Pat Riley the former head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers wrote a book entitled "The Winner Within." In his book, Riley warns of the dangers of The Disease of Me. He writes how his former team allowed their egos to cause one of the quickest falls of a talent-laden team in the history of the NBA.The Lakers had won the championship the previous season and were the heavy preseason favorite to win it all again for a second time, but resentment, competitiveness, and discord set in among the players. They bickered over who was getting the most touches, over who was getting the most attention and recognition they each individually felt they deserved. The players allowed petty irritations to grow into gigantic obstacles that split and divided the team.
As a result, the Lakers shifted their attention from the teamwork of winning to the self-centeredness of whining. They lost in the first round of the playoffs. Riley summed it up by saying "The Disease of Me leads to the Defeat of Us."
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