about you at a practice
03:27where he was really trying to motivate everybody.
03:29But he particularly went at you because he knew it would
03:32trickle down to everybody else, so much that you got mad
03:35at him, Zoe.
03:36What do you remember?
03:37You were cursing Pat Riley out, and then you're like,
03:39well, am I actually going to have to, do you want me to leave
03:41this practice?
03:42What do you remember about Pat Riley, the motivator,
03:46so much that he would get heated with your practices?
03:49Hey, listen, man.
03:50We were both very emotional individuals, so I think that
03:57was the only practice I ever got kicked out of.
03:59But I'm going to tell you his strategy, and I could tell
04:05you all a ton of stories over the years, but this one
04:09I can remember, yeah, we got into it.
04:13We got into it.
04:14I got kicked out of practice.
04:15But he called me in his office the next day, and he said,
04:21look, you know, you know why I get on you.
04:27You know why I get in your ass.
04:30I mean, as a coach, I'm averaging 25, yeah, I just got
04:35player of the month.
04:36I'm averaging 15 rebounds, three, four blocks a game.
04:39I mean, what the hell are you getting in my ass for, you know?
04:43And he said, I get in your ass because I know you can take it.
04:48And if they see me getting in your ass, then it's easy for me to get in
04:55theirs.
04:56So I understood this, you know, his strategy, you know, and it
05:02was, it wasn't just about X's and O's with him, man.
05:04It was really about a way to motivate his guys on a regular
05:09basis, and the hardest thing about coaching is to get 12, 15 guys to do
05:16what you want them to do, and to do it as hard as you want them to do it,
05:22and to sometimes do what they don't want to do.
05:25That's the hardest thing about coaching.
05:28So it's not just about X's and O's, it's about teaching them and helping
05:34them understand that the things that I'm trying to get you to do as a
05:39coach are winning habits, and this organization is not for everybody, and
05:47the guys that stick around long enough, eventually they understood.
05:51They understood, and many of them have incorporated a lot of Pat Riley's
05:56tutelage in their own lives, in their business interests, and what have
06:01you, and some of them have gone on to coach.
06:03They've taken a piece of what Pat Riley has given them.
06:08You look at people like Doc Rivers, who played under Pat, and you look at
06:16the Van Gundys, I mean, the list goes on, man.
06:19He has so many disciples and people that he's planted.
06:22You look at Sposter now.
06:23You look at the seeds that he's planted in all these folks that have had
06:29the opportunity to be a part of his tutelage, Byron Scott.
06:34I mean, the list goes on.
06:37Magic Johnson, and I'm one of them as well, so again, I'm grateful for the
06:43opportunity, and tomorrow night, I'm excited for him because it's an
06:49incredible honor, and it's a well-deserved honor, and it's long overdue.
06:53So what is it like watching these games these days with you and Pat?
06:58Like, you guys are always side by side, whether it's home or road, but are
07:03you guys still living and dying with it now that you guys don't have
07:06exactly all the control on it anymore?
07:08Like, what's it like with you two watching these games these days?
07:10Listen, there's winning, and there's misery, all right?
07:16So we suffer through it together, you know?
07:20We suffer through it together, you know?
07:23Listen, we walk through these doors, and if you ever had an opportunity to
07:31walk through our practice facility and our lounge, every door has a
07:36picture of the Larry O'Brien trophy on it, every door.
07:39So it's just a pleasant reminder of why we come to work every day.
07:43That's why we come to work every day, you know?
07:46And I wear this ring that I have on, you know?
07:50This is one of the three that we won, so I can remind the players that,
07:55hey, man, this is what we're here for, you know?
07:58Because we live in this toy department of human affairs, you know?
08:05We get kind of distracted from the main thing, and the main thing has
08:11always been the main thing since he walked through these doors in 1995,
08:15and that's winning.
08:16That's it.
08:17That is it, winning, by any means necessary, you know?
08:21And we have built our culture around that and helping to understand that
08:26everybody speaks that winning language, and if you don't speak that winning
08:30language, you know, you're out the door, you know?
08:33So we talk it, we practice it, you know?
08:37It might not always, you know, fall into place for us, you know?
08:42But that has been the consistent focus of our efforts since his tenure back
08:51and started, the genesis of his tenure started in 1995.
08:57Talking to Alonzo morning, Pat Riley getting the court at the Casillas
09:01Center named after him tomorrow night.
09:03You can, of course, hear all that coverage right here on 560 WQAM and
09:08very much looking forward to that night.
09:10So I want to take it back a little bit.
09:12The last time we had you on the show, we were actually interviewed on a
09:16cruise ship, and we asked you about Bam on a buyout.
09:22He was not even 20 yet, so, and you said back then, you thought that he
09:26was going to get his jersey race thereafter and lead the franchise.
09:30Oh yeah.
09:31What did you see in him back then?
09:33And then how is it, I guess, how has it been seeing that all unfold that
09:38you kind of nailed that one?
09:40Hey guys, you can't teach hunger.
09:42I mean, the man grew up in a trailer park.
09:45Okay.
09:47Single mother.
09:49Okay.
09:51We've done our due diligence on our players.
09:53You know, we know their background, where they came from, you know, and
09:57watch tape of them during that time in Kentucky.
10:05And, you know, I'm a good judge of talent, you know, I've been around this
10:08game for a long time, you know, and I can forecast it.
10:12I can, you know, when I saw Bam, you know, I saw a little bit of me.
10:18I really did, you know, and, you know, I, you know, God willing, although I'm
10:24around that we can, you know, I can be a part of that celebration.
