Mike Looks Back: Villanova Then and Now

March 20 by Leave a Comment

Prior to my NBA debut with Hubie Brown and the Hawks, I coached under Rollie Massimino at Villanova University from 1975-78. That was a period when Villanova turned it around and it was an exciting time in my career. We had some outstanding recruiting classes, which included the talented guard Rory Sparrow whom I would again coach at the NBA level in both Atlanta and New York. During my third season with the Wildcats we wound up the number one team in the Eastern Eight Conference. That year we made it to the NCAA Elite Eight after squeaking past Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers in the Sweet 16 round with a 61-60 victory, thanks in large part to Sparrow’s contributions on the court. Eventually we lost to the NCAA Tournament runners-up, the Duke Blue Devils, but we had a terrific run.

I have a lot of great memories from that chapter in my basketball career. And because of my rich experience and my relationships with coaches Rollie Massimino and Jay Wright, I’ve maintained ties to the program ever since. I remember the night Villanova upset heavily favored Georgetown to win the National Championship in 1985. I was a young head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. We were playing the Detroit Pistons at Joe Louis Arena that night. I found a cab driver before the game and paid him on the condition that he be waiting for me outside the arena when our game ended. As soon as we got finished with the press conference I raced back to the hotel to watch the game. The Wildcats were seeded eighth in their bracket and wound up defeating the No. 1 seeded Hoyas 66-64. What a night for Rollie – it was magical.

Photo by Elsa/Getty ImagesCoach Wright, who is in his ninth year as head coach, has developed the Wildcats into a top 25 fixture. Prior to joining Villanova, he was a successful head coach at Hofstra University and an assistant to Rollie at both Villanova and UNLV. While Villanova has had success in the past, most notably in 1985 when they captured the NCAA title, the basketball program is enjoying arguably its most prolonged period of success in its 81-year history. Last year, Villanova made its first Final Four appearance since the 1985 season when they lost to eventual National Champion North Carolina.

Coach Wright is a homegrown guy and follows in the footsteps of many other successful Big 5 coaches whose roots started in the Philadelphia area. He has shown a tremendous flair for recruiting, no doubt a result of his natural charisma and energy. Villanova now has a national recruiting pool from which to choose and looks poised to be a tough out in the NCAA tournament for years to come.

Wright’s teams are characterized by strong, tough guard play and an overall feistiness that allows them to compete effectively with bigger teams. The current team is no exception and is led by senior guard Scottie Reynolds, who hopes to bring his tremendous career at Villanova to an end with another deep tourney push. Villanova is also well-represented in the NBA right now with recent grads Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry and Dante Cunningham all contributing to their respective teams.

Villanova (2) will face St. Mary’s (10) in the second round of the 72nd Annual NCAA Championships this afternoon at 1:05 PM ET.

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Mike Looks Back: ATL HAWKS 1986-87

March 3 by 2 Comments

Head coach Mike Fratello of the Atlanta Hawks calls out a play and argues a call during an NBA game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California in 1987. Photos by Mike Powell and Rick Stewart/Getty Images

Head coach Mike Fratello sees how he measures up against a Tree Rollins height chart during the 1986-87 season.

During the 1986-87 season, my fourth year as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, we won 57 regular season games to finish first in the Central Division and second in the Eastern Conference behind the mighty Boston Celtics, who would ultimately lose to the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

That year we set the franchise’s best record for regular season wins, which has since been matched by the 1993-94 Hawks team, though it has not yet been surpassed. Dominique Wilkins was among the 20+ Hall of Fame players who competed during the “Golden Era” of NBA basketball. Nique made his second of nine total All-Star appearances that year.

I came across this New York Times article published on April 19, 1987 about our team: “Pro Basketball; Hawks Fulfilling Tall Order” by Ira Berkow

WHEN Mike Fratello – who says he is 5 feet 7 inches (though in a pinch could probably pass for 5-6), and is short enough to have once been turned down for a National Basketball Association head coach’s job because of his height – when Mike Fratello, now the coach of the Atlanta Hawks, stands next to Tree Rollins or Kevin Willis, both of whom are 7 feet tall, and gives them instructions, it looks as if he’s calling up to the second floor . . .

