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Friday, August 11, 2000
Newell is the Pete Newell has been on the same mission for nearly a quarter of a century.
center of attention
in his camp
The Hall of Fame basketball
coach is back in the islands
to run another Big Man's CampBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinThat mission is to battle the erosion of the big man's role in basketball.
Now, more than ever, Newell said there's a need for his Big Man's Camp, which opens Monday and runs through next Friday for college and professional players at Kekuhaupi'o Gym on the campus of the Kamehameha Schools.
Ready to turn 85 on Aug. 31, the Basketball Hall of Fame coach still speaks with enthusiasm and conviction about the roles of centers and forwards in a game he helped usher to prominence in this country.
Newell coached the University of San Francisco to the first NIT title when Harry Truman was in the White House; led the University of California to an NCAA title the year Hawaii became a state, and coached true U.S. amateurs to an Olympic gold medal the year John F. Kennedy was elected president.
At a news conference yesterday morning in a lofty suite at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki, Newell presented plans to instruct 34 pro and 48 college players in the 23rd edition of the camp.
No. 1 NBA draft pick Kenyon Martin, who was taken by the New Jersey Nets out of the University of Cincinnati, will headline the parade of seven 2000 NBA draft picks.
He will be joined by former Bearcats teammate DerMarr Johnson, picked No. 6 overall by the Atlanta Hawks, and the draft's No. 2 pick, Stromile Swift (LSU) of the Vancouver Grizzlies.
Top young NBA veterans like Antawn Jamison of the Golden State Warriors, Cal Bowdler of the Hawks and Michael Doleac of the Orlando Magic also will be in camp.
Sean Elliott, a key to the San Antonio Spurs' 1999 NBA championship run, returns as does the Mavericks' Shawn Bradley.
Another high-profile camp returnee is Austin Croshere, one of the NBA's premier sixth men.
In this year's NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, the 6-foot-9 Croshere, who recently re-signed with the Indiana Pacers, averaged 15.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
"We introduce them to their feet," said Newell, who emphasizes the importance of footwork to his Big Man campers.
He won't even allow big men to dunk during instruction in the college camp.
Newell said that because of current trends in U.S. high school and college basketball, there are more significant foreign-born big men in the NBA these days than American-born big men.
"Of the top 20 centers, you'll probably find that about 15 were born outside this country," said Newell. "That can't be disputed."
He blames NCAA basketball's popularly coached flex and motion offenses which diminish the importance of the big man.
Newell said that in American college play, the big man's modern role is often to screen while in the NBA and in international ball, he is the focal point of the offense.
That poses problems for the American big man when he gets to the NBA.
"In the NBA, especially with the 24-second clock, you have to play a lot of isolation basketball," he said. "It's 90 percent feet and 10 percent ball."
This is the seventh year for the Big Man's Camp in Hawaii. It was set up in 1994 and 1995 at Kalani High School. It moved to the University of Hawaii for 1996 and 1997. This is the third year at Kamehameha.