Pat Riley lures Lebron James to Miami with the luck of the Irish
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Pat Riley had more than the luck of the Irish when he snatched Lebron James away from Cleveland and built a dynasty this week for the Miami Heat.
The cool as a cucumber former coach and now president has outwitted all of the other teams, most notably the Knicks in landing the biggest free agent in all of sport.
Add Lebron to his other signings of Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and we have the making of another Lakers 'dynasty' team.
In the process he has set up an amazing rivalry between his old team the Lakers and the Heat going forward.
As he said in an interview with our sister publication Irish America a few years ago "you have to constantly keep the feeling that you can win, in spite of what other people think."
In that interview he also stated "Each and every person has to have a mission in life. There has to be a desired state you want to get to. Once you get there that will continue to motivate you, inspire and fuel you.
He must be at that Nirvana stage after these three signings, which catapult the Heat into the realm of Jordan's Bulls and Magic's Lakers.
Rily grew up in an Irish family in Schenectady, New York.His great grandparents had come over from Cavan to work the Erie Canal.
Referring to his Irish upbringing Riley said "I went to Catholic school, went to church every day. What to me the Irish are about is a great work ethic. I saw it in Chuck Daly, Mike Dunleavy and other coaches of Irish descent.
"Born out of that Irish upbringing, too are good values. The value of doing right .It is very simple, It's cut and dried."
Riley played for Linton High School in Schenectady.
Linton High School's 74-68 victory over New York City's Power Memorial on December 29, 1961, is remembered for its two stars: Power Memorial's Lew Alcindor (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar); and his future coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, Linton's Riley.
In 1991, Riley called it, "One of the greatest games in the history of Schenectady basketball."
No he is leading the Miami Heat into the stratosphere and a chance at being one of the great basketball dynasties of all time.
Having created one dynasty in Los Angeles, Riley now looks set to create another.
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