You can read the rest of the article here.

ATLANTA - 1987: Doninique Wilkins #21 of the Atlanta Hawks squares off against Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics during the 1987 NBA game at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

That season I also made my first and only music video appearance. The local Atlanta band Tom Grose and the Varsity released a 45 rpm record for the Hawks titled “Nothing Can Stop Us, We’re Atlanta’s Air Force.”

Who knew I’d wind up joining my buddy Marv Albert in the broadcast booth for the NBA on NBC several years later.

Dominique Wilkins #21 of the Atlanta Hawks and his brother Gerald Wilkins #21 of the New York Knicks are interviewed by Marv Albert before a 1987 NBA game played at the OMNI Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Hawks center “Tree” Rollins towered at 7 ft 1 inch tall, while point guard and 1986 NBA Slam Dunk champion “Spud” Webb stood only 5 ft 5 inches small.

Guard Anthony (Spud) Webb of the Atlanta Hawks leaps to victory during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Stephen Dunn /Allsport

Tree Rollins #30 of the Atlanta Hawks stretches by the bench during a game against the Lakers. Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

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Mike Looks Back: 2003 NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge

February 12 by Leave a Comment

I made it into Dallas and am looking forward to my first event of All-Star 2010: tonight’s Rookie Challenge. It will be interesting to see how the Freshmen and Sophomores wind up approaching the game. Having an extra year of pro ball under their belts arguably puts the Sophomore team at an advantage. And having won eight of the last ten Challenges, they are often favored in this competition.

But I believe the teams’ attitudes will ultimately determine tonight’s outcome. Are the players more concerned about putting on a show or winning? A team that is focused on entertaining the audience with lob dunks is not going to come out on top. Of course the guys should enjoy themselves out there and soak up the All-Star experience, but they shouldn’t disrespect the game. They should come out and play it the way it’s supposed to be played.

The 2003 Sophomore Team and coaches (back row l to r) Head coach Mike Fratello Gilbert Arenas #0, Troy Murphy #1, Tyson Chandler #3, Andrei Kirilenko #47, Richard Jefferson #24, assistant coach Bob Pettit, Jason Richardson #23 (front row l to r) Tony Parker #9, Pau Gasol #16 and Jamaal Tinsley #11

That’s exactly what I told my team when I coached the Sophomores in the 2003 Rookie Challenge down in Atlanta. NBA legend Bob Pettit was the assistant coach and Marv Albert was with me on the bench as my statistician. When you’re coaching this type of game one concern is that you want to make sure to give every player his minutes. Down the stretch you may go with the group of guys who are playing best together to try and win the game. However you also want to be fair to each player and give everyone a chance to perform and contribute.

We faced some tough Rookies in Carlos Boozer, Caron Butler and Amar’e Stoudemire. However there was no shortage of talent on our Sophomore squad: we had Pau Gasol (whom I would coach in Memphis the following year), Gilbert Arenas, Tony Parker and Troy Murphy to name some of the notables. But for some reason we came out playing terrible ball in the first half – it was a three-ring circus. We were doing stupid things: taking silly shots, making dumb plays. By halftime we were getting killed. We were clearly not focused on winning.

Even though the event is supposed to be fun, I was angry and I came down hard on the guys in the locker room. I said something along the lines of, “This is a disgrace. You should be ashamed of yourselves. We’ve got all these Hall-of-Famers here watching; you’ve got Bob Pettit on the sidelines – it’s got to be killing them to watch you play. This is not fun for me. None of you have ever played for me, but the way you’re playing now none of you ever could. “

Well, the team returned to the court on a mission. They wound up playing an incredible second half and winning the game 132–112. The fans got a great show, Arenas made out with the MVP trophy and we were all able to walk out of the arena with our heads held high.

You can catch the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam tonight on TNT at 9 p.m. ET. Afterwards I’ll join Matt Winer, Brent Barry and Eric Snow in the NBA TV studio at 11pm ET.

