Former Warriors Head Coach Eric Musselman sat down with Warriorsworld.net for a wide ranging interview.  

Audio is HERE

 

Warriorsworld.net: I'm here with Eric Musselman, who's agreed to do an interview with us today for Warriorsworld.net As the first question I wanted to ask you: aside from your active blog, what's been keeping you busy lately? Are you still with CSN California?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Yes, James. I actually have two games: the Saint Mary's home game against the University of San Francisco then I have another game on Saturday, Saint Mary's at Santa Clara. I've really been enjoying working for CSN and it's been fun to work on the media side of this thing and I've really enjoyed working with Greg Papa.

Warriorsworld.net: What is it like working with Greg?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: This is the first time I've ever done TV games and obviously I've had fun doing it, I've enjoyed doing it, and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback and really, all of that is attributed in my mind to the guy that I'm working with, Greg, because I'm a rookie at this thing, learning on the job, and he has been so helpful and so willing, and he kind of is like a good point guard. He sets you up perfectly and makes it hard for you to fail. He's giving me layups with no defense on me.

Warriorsworld.net: At the same time it's probably giving you a bit of a different look from this side of it compared to just coaching, right?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I've loved it, I really have. I've liked being around the game, love being in the gym. It's interesting to see the different ways that coaches deal with the media. Some guys have been really really up front, overly helpful, giving insight prior to the game on what to look for on defensive and offensive strategies, and then other coaches, very much, it's almost like they don't want to give away any secrets prior to the game. So to me it's been interesting and usually the teams that are forthcoming and like to give information and be helpful are usually the good teams. Probably, there's a reason that some of the teams struggle, because those are usually the guys that think they have secrets but in reality there's really not a secret out there.

Warriorsworld.net: That sounds good. Over the past couple years your name's been mentioned a few times when various vacancies have opened up in college. Is that something that you're still looking to do at some point or are you kind of happy with what you're doing right now?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Well James, I want to get back into coaching. I miss coaching. It's been my whole life. But having said that, obviously being in the right place at the right time is important. Having gotten two great opportunities to be a head coach in Golden State and Sacramento, I look forward to getting back whether it be an assistant coach in the NBA, a head coach at the NBA level, or at the collegiate level, but again I think the most important thing is to be in the right situation at the right time.

Warriorsworld.net: Right, definitely. You played at the University of San Diego and you did so under Jim Brovelli and Hank Egan at different points. What did you learn the most from them?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Both Coach Brovelli and Hank Egan, phenomenal X and O coaches. I learned so much I don't even know where to begin from both of them. But Jim Brovelli was a guy – he actually is in my opinion the first guy to come up with the point forward position. There was a player that played at the University of San Diego by the name of Mike Whitmarsh. Mike was an Olympic volleyball player and he was a 6-foot-7 small forward but actually, my freshman year, which was Mike's senior year, he was runner-up for the WCC player of the year to John Stockton and Mike played the point forward. Coach Brovelli doesn't get enough credit for being in the forefront of having that position be a key.

With Coach Egan, he was just a phenomenal X and O defensive coach and I learned so much on how to break down the game. Instead of it being a 5-on-5 defensive game he broke it down in drill situations and simplified everything and really took things from a part and turned them into a whole. So I learned a tremendous amount at the defensive side of the court from Coach Egan.

Warriorsworld.net: It sounds like one gave you a good look at some offense and the other gave you a much better look at defense at the same time.

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Both of them were great coaches on both sides of the ball but as time passes and you look back and say "What did I learn from this particular coach?" I thought Coach Brovelli was really innovative in his offensive mind and again Coach Egan was so sound defensively. So yes, you're right James, that's probably what I took away from each of those two guys.

Warriorsworld.net: Sounds good, definitely. Now, Keith Smart played for you in your first year as the head coach at Rapid City of the CBA then again a few years later in Florida. What impressions did you have of him back then, how close do you think he is to a head coaching job somewhere now, and what will he bring to the table in that position if he happens to get it?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Well Keith, not only did he play for me for two different teams, we worked together with Golden State. He's a premier, in my mind, one of the best assistant coaches I've ever seen in my life. He's an unbelievable communicator with people. He was great for me. He could come into the office, close the door and say "You know, hey Coach, I don't agree with this" or "I do agree with this" or "You need to go put your arm around this player."

