Per Pat Rileys Book: Showtime: Inside the Lakers’ Breakthrough Season

Success is often the first step toward disaster. I call it “the disease of more.” People start thinking, “I’m really the key ingredient. It was my quality minutes off the bench,” or “It was my brilliant coaching decisions,” or “It was my outstanding defense.” People who were quiet during the lean years suddenly want more money, more playing time, more recognition. And they get aggressive and jealous about pulling in their “more.”

All due rewards will eventually arrive for players who can keep their focus on playing at top ability. But the disease of more takes away their perspective.

Source: The Book

CruelRuin

58 | 3 hours ago

Disease of more was a brilliant term coined by Riley. Perfect encapsulation of the difficulties of getting a team of 15 guys pulling in the same direction

ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME | GSW

13 | 3 hours ago

It encapsulates so many of the world’s problems of today and historically too.

BigBossShadow

8 | 2 hours ago

Its the human condition.

ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME | GSW

1 | an hour ago

I watched Chimp Empire and it really is a primate situation. Imagine Succession with Chimps.

heat_fan_ | TOR

24 | 3 hours ago

That’s a dope line honestly

ashep5 | PHI

37 | 3 hours ago

Simmons talks about this all the time (crediting Riley) and it’s true as hell

Fastbird33 | MIA

5 | 2 hours ago

Simmons respects Riley more than a lot of Heat fans do lol

ashep5 | PHI

1 | an hour ago

He’ll be terrified of Riley and the Zombie Heat until the day he dies

Maclin26 | UTA

14 | 3 hours ago

Trying is the first step towards failure.

MattPatriciasFUPA | DET

4 | 3 hours ago

That’s why I don’t try

zippy_the_cat | LAL

12 | 3 hours ago

I think he called it the Disease of Me, at one point.

dirtyshits | GSW

8 | 3 hours ago

This is literally what happens to any team that has success.

It’s why it’s nearly impossible to keep guys together.

Happens in football and recently to the Niners. Guys like Deebo, Greenlaw, Juaun Jennings, Oendrick Bourne(though he did decently he came back as well) etc have left because they thought they deserved more and so far three came back a year later after failing on their new team and JJ is on his way back at the rate Hes been playing on his new team.

zeek215 | LAL

1 | an hour ago

It’s only “bad” for the franchise and its fans. Why shouldn’t players strive to make more money? Do we not try to do well at work in hopes that it will lead to raises/promotions?

T_Dougy

8 | 3 hours ago

All due rewards will eventually arrive for players who can keep their focus on playing at top ability. But the disease of more takes away their perspective.

No they won’t. Plenty of players who contribute to a team’s success end up with less because they don’t get a chance to shine during their prime, get injured because of rotten luck, or otherwise fall short before reaching the promised lands that Pat Riley reassures them to be just in reach “eventually.”

Maximizing your value during your short window in the NBA depends so much on circumstances and luck, that I cannot say a player is diseased for wanting “more” after success gives them the leverage to credibly do so.

BlitzStriker52 | MIA

3 | 2 hours ago

You’re missing the forest for the trees. If most players feels like they’re being undervalued, not getting enough touches, not getting enough recognition, then the championship team is bound to blow up. Players have to sacrifice to win. Pat Riley’s perspective is ultimately from a place of pure competition or in his words “There’s winning, and then there’s misery.”

ThePhamNuwen | POR

3 | 3 hours ago

Is disaster the first step towards success?

nerdyykidd | BOS

6 | 3 hours ago

That’s a bar

FrankandRon | SEA

2 | 3 hours ago

Introduced to this by Simmons and really holds true

Prevalent in sports and absolutely everywhere in the corporate world

HandsomeGemini | GSW

2 | 3 hours ago

George Mikan’s Lakers, Bill Russell’s Celtics, the Magic/Kareem Lakers, Bad Boy Pistons, Jordan’s Bulls, Hakeem’s Rockets, the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, the Kobe/Pau Lakers, the Heatles, and the Curry/KD Warriors. Those are the only teams that have been able to repeat as champions since the start of the league. All time great teams like the Duncan Spurs or the Bird Celtics were never even able to do it. And almost all of them have said it was harder to repeat than to win the first championship.

refreshing_yogurt

0 | 2 hours ago

Jamal Murray had some quotes where he acknowledged it’s easier to be the “hunter” (chasing the first ring) than the “hunted” (defending the championship).

On top of the talent those teams that repeated had, I think it also helped that a lot of those teams were used to being so high profile and “hunted” to begin with. That’s somewhat in contrast to the Spurs, who organizationally seemed to prefer a lower profile under Duncan.

KillerMemestarX | TOR

1 | 3 hours ago

I mean, those guys also often genuinely deserve more. Getting underpaid/underrated guys really helps when you’re building a contender.

Proud_Importance4800

1 | 3 hours ago

The funny part is that Riley understood this better than anyone and still trademarked “three-peat.” Keeping a winning team from turning on itself is apparently its own skill, separate from building one.

UndercoverDimension | MIA

1 | 2 hours ago

Repeating is so hard, that’s why few teams have pulled it off. Not even the Spurs at their peak could pull it off.

Smok3dSalmon | MIA

1 | an hour ago

Draymond feels personally attacked

Weekly_Plane

1 | 3 hours ago

It’s a hamster wheel.. watch J Cole’s interview about it

warriordwarfpang

0 | 3 hours ago

The disease of all the talent in the conference. Why he acting like he developed a team in the last 20 years lol

conniefrancis

3 | 3 hours ago

good luck making the play-in tournament

beachbummeddd | NYK

5 | 3 hours ago

KAT is diseased right now

Banned-from-TV | NYK

0 | 3 hours ago

No he’s not. There’s no reason to jump on the first number they throw out there (especially not that number)

Pat Riley: Success is often the first step toward disaster. I call it “the disease of more.”