Spurs Brazil
04-07-2008, 04:03 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA040708.BuckHarvey.en.37bcf52.html
Buck Harvey: Self to the Spurs? Wait a while
Web Posted: 04/06/2008 10:44 PM CDT
Buck Harvey
San Antonio Express-News
Twenty years ago, the Kansas coach won the championship, then celebrated by signing with the Spurs.
If Kansas wins tonight, that won't happen again. The Spurs will likely keep the coach they have a while longer.
But that doesn't guarantee Bill Self will never come back to San Antonio. If Gregg Popovich chooses to retire to a vineyard someday, and if R.C. Buford takes control of the franchise, here's what Buford will do that first day on the job.
He will call Self, and Self will listen, because few men are as close in this game as these two are.
Others are in line for Self now, with speculation that T. Boone Pickens will channel some of his Swift Boat money for an Oklahoma State basketball coach. Self, a former OSU player and assistant coach, is the natural target. Self will listen, too, because a $4 million a year offer can have that effect.
Those who know Self doubt he will leave Kansas, a program with more tradition and an easier recruiting base. He loves the same Rock Chalk passion that has leaned on him to win.
And if he breaks through tonight? He will live in Lawrence with a trophy and all the free lunches he wants. Larry Brown left before he got to do the same.
Given that, Self might have little use for the NBA. Few coaches have made the transition, and Self hasn't lived the pro grind on any level. Besides, if T. Boone's cash doesn't lure Self, there is little reason to think NBA money will later.
But this analysis comes today, with Self on the cusp. Give him a few more frustrating years of one-and-done recruiting, and maybe Self wants a change.
Self appears to be a fit for either game. He's a smooth, smart man who admits his mistakes. That's a start.
He's joked before that the NBA looks easy. Summers off, right? And Sunday, he said, "the game is about the players," then everything else he said followed that necessary creed.
He's not a control freak, as Rick Pitino is. He doesn't sell with a coating of manure, which surely doomed John Calipari with the Nets. Calipari is better with teenagers than adults.
Self isn't Jerry Tarkanian, either. Self probably already knows how to call a 20-second timeout.
But what would pique Self's interest would be a general manager he could completely trust. He would need to know that someone would protect him in a world he was new to, and he would need to know he had a partner.
He met this person before he left home. Self arrived at Oklahoma State as a recruit, and Buford was the student asked to show him around. They became roommates, and later, when they teamed up as hoops interns at Kansas, they shared a condo.
That was 1985. Buford was the head coach of the JV team, and Self was his assistant. They earned about $10,000. Combined.
"I don't know if I could have had more fun," Self said Sunday, "than what I had that grad assistant year in Lawrence."
The best part of the job was hanging near the right hand of Brown. "Brightest mind I've ever been around," Self said Sunday.
Buford and Self not only were allowed up close, they were required to be. Brown wanted them in film sessions and at dinner, talking basketball and arguing basketball.
"I see the game, and I developed my philosophy from him more than anybody else," Self said.
Self had left by 1988, when Kansas won the title. He was sitting high in the stands that day, and on the floor, as the buzzer sounded, Brown turned to hug someone. There was Buford.
Buford went with Brown to San Antonio, and Self stayed with the college game. But they continued to talk and share their lives. They were in each other's weddings, and their families got even tighter this past season when the Self-Buford alliance was reborn.
Buford's son, Chase, chose to walk on at Kansas.
Something that happened last week in Detroit defined the dynamics. Then, after Kansas had clinched its Final Four berth, the players celebrated by dumping a tub of Gatorade on Self.
The organizer was Chase. How many freshman walk-ons could get away with that?
So this Final Four has served as a kind of reunion. Kansas practiced at the Spurs facility, and former Jayhawk star Jacque Vaughn talked to the players, and Buford has cheered for Kansas, his son and his friend.
"He's played a big role in my life," Self said Sunday of Buford.
"He's helped put me in positions where I had a chance to be here today."
