Dime is the premier basketball magazine, covering the NBA, NCAA, High School, Playground and International basketball - as well as sneakers, fashion and music.
Issue link: http://dimemagazine.epubxp.com/i/130678
coaches because look at Phil Jackson and what he's done, Gregg Popovich and those guys and what they've done. But when you are playing the point guard position, you have the ability to see it all, see it all before it takes place, the beginning stage as well as the end stage. He's the only that also puts the people in position to be successful. The good ones know how to run a team, control the balance and the tempo of a team. It's cliché, but it's an extension of a coach because the guys are not out there looking at the coach. Ninety-fve or 85 percent of the time, they're looking at their point guard who's got the ball in his hands and he's making the decisions. We have the ability to see all aspects of it, from the inside and the outside. Coaching the game itself, players who understand it… because you ain't gonna reinvent this game. The game is what it is. It's about having the ability to mentor, and to inspire a group of young people to accomplish their goals that you set forth. It's more than just Xs and Os. It's also how you manage your team, how you communicate with them, how you get the maximum out of them when they don't realize they got that in them themselves. Dime: Like you said, you're teaching these kids what you learned growing up in Baltimore. Everyone knows your high school team was crazy. What was the atmosphere like in the city on game nights? MB: Ah, it was crazy. Growing up in the city, it was a packed house. We were fortunate enough to have so much talent on one team, and going around and playing and building a bond with the guys that you're growing up with. At the time, we didn't know we were getting this type of exposure across the nation. We were just hungry, and were the type of kids that believed we were better than anybody that stepped on the foor. We were able to accomplish some amazing things within two years going 59-0. But the coach was the key behind it. Coach (Bob) Wade really steered that whole ship, and was able to keep all of those egos under control where you had to check them at the door and we all thought as one. We accepted our roles. We understood what it all took to be a young man at that stage because we were going through all kinds of challenges in our lives, growing up in the inner city projects. A lot of us didn't have father fgures in the house and coach served as that. It was a lot of things happening, and it was great to have him as that coach, and allowed us to grow up to be the men that we are today. Dime: Do you think the DMV area produces the best talent in the country? 44 MB: Well I'll tell you they always have them coming out. From the Carmelos, from the Josh Selbys, we still have the Donte Greenes, the Rudy Gays, the Sam Cassells, and now they got the little kid Aquille Carr. Hopefully he can get an opportunity to keep climbing up the ladder. So there's a lot of talent that comes through the city. Dime: Yeah, I was going to ask you about Aquille being that the two of you are smaller point guards coming from the same city. He obviously has a lot of hype. When you guys were in high school on a team with multiple NBA guys, did you have the same type of excitement around that group? MB: Well we had national attention, and we had it as a team and not so much as an individual. Everybody was getting the recognition. We were fortunate to have the No. 1 player in the country, which was Reggie Williams at the time. Our senior year in '82-83, Reggie was the No. 1 player in the country, and that brings more attention of your team as well and being the No. 1 team in the nation. We were fortunate enough to have that, and grew in that way. Seeing what the generation is today and the attention that Aquille is getting and has been receiving, which is warranted, but I just wish that he had the sound advice around him to give him a little more dif-