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Mike Looks Back: Not all our Stars will make it to Dallas

January 28 by 7 Comments

When I was a coach I always took the All-Star reserves vote very seriously. I felt the Game was a great honor for players. So it was important for me to take the time to carefully consider the leading candidates and get as close as possible to picking those most deserving of the opportunity – which only rolls around once for some guys.

Every season when it came time to vote I would hold a meeting with my staff. We’d review player statistics and we’d look at team records. I’ve always felt that winning counts and that guys with winning records should get extra credit for contributing to their teams’ successes. But of course there are exceptions – sometimes a guy on a losing  team has an extraordinary year and deserves to get the All-Star nod.

Tonight the 2010 All-Star reserves will be revealed. In a league teeming with talent, coaches had to make some tough decisions to fill out the seven remaining spots on each team. I think they had four clear-cut choices for both the East and the West. For the East, guards Joe Johnson and Rajon Rondo and forwards Chris Bosh and Gerald Wallace make the cut hands down. For the West you have to go with guards Brandon Roy, Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups along with forward Dirk Nowitzki.

But now look how difficult it becomes for coaches to round out their selections – a process further complicated by having to achieve the right position balance. In the East you’ve got guys like Perkins, Lee, Lopez, Granger, Shaq, Smith and Rose. And In the West Durant, Randolph, Brooks and Ellis are having standout seasons in addition to the usual suspects Williams, Gasol, Kidd and Parker. With only three openings on each team, inevitably some worthy stars are going to get left off the roster. In any case, we can look forward to watching many of our league’s finest put on a great show in Dallas next month.

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Mike Looks Back: Still waiting for my invitation ‘Nique

January 16 by 1 Comment

This week my former player Dominique Wilkins celebrated his 50th birthday. We had a chance to catch up at the Nets game in Atlanta and had a laugh about one of Dominique’s birthdays that I remember very well. It was my second year with the Hawks and we were going into a game at home against the Celtics. Much like now, Boston was the team to beat in the East. It was a sell-out crowd but the stands would be full of Celtics fans wearing green jerseys.

At the morning shootaround I gave an impassioned pep talk about how this was our opportunity to win back the fans. I felt going into the game our team’s best effort could get us a win over the Celtics and start turning those green jerseys into red jerseys.

That night when I was in the locker room writing the notes for the game on the board, I happened to notice that each of the players walked in carrying garment bags to their lockers. I didn’t know why because we weren’t going on a road trip or anything but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Anyhow we went out, delivered a poor effort and were beaten resoundingly. So much for my pep talk.

I was so mad because the momentum and credibility we had worked really hard to gain over the last couple of weeks were conceded without much of a fight. Let me put it this way, after the loss I called for an 8 a.m. practice the next morning. Well, I don’t think any of the players had their eyes open when they arrived at practice on Sunday. I called the morning practice because I wanted the players to see the construction workers outside of the Omni Center parking garage with jackhammers repairing holes in the street.  And as they came into to the arena there were people upstairs cleaning and picking up the mess from the night before.

I asked the players, “How many of you people saw the guys out there repairing the streets on the way in? How many of you saw the people cleaning up the arena at 7:45 a.m.? That’s what life is about. That’s the real world. That’s when you’ve got to work to survive – when you’ve got to go out and earn a living to support a family. And we need to have a better effort. We can’t come out and perform like we did last night because that’s not what we’re about.”

We were a very young team and I wanted them to understand you can’t cheat our fans and cheat our team with that kind of performance. We were blessed to have the privilege of making a living in sports and getting paid to play the game we love and there was no excuse for mailing a game in, especially when we had the opportunity to prove ourselves against one of the best teams in the NBA. It should have been a “war.”

I quickly realized it wasn’t going to be a very productive practice. Once I made my point there was no reason to keep the guys there so I told them to go home. I wasn’t trying to punish them. I just wanted to turn a negative into a positive learning experience. That was it. What I found out later was that the day before was Dominique’s birthday. After the game the players all went to an elaborate private party – the reason for the garment bags. If I were a betting man I’d say that most of them came straight from ‘Nique’s birthday celebration right to practice.  And my speech was probably not the way they wanted to cap the evening.

Watch Dominique and Devyne discuss the Human Highlight’s NBA career and the events planned for his 50th birthday week in Atlanta.

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