I know that I definitely, definitely missed Keith in Sacramento. I thought he was a vital part to whatever success we had in Golden State. I missed him, I wished that I would have had him on our staff in Sacramento. Having said that, I don't think there's any question Keith should be a head coach at some point and when he gets his next opportunity I think he'll be extremely successful.

Warriorsworld.net: I'll definitely be looking forward to seeing what he does. Now, I'd also seen that Manute Bol played for you at some point in Florida, even though he was well past his prime of course and coming off some injuries. What was it like having him on that team?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: You know Manute loved to shoot the 3 for his size, which in the CBA to have a center shoot the 3-ball was a little bit abnormal. The players absolutely loved playing with him. He was a true character off the floor with a loving personality and our guys liked playing with him, and then he really kind of turned every road game into a circus atmosphere because with the opposing crowds, he'd bring out extra attendance and people really enjoyed watching him play.

Warriorsworld.net: Especially me growing up back watching the "Run TMC" teams from the 80s and early 90s, we were very familiar seeing him taking those 3s from the top of the key. That was kind of a fun thing but at the same time he was making a lot of them.

ERIC MUSSELMAN: He was. He was a very effective player and really when you have a guy who can block shots at one end and come down to the other end and be a 3-point threat, that's pretty hard to find.

Warriorsworld.net: Playing General Manager for a moment, if you're putting together a team from scratch, what's the position you'd build around first and why?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: You know, I really think, James, as you think about that question there's so much that goes into it. Number one, I think the obvious thing is people always talk about you need a center and a point guard. The 1 and 5 are the two positions that are the most important. I think the point guard position is a direct reflection of the coach on the floor. You look at all those smaller point guards in today's game that have such a huge impact, the Chris Pauls, the Steve Nashes, the Tony Parkers.

But having said that, it's so hard to find a dominant big man, and by that I mean a big man like Dwight Howard, who can change the whole complexion of an organization that teams can build around that centerpiece.

But not just the position, I think the hardest thing to get is a superstar and once you get a superstar, regardless of the position, and you have a premier player meaning one of the top five to six, seven players in the league regardless of position, because LeBron James is not a point guard. LeBron James is not a center. Kobe Bryant is not a point guard, he's not a center. But yet those two guys in my mind have the biggest impact of one player on a team and those guys are 2/3 swingmen so to me it's too hard to say what position, it's really the quality of the player because if you look back in history, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird are two other guys that come to mind that were not at the point guard or the center, but some of the greatest players of all time.

Warriorsworld.net: Yeah, and then you take a look at a guy like Jordan being what he was, it's just a matter of building around him, such as having Pippen or Paxson, or even Craig Hodges and then Bill Cartwright filling that out, definitely.

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I think the hard thing is to find that superstar and you see how Orlando and Otis Smith have done such a good job of surrounding pieces around Howard and then you see the same thing that takes place with these other teams. Obviously the Bulls using guys like Steve Kerr and Paxson, and Brad Sellers and you can go on and on and on how bit players, once surrounded by superstars, their game is elevated.

Warriorsworld.net: Definitely. Moving on to the current season, the trade deadline is coming up fairly soon. Are there any big names that you expect to be moving to a different team before that deadline?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I really think, James, that the teams in the middle sometimes are the teams that don't make trades. A lot of times there's teams that are trying to get to that championship and will try to do anything they can to get them over the hump and then there's the teams that are at the lower end, the lottery-level teams that are looking for the future. And so those teams might be willing to give up a player that can help today or tomorrow because obviously some of those other teams that are trying to build for the future, trying to get younger pieces.

