NBA Veteran Offers Advice To NRHS Team In Playoffs

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle varsity boys basketball team got an extra boost in the playoffs from a title-winning former NBA player and coach. Jim Cleamons, who holds 10 NBA titles — one as a player and nine as assistant coach — brought his decades of experience to offer the athletes some tips over the past week.

“I’m talking to them and giving them a listening ear and encouraging them,” Cleamons said Wednesday at a volunteer event with the team. “I’ve been fortunate to have some experience in basketball. I have been where they want to be. I’ve taken that journey that they’re on, so I can talk to them from a personal perspective.”

Athletes said they appreciated him taking time to talk with them, saying they benefited from his expertise and his approach, according to a district spokesman.

“He’s very positive and he has an easygoing attitude,” said team member Prakash Ketterhagen, a senior. “It makes it easy for us to listen and pay attention to what he says.”

Cleamons served as an assistant coach under Hall of Famer Phil Jackson in Chicago and was on staff for four of the six championships won by Michael Jordan and the Bulls. When Jackson later went to Los Angeles to coach the Lakers, he brought Cleamons with him as an assistant where he helped coach Kobe Bryant and the Lakers to five NBA championships.

He was at the Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle, Remington Unit, Wednesday where the basketball team was helping out with a children’s dentistry event. The oral health company DentaQuest, with Fidelis Care, offered free dental screenings, toothbrushes and more.

Ja’Net McGhee, a DentaQuest employee whose son Jayson McGhee plays on the basketball team, connected the athletes with the event. It was a good fit, she said, because the young children admire the athletes.

“They look up to these basketball players,” McGhee said. “They’ll listen to them.”

For the team, Cleamons’ guidance complements the leadership the athletes receive every day from head coach Rasaun Young, who was recently named league Coach of the Year, and who has led them into the playoffs. They host a quarterfinal match against North Rockland at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

“Our coach has really prepared us for this game,” said junior Promise Opurum.

Young agreed that that the students were ready for the match.

“Over the last few days, the practices have been really good,” he said.

Cleamons also attended an earlier practice and met with the players over last weekend to offer pointers and individualized advice. He gave them tips from his years of playing and coaching. He told them, for instance, that Dennis Rodman was a highly intelligent player who was always keenly aware of the positions from which his teammates would shoot.

“He’s giving us good advice, to stay focused,” said Jayson McGhee.

Find and “Like” Hudson Valley Patches' Facebook Pages.