After playing for 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors and two seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, Mychal Thompson is sharing fatherly advice with his son, who finds a new home in Miami.
Despite urging Klay Thompson to join the Los Angeles Lakers, Mychal explained that the veteran shooter is the type of player that Heat president Pat Riley preferred.
Mychal said that Riley only cared about winning, whereas discipline is on a different level than what teams Klay has played for.
“Klay is Pat Riley’s type of player. Very mature, very adult, only cares about winning. But I did warn him. I said, ‘Listen, son. I don’t know how other teams handle it, but you cannot be late. If you’re a Pat Riley player, you got to be on time. And being early, I should say being on time is being late. You got to be early,” the four-time champion’s father said, via WQAM 104.3 Sports.
The former NBA big man talked about role models during his time with the Lakers, especially for being punctual during practices.
You gotta be early.’ That’s the way Magic Johnson was; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was when I was a Laker. If practice was 10 o’clock, they were there by 9:15 getting ready. So that’s the main thing I told him.”
In essence, the Heat organization is wholly built differently from the other teams, and is also being handled by champion coach Erik Spoelstra.
“I don’t know what kind of practices you had in Dallas or Golden State when it comes to time, but when you’re talking about Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra, you got to be an adult. You gotta be a pro. And you gotta be on time, and you gotta work hard. Just do those two things, and you’ll get along fine with Riley and Spo,” he added.
Riley has three championships with Miami, one as head coach in 2006 and two as team president in 2012 and 2013, while Spoelstra led those two as the tactician.
