Pat Riley Must Have <i> Some </i> Coaching Ability

Where are all the Pat Riley detractors who said he was incompetent as a coach and that anybody could coach the Laker teams he had during the ‘80s? Where are they now, while the Lakers are wallowing and struggling to make the playoffs, after they had verbally run him out of town. Meanwhile, Riley seems to be doing some pretty good coaching on his own in New York.

In Jim Murray’s column of April 1, Jim mentions the Lakers luxuriating in the glory years when they had Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Wilkes, McAdoo, Cooper and Scott, but he forgot to mention the leader of the pack--Pat Riley.

CHUCK PERI

Moreno Valley