Monday, September 14, 2020

Big man coaches

     Who were the best college coaches of big men? That is hard to answer, for there have been many good ones. However, it would be hard to argue against John Thompson and John Wooden. Sure, both had big men with exceptional natural talent, but the point is that they knew what to do with that talent, and made good players better.

    Thompson coached Patrick Ewing, Dikembe Mutombo and Alonzo Mourning, to name probably the most famous of his stable. Wooden had Lew Alcindor (the greatest of them all), Bill Walton, and Swen Nater, to name just three. All of them went on to be NBA stars.

    What is interesting is that Thompson was himself an accomplished post player, but Wooden was small - but still was able to teach players to play in the post.

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