'Stay in the Moment — and Truly Enjoy It'

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Some moments shape us forever — a childhood challenge, our first exposure to a powerful team culture, or a lesson from a transformational guardian, coach, or leader. These experiences don't just influence how we see ourselves and lead — they redefine what we believe is possible.

For former NBA player, coach, and executive Dave Wohl, those moments came alongside some of the greatest minds in basketball. From Magic and Kareem to Pat Riley and the late, great Jerry West, Wohl hasn’t just witnessed greatness — he’s helped shape it.

One of his many gifts is his relentless curiosity, his ability to extract meaning from experiences, and his commitment to pouring those lessons back into the people and organizations around him.

The Daily Coach continued its conversation with Wohl about an early experience that gave him the courage to tackle adversity, the challenge and opportunity of building culture, and a defining insight from Pat Riley that forever changed how he viewed practice.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Part 1: 'Wearing the Same Jersey Doesn’t Make You a Team'

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Dave, thank you again for doing this. Was there a defining moment in your childhood that reshaped how you viewed challenges?

Growing up, I was left-handed. When I joined Little League, I got put in the outfield because I had to catch the ball with a right-hander’s glove on my left hand, then toss the ball to my right hand, throw my glove down, and finally toss the ball back to my left hand just to make the throw to the infield. It was clearly very inefficient — and it was going to relegate me to the outfield forever. But I wanted to play in the infield, where the action was. So I had to solve the challenge.

I bought a pink Spalding rubber ball — this was in the early 1960s when I was about 12 years old. Every day after school and on weekends, I threw that ball right-handed against a brick wall, caught it, and threw it again. Over time, I taught myself to throw right-handed. Eventually, I ended up playing third base, shortstop, and second base — wherever my coach could use my good fielding. One day, the pitcher forgot to show up, and I got asked to pitch. I even pitched both right- and left-handed in one of the games.

This turned out to be a really important event in my life because it was the first major challenge I made up my mind to tackle — and succeeding at it gave me confidence. It allowed me to lose any fear of taking on challenges in the future. It taught me to never back down from a challenge.

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What was your first real exposure to a strong team culture?

I was fortunate to have great coaching. When I look back, I realize my first real exposure to a culture was through high school football.

The coach I had played with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1950s. He was the classic stereotype — busting out of his T-shirt, wearing a whistle, carrying a clipboard, high-cut spikes — but he was also a math teacher.

We had a really good team. We won our state conference title my senior year. But what really stood out to me were my sophomore and junior years when I first made varsity. Every Friday after practice, our coach would tell the seniors, "Take your team and go talk to them." The entire team would move off to a corner of the field, and all the coaches would leave. It was just the players — led by the seniors.

The seniors would talk about how we were going to play together, how we were going to outwork our opponents, and how we were going to support each other. Even though I was one of the better players, because I wasn’t a senior yet, I wasn’t allowed to speak. I had to listen.

The culture was built around the idea that once you became a senior, it was your responsibility to pass down the standards and expectations. As an underclassman, you paid attention — because you knew that soon, it would be your turn to lead and sustain the culture.

What’s the most difficult culture you’ve had to build or rebuild — and what did the experience teach you?

When I was with Doc Rivers in Orlando, Boston, and then the Clippers, we had to either build or rebuild cultures. But the biggest one was probably with the Los Angeles Clippers. We went from all the outrage surrounding owner Donald Sterling, and Steve Ballmer hadn’t yet officially bought the team. We had a lot of terrific individuals in the building, but Sterling’s culture was based on fear — people kept their heads down, protected their own stuff, tried not to be noticed, and avoided offering any new ideas.

The difference between Sterling and Ballmer was striking. If you brought an idea to Sterling, his first question was, "How much does it cost?" With Ballmer, the first questions were: "How long would it take to implement this? Who would be in charge? What resources do we need?" He would go through a whole list of really important questions. Only at the end would he ask, "Okay, what’s the cost?" He wanted to weigh the cost against the potential benefit and impact.

We had to help our organization fully step away from Sterling’s fear-based culture. We wanted their ideas. We wanted to hear from them. We valued them.

As general manager, I would keep my door open unless I was on a call. Folks started tentatively knocking. I’d invite them in — "Yeah, come on in, what’s going on?" — and they’d bring an idea or a suggestion. I’d encourage them: "Hey, I like that. Why don't you put together a plan for how we'd start it, how we’d put it in place," using the same kinds of questions Ballmer would ask. You could see they were kind of stunned — like, "We should do this?" And I’d say, "Yeah, it sounds great."

The joy was watching people become empowered — seeing them feel comfortable asking questions, offering counterpoints, not to personally attack anyone, but to make the idea better. That was really incredible.

The biggest lesson I learned from all the different culture situations is that there’s no one-size-fits-all culture. We wanted to build one across our entire Clippers Basketball Operations that embraced and touched every team member. And we knew a culture only works if everyone buys in from the bottom up — if everyone feels like they matter, no matter what their role is in the organization.

During your time as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers, what was one lesson from Pat Riley that completely changed the way you viewed practice and preparation?

Pat Riley used to script out his practices for two hours every day. Practice was his baby. If you had something you wanted to mention for practice, you had to talk to him the day before.

One day, we’re having practice, and we’re scheduled to scrimmage for about 45 minutes at the end. It’s a great practice. This is our championship team — Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It’s offense, defense, hustle, fighting for rebounds. They’re going at it.

But then, the last four or five minutes, they just kind of die. They ran out of gas. Even so, I'm ecstatic. I think to myself, "This is one of the best practices I've ever seen."

So I go up to Riley’s office to tell him how amazing it was. But you have to know Pat Riley — he has certain faces that tell you when he’s not happy. And he’s sitting there, not looking very pleased.

Finally, he says, "They just didn’t bring it today." And I'm thinking, "Are you crazy? Didn’t you see the same practice I did?" But Riley said, "Dave, the last four or five minutes were the most important part of the entire practice. That’s the last four or five minutes of Game 7 of the NBA Championship. They gave in mentally. They got tired and gave in. They have to learn how to fight through that."

I had never looked at practice that way before — not just as a whole, but with the most important part coming at the end. Riley structured practice so that everything — the first hour and 55 minutes — built to those last five minutes. That’s where the game is won.

And the truth was, we had lost the 1984 Finals 4–3 to Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics. We should have swept them 4–0. We lost two games when we had leads in the last 25 seconds. It was a wonderful lesson that better allowed me to understand Riley’s thinking.

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If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Looking back, I would tell my younger self to stay in the moment more — and to truly enjoy it.

Especially in basketball, you're constantly looking ahead. There's always a next game, a next practice, a next something. You switch so quickly from the immediacy of a win, a loss, or whatever you're doing in the present, and you're already thinking about what's next.

If I reflect on it now, I would say: Enjoy the moment more. Appreciate your relationships with your teammates more.

As you get older, you realize how fleeting it all is. Unfortunately, I've had 77 teammates and coaches pass away. It was stunning when I started adding it up — and a powerful reminder to truly cherish the moments and the people around you.

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