So I don't think there's any doubt that because of the parity this year, and there's no clear-cut, you know, there's three teams in the East probably that think they can win the championship, that being Orlando, Cleveland and Boston, and you have the Lakers in the West who think they can and San Antonio is always right there in the West. So I think you have a group of teams that will do anything they can if they see the right piece coming back to them and then you have the other teams that are again, looking to accumulate draft picks and young players and those are the teams that are out of the playoff picture.

Warriorsworld.net: Now you just mentioned those five teams and of course they are the cream of the crop right now. Do you see the Finals teams basically coming from those five? Do you see anybody else possibly sneaking in?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: No, I think those are the five teams, barring injury. You know the Lakers, they lose Bynum, a key figure, but yet I still believe that they have enough in the Western Conference where they can come out and represent the West. But you never know because it's still a long season, we're not even at the All-Star Break yet, and injuries are really going to play a key role and which teams or which coaches can keep their players both mentally and physically fresh after the 82-game season headed into the playoffs.

Warriorsworld.net: Again, mentioning that we are before the break it may be a little premature, but do you have any favorites so far for Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I think because it's pre-All Star, I think a lot of that stuff is going to be determined. Obviously you look at MVP and you have to talk about Bryant, you have to talk about LeBron James, and the guy that I feel's not talked about enough even is Dwight Howard.

I think that when you talk about the Rookie of the Year, Beasley's having a solid season. I think Derrick Rose is the guy and if it's not Rose, Mayo because Mayo's putting up numbers although not on a team that even has a chance at the playoffs. But Mayo and Rose are the two guys in my mind from the rookie standpoint that have really had a great season. Beasley's going to get an opportunity, probably, to play in the playoffs, one of the few rookies that will be a key piece, if Miami makes the playoffs, to get substantial minutes.

It'll be interesting how it plays out and I think when you look at the Coach of the Year, in my eyes this year it's Stan Van Gundy. I think he's done a phenomenal job with that Orlando basketball team in only a year and a half, because that's really all he's been there thus far.

Warriorsworld.net: Not too bad for him after the way things went in Miami, is it?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: No, and I think the people who coached against Stan when he was in Miami always felt that his teams executed well, played hard, and amongst his peers I think everyone knew that he could really coach.

Warriorsworld.net: Now, we've seen a few pretty solid players go undrafted. Speaking of which, Avery Johnson is one, we've seen Raja Bell, Brad Miller and even Ben Wallace. Good players also come out of the D-League like Matt Barnes, Brandon Bass and Kelenna Azubuike. What do you think of the role the D-League plays today in how various teams use it, including the Warriors especially, and how do some of these players fall through the cracks?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: That's a great question. I'm partial to the minor leagues, having spent time in the USBL and the CBA and obviously the D-League is doing a great job as well. It's amazing when you look at a player like a Morrow, you know, Anthony does not get drafted and yet he's a phenomenal, phenomenal shooter. You look at his stats at Georgia Tech and you say "How could he not average more?" and then he can go and play in an NBA game and have an impact. He's got a great ability to stretch the defense out.

But sometimes things like that just happen where a guy doesn't get drafted for whatever reason and then when a guy goes through the minor leagues, whether it's the D-League or the CBA or whatever, when they go down there and they produce and help their team win, in my eyes those guys, all of them, whoever they may be, are worthy of being looked at for the next level and I think given the opportunity there's a handful of guys that could come in and help.

Having said that, I think that the D-League's future is going to continue to grow. There are now teams like the Los Angeles Lakers who own and control the Los Angeles Defenders and I think that's the route that it's going to go. I think Golden State, the coach that they have an affiliation with down in Bakersfield, Scott Roth, does a phenomenal job and that's a great place to send a younger player that you want developed and it especially makes it worthwhile for an NBA team to send a player to the D-League if they know that the D-League coach is a qualified guy who can help develop the guy and I think that's very, very important and the Warriors are lucky that they have a great D-League coach/affiliate type relationship with Scott Roth.

