Young bucks occasionally seek out Del Harris and ask what it takes to get a foot in the door and become an NBA coach.
The renowned and revered Harris will pull aside these aspiring mentors and give them this inside information:
“First, you start by coaching junior-high boys. And girls. Then you spend four years with high-school players. And that leads to nine years at a tiny NAIA college.
“That’s really all it takes.”
The instant-gratification generation doesn’t always take kindly to hearing – much less embracing – that circuitous route to the NBA.
But that’s the path Harris took, starting way, way back in 1960.