Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
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And boy, does he make a mess of it.
Hes even bought Jeanie a tennis team to make her happy.
In his mind, all he needs to do is kick back and enjoy the returns on his investment.
But that doesnt cut it.
To that, Magic responds with what would become a player-empowerment-era credo: I earned that shit.
It wasnt cause you loved me like a father.
Its because Im the best player on this motherfucking team.
Winning Timesuggests that perhaps its a generational thing.
And sure enough, hes a dead man walking when he finally gets into the office.
A series of early setbacks teaches him a hard lesson in the limits of being a players coach.
He can no longer be everyones buddy like he could when his job was to implement Westheads system.
He may be movie-star slick on the sidelines, but Rileys competitive fire would be unrivaled.
In the shows telling, it took some losses for Riley to find his footing.
But the big difference between Riley and the teacher-throw in he succeeded?
Hes capable of learning on the job.
In ten years, hell be feeling like a fool.
But my problem is with you.
Your selfishness and superficiality.
I honestly wondered what was keeping me from signing that extension.
Magic is more famous than Rick Springfield!
1 on the charts on August 1, 1981, the day MTV launched.
Am I the coach?
I guess well find out.
(Cut to: them not finding out.)
The press conference really did happen.
Yes, Laker fans really did boo Magic over all this.
More proof that the younger generation gets what Magics doing here: Jeanie is onboard.
She even slags 7-Up for taking a wait-and-see attitude over it.