Warriorsworld.net: Definitely. Now going back to Morrow since he is somebody who's been assisting the Warriors with that outside shot in particular, what do you see as his ceiling so far? Is he going to be a role-player, could he be a reliable scorer on the right team, or does he even have the ability to be more than that?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Again I think that he's kind of come out of nowhere and it'll be interesting to see. It's always up to the player – and the circumstance he's in – but it's up to the player to see how high that ceiling is and how far they can go based on their work ethic in the off-season, their work ethic pre-game, post-practice.

But he does have an A-NBA-definable skill, and when a player has the definable skill and then that skill is in the upper echelon of the league, which thus far he's proven he's in the upper echelon of the 3-point shooter, he's got a definable skill, any team that has a low-post scorer needs 3-point shooting. So you could argue that if a guy like Anthony played on a team like Orlando where teams are double-teaming the low post of Dwight Howard, how valuable does a guy come who can shoot the ball like that? Well they're extremely valuable so I think that he's a guy that the rest of the league recognizes who has the ability to play at the NBA level and will continue to get better and better.

Warriorsworld.net: No question about that. Going back to the draft, there seems to be a group of people out there these days who think that if a player stays in college all four years, he might not necessarily be good enough for the NBA because he didn't leave early. Could there be anything to that mentality or do you think it says more about the kids who do come out for maybe the money and the fame before their games are fully developed?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I think that there's somewhere in between lies the truth. I think that there's the positive of when a player goes to college and plays four years then when he comes out for the NBA he's a little bit more mature, his growth has taken the proper path, he's not been rushed into things.

But having said that, for most of the cases, when these younger guys come out and go highly, go very early in the lottery, for the most part those guys can really play. They have a great skill, a great gift, and I do think that while you're playing 30-some games in college, there's an 82-game NBA season, I think that you can develop properly even at a very young age if you're in the NBA. So I don't think there's any right or wrong path.

I think the bottom line is players need to make sure that you're coming out at the right time for you both mentally and physically because it doesn't do a player or a team any good for some of these kids to come out a year or two before their body can handle the NBA season or even their maturity level. I think they're much better off staying in school and developing at the college level.

Warriorsworld.net: Definitely some good points. I've got one more question for you, Coach. It's been a few years since you coached the Warriors and the roster is completely different than the one you had. If you watch any of the games is it easier to just do it as a fan or do you find yourself playing kind of "armchair coach," thinking of how you'd try to handle things yourself?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I think really that depends on what team I'm watching. If I'm watching a team that I'm friends with from another coach, then I'm kind of rooting for him. Or if it's a former player, he's injured now but when Arenas was playing last year my sons and I would turn on the game and watch it as a fan, wanting Gilbert to have a great game. Whether the team he was on won or lost was not as important as maybe the performance of that individual player because at that point we were tuning on to NBATV that night specifically to maybe watch Gilbert.

But when one of your friends is coaching or on a staff, I know last year when Flip Saunders was coaching I would watch the game from the X and O standpoint because he's a friend and someone that I admire as a coach so I'd watch the game a little differently when his teams were playing. So for me personally it all depends on who's playing and who's coaching in the game for how I watch it, but I can tell you that no matter what game or who's on, I think NBA basketball from a fan standpoint, I don't think there's anything better.

Warriorsworld.net:Definitely have to agree with you there. That wraps up what I've got today for you, Coach. I'd like to thank you very much for coming in and spending some time with us out of your busy schedule, and just so everybody knows you do have a website, it's http://emuss.blogspot.com, correct?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Yes, that's it. We do a little leadership, motivational blog. We have a really nice group of people that are reading it, a group of high school coaches from all over the country in all different sports, whether basketball, baseball or football, and there's a lot of college coaches that partake in it as well as some NFL coaches and a lot of NBA coaches and management people read it as well. So it's been really fun and I've met a lot of nice people through the blog and continue to try to learn something new each day and then when I learn it I like to put it out there on the blog and share it with other coaches and other leaders.

Warriorsworld.net: Sounds like a great network to have out there. Again Coach, thanks once more, and again for spending some time with Warriorsworld. Have a nice day.

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Thanks, James. I appreciate it.

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Special Thanks To Coach Musselman for spending time with Warriorsworld.net

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