Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.
Between the morning and afternoon sessions of his Big Man Camp on Tuesday, Hall of Fame basketball coach Pete Newell talked about his disdain for the slam dunk.
"You don't see any of these kids dunking out there, do you?" he said. "You won't."
Newell spoke too soon, as Brigham Young 7-foot center Rafael Araujo, among a few others, slammed a ball through a rim to cap a series of moves and a drive during afternoon drills.
Care to make Newell look like a Shar-Pei, or someone who just bit into half a lemon, in an instant? Dunk. Those he caught, he insisted they do it again, switching the finish to a scoop off the backboard or a soft floater.
"Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) had, arguably, the greatest shot in the history of the game," Newell said. "And, incidentally, he developed that shot when they had the no-dunk rule. That shows you how much the dunk takes away."
Fortunately, for about four dozen mostly collegiate post players this week, Newell's camp hasn't disappeared from the basketball landscape.
A year ago, before his 25th BMC, Newell figured it would disappear. For a 10th consecutive year, Hawaii played host to the camp. Rising expenses, and players who lacked motivation if not rudimentary skills, conspired to tell Newell the end was near.
It wasn't.
In January, interest in a 26th camp -- from many coaches, friends and peers -- began bubbling. John Robinson, then the UNLV athletic director, helped Newell secure the Cox Pavilion. Applications flooded into Newell's office.
The mainland locale and reasonable room rates at area hotels help keep costs down, and Newell had a difficult time declining some late requests. The cost is $1,350, and the event is closed to the public.
As it turned out, this camp is one of his biggest. In previous years, about 30 collegians ran in the morning and 30 or so pros ran in the afternoon.
At Cox, eight or so players executed drills at six different stations in the three-hour morning and afternoon sessions. It often looked like a tight fit, but Newell said that was incidental. Plus, UNLV officials have catered to his crew and the camp's needs.
Newell can't envision the BMC being anywhere else but UNLV, next year and every year.
"God willing," said Newell, who turns 88 at the end of the month. "Listen, I don't buy green bananas these days. So don't tell me about 'a year away.' It gets a little crowded, but we live through that. It's not a big thing.
"And there are so many good things here. It's a wonderful facility, and the people here are great. If it wasn't held here, I don't think it would be anywhere."
Newell stands, or sometimes sits in a chair in the halfcourt circle, overseeing everything. He pulls many players, like Araujo, aside to give them private counseling about foot placement, leverage, shot selection or counter moves.
When he needs to clarify something with 7-footer Jilian Li, a gifted 17-year-old from China, Newell does so through a translator.
Slide steps aren't exactly a universal language.
"I wish I had gone to this camp when I was a sophomore or junior, because it's a great advantage," said former Georgetown center Wesley Wilson, who is here courtesy of the Cleveland Cavaliers. If the Cavaliers pass on him, he hopes to play overseas.
"I mean, you can out-think your opponent if you have all these moves in your repertoire. I was an average college player, but if I had these moves I wouldn't have been average."
Araujo, Alex Dunn of Wyoming and Matt Nelson of Colorado State represented the Mountain West Conference.
Nelson, a 7-foot junior-to-be who was one of the most effective players in the conference when a knee injury allowed him to play, helped the Rams win the Mountain West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in March.
A few weeks ago, he had arthroscopic surgery to remove loose cartilage in his right knee. With full health and lessons from Newell, and the BMC counselors, this week, Nelson is salivating about 2003-04.
"He's been around for so long," Nelson said of Newell. "He's definitely the best post teacher out there. What a turnout. We're all just here to learn, not to compete against each other. It's just good experience.
"We're learning a whole lot to incorporate into our game next season. We're learning stuff we didn't know, and improving on what we did know."
Newell was the first to coach a team to an NIT crown (San Francisco in 1949), an NCAA title (California in '59) and Olympic gold (U.S. national team in '60). He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.
What started in 1976 as an informal workout for Kermit Washington, a top draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers, blossomed into today's highly structured tutorials.
Former Virginia center Ralph Sampson was one of the first to run through Newell's directives in a group session, with Washington and Kiki Vandeweghe, of UCLA.
"Some of the same things that we were taught 20 years ago are taught now," said Sampson, a Newell counselor for the past few years. "It's good for me to come back and teach it to the young guys. The experience that they get will last a lifetime."
Vandeweghe, now general manager of the Denver Nuggets, played 13 years in the NBA, with some help from Newell. Vandeweghe has attended every BMC, either as a player or counselor.
Tuesday, he was one of the rare counselors who demonstrated instructions, the four ways to ensure you'll receive a pass in or around the post area, before all the participants.
"Everyone agrees the skill level is down a little bit (in the NBA), because they don't want to work on the fundamentals of the game," Vandeweghe said. "Everyone wants to dunk, or shoot a long shot.
"The guys who are successful at this game -- the Jordans, Birds and Magics, McGradys and Kobes -- they all work on their footwork. It's a lost art, and not too many coaches can even teach it anymore. So it's great that Pete still does it."
In 1968, Newell was the general manager of the San Diego Rockets when that team drafted Stu Lantz. Knowing he needed to improve, Lantz asked Newell for help, and they spent countless hours in a gym.
Lantz, a BMC counselor, said he owes his eight-year playing career, and then some, to Newell. This season, Lantz will work his 14th season as the Lakers' radio color commentator. He knows that many NBA big men have taken part in Newell's camp.
And he knows the ones who haven't.
"It's funny," Lantz said. "When I watch them play, I can tell (that certain players) haven't been here. They don't understand Pete's philosophy about the footwork drills."
Monday and Tuesday, there were plenty of wide eyes on young players who marveled over the simple-but-effective foundation of Newell's philosophy. They weren't the only ones.
"And there are some wide-eyed coaches," said Pete Gaudet, a former Duke assistant who is on the Ohio State staff and working his eighth BMC.
Jeff Lamp, a former Virginia guard and second-year BMC counselor, turned to Gaudet at one point during Tuesday's morning session and dreamed of having known Newell's concepts when he was a player.
Gaudet agreed, with a twist. He wished he had a certain phrase or terminology of Newell's when he was coaching Danny Ferry or Christian Laettner.
Learning never ends, Gaudet said. That becomes glaringly true during the home stretch of a coach's career, when he realizes how little he knows, whether that's motivational skills or technical jargon ... or footwork.
"This is only a week, but this gives them some ammunition to take home and work on," Gaudet said. "They do that, they'll improve dramatically. These kids, you can see their respect for Pete grow during the week."
By the decade, too.
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