When I heard that Kyle Shanahan crashed his car and suffered serious injuries, including a concussion, I flashed back to an accident 47 years ago that altered history and has trickle-down effects to this day in the NBA.
Ask Pat Riley. Riley, at age 80, is still kicking ass and building teams as the President of the Miami Heat. He recently lured Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami, a power move trumped only by the 76ers’ snagging of LeBron James.
Had Lakers’ coach Jack McKinney not fallen off a bicycle in 1979, Riley almost surely would never have become a coach. He would have become just another pretty face on TV, bringing you the sports news instead of making it.
This is about fate, and about a coach falling off his son’s bicycle.
Shanahan, one hopes, will fully heal, unlike McKinney, the poor fellow.
Let’s go back to 1979. The Lakers had a new owner, Jerry Buss. He needed a coach. Jerry West had coached the team back to respectability, but was burned out and quit coaching forever. Buss was on the verge of hiring Jerry Tarkanian away from UNLV, but a mob hit on a Tarkanian friend spoiled that deal. Whew.
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