|
“…To say you’ve been to the Pete Newell Big Man Camp is a stamp or a badge that says you are a certified big man…” ---Hornets Assistant coach Kenny Gattison
You may have never heard of Pete Newell, but if you’ve seen David Robinson, or Shaquille O’Neil, or Bill Walton then you know about his work.
You may have never heard of Pete Newell, but if you’ve seen Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kiki Vandewege, or Hakeem Olajuwon, then you know about his influence.
|
The other two coaches to do it are Dean Smith and Bobby Knight.
His passing brings decades of memories to the forefront of this NBA season. I spoke with New Orleans Hornets Assistant Coach Kenny Gattison about the magnitude of Newell’s influence, particularly on frontcourt players.
“…The quality of your shot will depend on the quality of your footwork…” ----Pete Newell
Newell’s bread and butter were teaching fundamental skills and footwork to basketball players (big and small) at his now-famous Pete Newell Big Man Camp established in 1976. Kenny Gattison attended three of his camps during the 80s while with the Phoenix Suns.
GATTISON ON ATTENDING PETE NEWELL’S CAMP
“When you talk about “the Jack Sikma move” and Jack Sikma himself is there to show it to you…it means more. Or “the Kiki Vandewege move”…that hard dribble and step back…it just made the entire experience great.”
GATTISON ON HIS FIRST MEMORIES OF PETE NEWELL’S CAMP
“Coach was so personable…he was a father figure to many of us and he always walked around his camp to have personal conversations with every guy. He knew who you were and what you did. It was the little insights he gave you that I loved about him. The only vested interest he had was that he wanted you to become a better player.”
GATTISON ON WHO BENEFITTED FROM PETE NEWELL’S CAMPS
“I know one guy who benefitted greatly from his camp – Kenny Gattison! You take the things they taught you and if you pay attention you can’t help but get better. I’m a prime example of a player who went and everything they showed me I just absorbed.”
“Once you attended one of his camps you could always pick up the phone and talk to him. I remember when I was coaching at Old Dominion University I had a 6-10 kid from Australia that needed work and the way to get a kid like that into his camp was to have a former student make the call. Because of our past relationship he was accepted into the camp.”
|
“First off, the biggest thing is that unlike guards…who get 7-8 dribbles etc…big men work in a confined, compressed area and can use only a dribble and a half to get into their move and get that shot off. It’s so important that no matter your primary move you’ve got to work on a counter move just as much. You have to drill so much that you’re not even thinking about the counter move…it just comes instinctively. That’s one of the things I’m trying to get Tyson Chandler to work on. If somebody is playing him to go middle and continue to go middle he needs to get to the counter. You just have to rehearse it, practice it, and do it.”
Secondly, every big man is different. David West had an extremely high skill set when he came to the NBA. Great shooter, very high IQ. He’s turned out to be an All-Star. Coach’s principles worked then and they work now.
Pete Newell was a noteworthy coach who influenced the futures of generations of superstars from Jerry West and Oscar Robertson, to James Worthy and Scottie Pippen, and ultimately 17-year-old Lakers rookie Andrew Bynum. Newell was 89 years old when he connected with the emerging LA star.
He was also an NBA executive with Houston, Golden State and the Lakers. You may remember one of the great trades in sports history...Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman. Newell was the Lakers general manager who pulled the trigger on that one.
Newell’s influence spanned more than 60 years. If you believe in the “Six Degrees of Separation” theory it’s not a stretch to believe it will last another 60.
