“I first approach the season with [the need] to develop a relationship with each one of the guys, and I truly believe you can’t coach a guy unless you have a relationship with them.”
Sam Newman-Beck – Head Coach, Iowa Wolves
“I would always hope that all of our guys could become stars in the NBA, but realistically the goal is to get them to do the little things that make them a glue guy in the NBA, because that’s going to be the ticket.”
Brian Adams – Head Coach, Agua Caliente Clippers
Get The Edge
In this week’s episode of The Edge we sit down with with two NBA G League head coaches, Brian Adams of the Agua Caliente Clippers, and Sam Newman-Beck of the Iowa Wolves.
We had a great conversation regarding the NBA G League and covered their current jobs as well as some great stories from their time together with the Boston Celtics. We also went into detail on:
| ▪ | How they have managed to stay in touch with their players during the COVID-19 shutdown |
| ▪ | Both Brian’s and Sam’s basketball journeys and transitions from working in the NBA video rooms to now running their own teams |
| ▪ | The evolution of video analysis in the NBA |
| ▪ | Their thoughts on the G League Select Team |
Where to Listen
Available wherever you listen to podcasts. Full show transcript available here.
On this Episode
Brian Adam’s transition from NBA to G League Head Coach:
“The beauty of the G League is [that] I’m doing it all under what Doc (Rivers) is going to do, and what the Clippers are going to run so that it can create a seamless transition between assignment players“
Sam Newman-Beck’s story on Kevin Garnett during the end of his career:
“Some of you guys may remember a guy by the name of Nikola Pekovic, he was a big guy for us, about 300 pounds, [and] looked like a bad guy in a Bruce Willis movie. I mean, he was very intimidating and in the first practice KG was cussing him out for not getting back on defense and it was probably the first time Pekovic had ever been cussed out in his life.”
