Kelvin Sampson, who is set to become Kevin McHale’s lead assistant for the Houston Rockets when next season begins, got his first NBA start with the San Antonio Spurs.
After resigning from Indiana University in 2008, he was hired as an adviser midway through the 2007-2008 season.
He has since gone to work on Scott Skiles’ staff for the Milwaukee Bucks and while he was in competition with McHale for the head coaching job in Houston, GM Daryl Morey was impressed enough with him to bring him on as lead assistant.
According to Sampson, working as an adviser for the Spurs may have prepared him for a coaching career in the NBA.
“Being in San Antonio, one of my favorite sayings is you don’t know what you don’t know. I talked to a lot of college guys that went straight from college to the NBA. Now that I’ve been in the NBA a few years, they weren’t prepared to succeed. It’s just a different game.”
Count Sampson as yet another in the ever-growing Spurs family tree.
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