10:29And when we do raise his Jersey to the rafters, you know, because he has
10:35gotten better every year that he's been here, you know, and I don't expect
10:40this year to be any different at all.
10:44And I think that the next obviously individual goal on his mantle would be
10:51defensive player of the year.
10:53You know, he's been flirting with it for quite some time, you know, but,
10:55and I thought he earned it last year, you know, but I think this is the
11:00year I really do, you know, so I'm excited for Bam happy to see happy,
11:06happy to witness the growth overall, you know, and yes, yes, we will be
11:12raising his Jersey to the rafters one day.
11:15What was that?
11:16That first conversation like we saw you post on Instagram this summer with
11:20did, what did you like learning about the young man after you guys took him?
11:25Well, my first, when I first met him was in that it's your Instagram is
11:33when I first met him, uh, I walked up to him and I said, welcome to the
11:38family.
11:40And then I told him, I said, you have an opportunity to be one of the
11:46greatest players in franchise history.
11:50I see you have an opportunity.
11:51I said, but you got to put in a whole lot of work.
11:54I see your skill level, the abilities that God's given abilities that you
11:59have, you know, you got an opportunity and he looked at me and said, I'm
12:03ready to work.
12:04I'm ready to work and I'm gonna tell you, man, he has improved over the
12:09summer, just a little bit of time over the summer, uh, training camp.
12:14We've seen drastic improvements, you know, and, uh, I don't expect anything
12:19different from him.
12:20You know, I think that, um, obviously still some things that he has to
12:25improve on, you know, that's obviously he's 20 years old and I think people
12:29feel you, you look at me, you forget that he is 20, he's a 20 year old kid.
12:35And, but I think good things on the horizon for Khalil.
12:39I really do.
12:40You know, he's around, uh, the right veteran core that he can feed off of
12:46and, uh, he can develop the right winning habits and everything, you
12:49know, and he's got all the right people in his ear, so he couldn't have
12:53landed in a better place.
12:54He's going to, he's going to do great.
12:56Going back, you, you know, you were mentioned about, you know, you and
12:58Pat would get any, cause he felt like he had to go at the star sometimes
13:02to, to go at everybody else.
13:04You feel like that was a little bit of what was happening with Jimmy at
13:06the end of the year, because it feels like Jimmy has taken that, uh, whatever
13:10you want to say, the press conference was, and it does feel like the vibes
13:14at camp and the work and playing the back to back in preseason feels like
13:19he's gotten the message.
13:20What do you, what do you make of how Jimmy's responded to, to maybe
13:23Pat's call out?
13:24Listen, man, he's doing everything that is asked of us, of him.
13:29He's doing everything that's asked of him, you know, and that's what we want
13:33out of our, our leader, you know?
13:36Um, and that same thing that the role that I embrace when, you know, I was
13:43the focal point of the franchise, you know, I mean, just, you know, it's not
13:48a whole lot of talk, you know, it's just about being present, uh, setting
13:53the example, you know, and putting the work in and Jimmy's done all of that.
13:58You know?
13:59So we can, we can't expect anything more than that.
14:02Uh, we know what he's capable of doing.
14:05He's shown us that.
14:07And we're excited about the year.
14:08We just hope and pray that everybody stays healthy, you know?
14:12So we have an opportunity to take that next step.
14:16Before we get a chat here, Alonzo morning, tomorrow night, Pat Riley's
14:18getting the court named after him at the Casaya center, that championship
14:22that you guys got together after all those years though, what was, what's
14:26the personal moment you remember with him?
14:28Like when you guys finally got to the mountaintop, like what's the, what's
14:31the image that stands out in your mind?
14:34Uh, I mean, it's a lot of different images, man.
14:40Um, I mean, in that locker room and when we celebrated in 2006, you know,
14:48and y'all remember the famous bin with all the cards and everything to, to
14:53keep sakes in there, you know, that we carried around with us during the
14:56playoffs, you know, and you know, that moment, you know, when those cars
15:02were all over the locker room, I mean, some of y'all had an opportunity
15:05to kind of witness that moment.
15:07Y'all were in the locker room in Dallas at that particular time.
15:10I mean, I think, I mean, finally, I mean, we were able to actually, we
15:14climbed the mountaintop, you know, and we made it to the peak and, um, it
15:21was a lot of sacrifice, a lot of hard work, you know, Pat would always
15:24say, Hey, you never know.
15:26You never know.
15:27You're going to win a championship until it happens.
15:29You know, I mean, you can look great on paper that doesn't guarantee
15:32you anything, the hard work that you put in.
15:35It doesn't guarantee you anything, but without it, you don't stand a
15:38chance and, um, you know, we, uh, he put together the right team for
15:47that moment.
15:47It was our time, you know, it's, it's written in that championship
15:51ring.
15:51It was our time.
15:53And, um, you know, I'm grateful for his, his knowledge and his tutelage
15:58at that particular time, you know, to help us get to that particular
16:02point, you know, and to 13 years for the franchise to get their first,
16:06you know, so, uh, I'm happy to have been a part of it.
16:10Thanks so much for the time.
16:11So we really appreciate it.
16:13Listen, man, it's my pleasure, man.
16:15Hope to see y'all at the game tomorrow.
16:16Very much.
16:17I'm looking forward to it.
16:18I'm looking forward to the great Alonzo morning, giving us some time
16:21talking about Pat Riley, getting the court named after him tomorrow.
16:24Pat Riley court at the center.