By here, he didn't mean San Antonio, exactly.
Not yet.
[email protected]
Buck Harvey: Self to the Spurs? Wait a while
Web Posted: 04/06/2008 10:44 PM CDT
Buck Harvey
San Antonio Express-News
Twenty years ago, the Kansas coach won the championship, then celebrated by signing with the Spurs.
If Kansas wins tonight, that won't happen again. The Spurs will likely keep the coach they have a while longer.
But that doesn't guarantee Bill Self will never come back to San Antonio. If Gregg Popovich chooses to retire to a vineyard someday, and if R.C. Buford takes control of the franchise, here's what Buford will do that first day on the job.
He will call Self, and Self will listen, because few men are as close in this game as these two are.
Others are in line for Self now, with speculation that T. Boone Pickens will channel some of his Swift Boat money for an Oklahoma State basketball coach. Self, a former OSU player and assistant coach, is the natural target. Self will listen, too, because a $4 million a year offer can have that effect.
Those who know Self doubt he will leave Kansas, a program with more tradition and an easier recruiting base. He loves the same Rock Chalk passion that has leaned on him to win.
And if he breaks through tonight? He will live in Lawrence with a trophy and all the free lunches he wants. Larry Brown left before he got to do the same.
Given that, Self might have little use for the NBA. Few coaches have made the transition, and Self hasn't lived the pro grind on any level. Besides, if T. Boone's cash doesn't lure Self, there is little reason to think NBA money will later.
But this analysis comes today, with Self on the cusp. Give him a few more frustrating years of one-and-done recruiting, and maybe Self wants a change.
Self appears to be a fit for either game. He's a smooth, smart man who admits his mistakes. That's a start.
He's joked before that the NBA looks easy. Summers off, right? And Sunday, he said, "the game is about the players," then everything else he said followed that necessary creed.
He's not a control freak, as Rick Pitino is. He doesn't sell with a coating of manure, which surely doomed John Calipari with the Nets. Calipari is better with teenagers than adults.
Self isn't Jerry Tarkanian, either. Self probably already knows how to call a 20-second timeout.
But what would pique Self's interest would be a general manager he could completely trust. He would need to know that someone would protect him in a world he was new to, and he would need to know he had a partner.
He met this person before he left home. Self arrived at Oklahoma State as a recruit, and Buford was the student asked to show him around. They became roommates, and later, when they teamed up as hoops interns at Kansas, they shared a condo.
That was 1985. Buford was the head coach of the JV team, and Self was his assistant. They earned about $10,000. Combined.
"I don't know if I could have had more fun," Self said Sunday, "than what I had that grad assistant year in Lawrence."
The best part of the job was hanging near the right hand of Brown. "Brightest mind I've ever been around," Self said Sunday.
Buford and Self not only were allowed up close, they were required to be. Brown wanted them in film sessions and at dinner, talking basketball and arguing basketball.
"I see the game, and I developed my philosophy from him more than anybody else," Self said.
Self had left by 1988, when Kansas won the title. He was sitting high in the stands that day, and on the floor, as the buzzer sounded, Brown turned to hug someone. There was Buford.
Buford went with Brown to San Antonio, and Self stayed with the college game. But they continued to talk and share their lives. They were in each other's weddings, and their families got even tighter this past season when the Self-Buford alliance was reborn.
Buford's son, Chase, chose to walk on at Kansas.
Something that happened last week in Detroit defined the dynamics. Then, after Kansas had clinched its Final Four berth, the players celebrated by dumping a tub of Gatorade on Self.
The organizer was Chase. How many freshman walk-ons could get away with that?
So this Final Four has served as a kind of reunion. Kansas practiced at the Spurs facility, and former Jayhawk star Jacque Vaughn talked to the players, and Buford has cheered for Kansas, his son and his friend.
"He's played a big role in my life," Self said Sunday of Buford.
"He's helped put me in positions where I had a chance to be here today."
By here, he didn't mean San Antonio, exactly.
Not yet.
[email protected]