If I were to ask you which former NBA star would accept the head coaching spot of a basketball team 
made up of strippers who would come right to your mind?
If you answered Spud Webb, then you are correct or just made one incredible guess.
That’s right, the former 1986 NBA Slam-Dunk champ and current President of the Texas Legends (the Dallas Mavericks’ D-League affiliate) will be leading New York City’s Rick’s Cabaret all-stripper basketball team set to kick off next month. Webb, along with his team, will be hitting the court while the NBA is technically still in a lockout to fill the void for all NBA fans.
Rick’s Cabaret’s New York team will play their first games in Minneapolis and Miami as part of the Rick’s Basketball Association which will include stops in Texas and in San Antonio.
While my arm was “twisted” and I had “no choice” when asked to cover the press conference at Rick’s Cabaret gentleman’s club and be surrounded by beautiful women, I got a chance to talk with Spud one-on-one at the press conference.
From how he got mixed up in this craziness, his thoughts on the lockout to the San Antonio Spurs’ championship window, here is what Spud had to say.
Jeff: OK Spud, how did you get mixed up in all of this?
Spud: (laughs) I’m trying to figure that out too! A lot of the guys I know that run Rick’s in Texas and a good friend of mine works out there, out in Dallas said ‘Man they are looking for a coach and your name came up,’ and I was like, ‘Man there are a lot of big name guys out in New York,’ and he said ‘No they want you.” But it’s fun, I love it.
With my deal is that the money I make off of it, is going to my charity. I have the “Spud Webb Foundation.” I deal where if something happens to a family I can donate the money to I can donate it to a charity that I grew up in or associated with like with my golf tournaments or basketball camps.
Talk about a job any guy will want to have but will you actually be running these girls in practice?
(laughs) Well I am going to have to! But it’s going to be fun. The girls have great attitudes about it. Probably half of them played some kind of sports. My work is cut out but it’s going to be a joy to work with them.
Though technically there’s still an NBA lockout, what were your thoughts on the tentative agreement?
The biggest losers were the people that work around the arenas and stuff like they were the biggest losers but the winners are the fans now that they get the opportunity to see the best athletes in the world. I’m just delighted it’s over with because every bar, every restaurant, every school or wherever you walk into, people asked ‘When is the lockout going to be over?’ and I am like ‘I’m hearing just the news as you hear it.’ I’m happy for it. It’s a lot of money on the table to lose. Glad the owners and players, and David Stern has worked it out where we can have basketball again.
With a shortened season, do you think it will favor any particular teams?
Well they say the older teams but I don’t see that because if you look at the football strike a lot of injuries came out because of their strike. Hopefully a lot of injuries don’t come out of this lockout and they bring them along slowly. But I don’t see how it favors a team.
I know in the last lockout New York was an older, veteran team. San Antonio, the year they went to the Finals. I just think better teams will win games anyway. In a seven-game series, the better team is always going to win.
Speaking of older teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, do you think a short season will help them with an core of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker getting up in age?
Yeah but they have a great coach (Gregg Popovich) that will monitor that type of stuff. I don’t foresee that (a short season) being a problem for them. Pop manages that team so well, he doesn’t over-cook them so I think they will be ready. It’s going to be a fight for them because there’s a lot of good, young teams over there (Western Conference).
You think the Spurs’ championship window is closed?
I think so unless they find Duncan some help because Parker and those other guys are there, like Manu (Ginobili) but they will need to find someone to battle inside to where he can take nights off.
Click HERE to read more of my interview with Spud Webb at Crossover Chronicles.
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