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May 30, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- It would be difficult to fathom how many Milwaukee Bucks fans, during the franchise's 40-year history, have traveled the stretch of State Street that runs between North Forth and Fifth streets.

Even the most ardent of that throng of fans, though, would be hard-pressed to envision a tree of any signifiance along that route.

Maybe that is because the most prominent one is not visible. But its roots are unmistakably there, stretching north and south across the busy thoroughfare.

It is a coaching tree. And by National Basketball Association standards, it is a mighty oak.

During the course of the 2007-08 NBA season, 34 former Bucks coaches or players were working the sidelines as either head coaches or assistants in the league.

And beyond that group, over 40 ex-Bucks have held either professional or collegiate coaching positions since the organization originated in 1968.

Milwaukee fans haven't had a lot to celebrate since the team reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2001, yet the Bucks still rank as the sixth-winningest franchise in NBA history. And the majority of their coaches-in-the-making were key contributors to that proud tradition, either as coaches or players.

When the 2007-08 campaign began, the NBA's head-coaching ranks included three former Bucks bench bosses: Don Nelson of the Golden State Warriors, Mike Dunleavy of the Los Angeles Clippers and George Karl of the Denver Nuggets; two one-time Bucks assistant coaches: Mike Woodson of the Atlanta Hawks and Sam Mitchell of the Toronto Raptors; and four men who played for the Bucks: Sam Vincent of the Charlotte Bobcats, Scott Skiles of the Chicago Bulls; Larry Krystkowiak, with the Bucks; and Dunleavy.

Further down NBA benches, serving as assistant coaches, were nine individuals who worked in Milwaukee as either head coaches or assistants: Chicago's Ron Adams, Denver's Tim Grgurich, Detroit's Terry Porter, Golden State's Larry Riley, Indiana's Lester Conner, the Clippers' Jim Eyen, the Los Angeles Lakers' Frank Hamblen, Minnesota's Bob Ociepka, San Antonio's Don Newman.

And the league's assistant coaching ranks also included 20 Bucks players of yesteryear: Atlanta's Alton Lister, Boston's Armond Hill, Charlotte's Paul Mokeski, Phil Ford and Dell Curry, Denver's Adrian Dantley, Detroit's Dave Cowens and Michael Curry, Houston's Jack Sikma, Golden State's Sidney Moncrief, Indiana's Conner, the Clippers' Rory White, the Lakers' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Craig Hodges, Minnesota's Jerry Sichting, New Orleans' Paul Pressey, Phoenix's Jay Humphries, Toronto's Alex English and Mike Evans and Milwaukee's Tony Brown.

The last of those fraternities gained another member last month when Skiles, the Bucks' new head coach, appointed former Bucks player Joe Wolf to his staff.

Abdul-Jabbar, the center and centerpiece of the Bucks' 1971 NBA championship team, became a devout student of the game as a teenager and has studied its intracacies ever since. But he has never been offered a head-coaching job in the league.

"It's hard for me to figure out," he said. "Too many people from my era have gone on either in management or coaching. I just haven't gotten those opportunities.

"But I played longer than anyone else. I was 42 when I retired. Most people at 42 had been coaching for 15 years already. So I had some catching up to do. People may have thought I didn't know enough, or whatever. You'd have to talk to the general managers."

He hasn't given up hope that an opportunity might come his way, but in the meantime, he has shared his wisdom as a special assistant with the Lakers.

"It would be great to be a head coach in the NBA," Abdul-Jabbar said. "It would be wonderful. But I am coaching in the NBA. I do have an opportunity now. Andrew Bynum is a project for me, and it's working out well, so I know I've contributed something there.

"If being a head coach doesn't happen, that's OK. I'm very happy with what I've been able to do. I had more than enough of an opportunity to be a head coach in the USBL. And in 2002, we won it. So I've succeeded in all aspects of the game."

Most of the former Bucks who have entered the coaching ranks played for Milwaukee during the late 1970s and early '80s. They benefitted from playing the game under Don Nelson, renowned as one of the game's most innovative coaches, and Del Harris, widely respected for his mastery of the game's Xs and Os and his teaching prowess.

Hall-of-Fame center Bob Lanier tried coaching only briefly following his playing career before becoming one of the NBA's most prominent ambassadors as an employee of the league office.

Lanier is not surprised at all that a number of his former Bucks teammates went on to become successful coaches. He remembers the head start they received during their years in Milwaukee.

"All of those guys really understood basketball," he said. "We did a lot of clinics in the community, teaching basketball grass-roots style. Junior had his deal ... Q.B. (Quinn Buckner) ... Brian (Winters) ... myself, Harvey Catchings, Paul Pressey. All of us went out into the community and did just wonderful things, and that was so important. Sidney (Moncrief), of course, was so eloquent in teaching kids, too.

"What made it great is that we weren't just ballplayers; we were students of the game. That was the key, to take that knowledge and make it fun for kids. That, to me, was pretty special. So I'm not surprised at all that many of those guys have become coaches; not with that group.

"I am surprised that those guys haven't gone on to become general managers and presidents of basketball teams. They had great, great knowledge, but not all the time had great opportunities."

Winters, another student of the game since his teens whom Nelson praised for his "intuition" during his playing days, served as an assistant at Princeton University under the legendary Pete Carril and with the Cleveland Cavaliers under Lenny Wilkens, the NBA's all-time winningest coach.

Winters went on to earn head-coaching opportunities with the Vancover Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors of the NBA and with the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.

He now calls Denver home, and hopes another coaching offer will come his way someday.

"I always thought I wanted to coach," Winters said. "I just didn't know what level I wanted to do it at. I'd always enjoyed the game. I love the game, and I still do. It was always an interest of mine."

Winters considers himself fortunate to have played and coached under some all-time coaching greats. They made quite an impression on him.

"I don't know if there was one particular person," he said. "I was blessed by being able to play for a lot of good coaches. I played in high school for Jack Curran, who is a tremendous coach and may be the winningest coach in New York state history. I played for Frank McGuire in college.

"I had a lot of good influences in that regard. I had a lot of good NBA coaches. I always enjoyed talking about the game, trying to figure out the little nuances, the Xs and Os. It's been a big part of my life."

Lanier and Winters were two pillars of the Bucks' teams of the 1980s, which won seven division titles and won 50 or more games seven times.

During their glory days, Lanier and Winters crossed paths with several teammates who would also go on to make their mark in coaching.

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