'No Layups Allowed'

As much as he wanted to play fast and free, Pat Riley knew the only way to win championships was to be rugged and physical.

October 27, 2021

In the late 1980s, word around the NBA had spread that the Los Angeles Lakers were soft. As talented as they were, if you played them physically, they would wilt and stop competing.

It was a characterization that made Coach Pat Riley furious.

But as much as Riley may have hated the label, it proved accurate in the 1989 NBA Finals as the Lakers lost to the more physical Detroit Pistons, four games to zero.

After Riley left the Lakers a year later, he took some time to evaluate his teachings and get a better sense of what was needed to win championships moving forward.

Riley saw the NBA shifting from a wide-open, up-tempo league to one with a more bruising, half-court style. As much as he wanted to play fast and free, he knew the only way to win championships was to be rugged and physical.

So when he took over as head coach of the New York Knicks in 1991, he told his new team that its philosophy would be simple: “No Layups Allowed.”

Riley had to bury his ego and learn a new way, then sell all of his newfound beliefs to his players. In his book “Basketball on Paper,” analytics guru Dean Oliver writes about the benefits of this adapted philosophy.

Riley improved the Knicks through the defense. He taught them to rotate quickly and he taught them to allow nothing easy. Riley saw the league getting more physical and he decided to push it. He espoused the infamous phrase, "No layups allowed." Numerically, the Knicks’ improvement from ’91 to ’92 was 1 point offensive and 3 points defensive; the Knicks’ offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) went from 105.4 to 106.4 and its defensive rating went from 105.6 to 102.3. They did it by fouling an extra 2 times per game and sending opponents to the line an extra 3 times per game. Their opponent’s shooting percentage went from 47.6% to 45.8%.

“How do I change?” is a question that we as leaders should all frequently ask.

The critical lesson from Riley’s transformation is that we must always look toward what lies immediately ahead, not what’s behind us or what’s years down the road. Despite his past success, Riley was willing to change to win and wasn’t hung up on satisfying his ego or doing things the way he always had out of pure stubbornness.

Change can come in many forms. One type is when a leader discovers something new about him/herself, or another person shifts his/her perspective. It frequently stems from asking: “Is there a better way?” Posing this question allows us to keep our ego in check — opening the floodgates to new ideas and methodologies.

Another way we can change is by observing trends, habits and events that make us re-evaluate what we previously believed. This is what Riley forced himself to do. As a great leader and communicator, he was able to recognize where the NBA was headed and give his new team a slogan that sold the mentality and increased player buy-in.

No matter how hectic what we’re presently going through might be, there is no better time than now to ask ourselves:

  • “Am I heading in the right direction?”

  • “Is my ego getting in the way of my success?”

By contemplating these questions daily, we can begin to embrace change and, ultimately, find new pathways to the top.