Malik Rose, other former players gaining valuable experience in G League

Former San Antonio Spurs champion dishes on his new role, what it means to African Americans at large.

The NBA G League is not just a place for those on the court to cut their teeth on the professional level as it also fosters many positions found on NBA sidelines and front offices. Current NBA assistant coaches, general managers, trainers, and more can trace their roots to a minor league affiliate. All new referee hires come directly from the G League as well.

As the league has grown, so too have those new opportunities. With a record 26 teams set to tip-off the 2017–18 season in a little less than two months (including four new expansion teams), many more will get that chance at turning the corner in their careers.

It’s micro versus macro. The G League is the NBA on the small scale with roster adjustments, trades, travel arrangements, and more helping those waiting for their own call-up prepare for the big stage. More and more, NBA teams are now providing those opportunities to former players and there are now a number of them in front office positions.

Prior to last season, I visited the D/G League’s history on hiring minority head coaches over at D-League Digest, tracking every single head coaching hire. As more NBA teams became involved with a one-to-one affiliation, more minorities were hired as head coaches, but there was still certainly work to be done.

Fast forward to this season and we are seeing just that. Here are some key bits of information heading into 2017–18:

• Last season there were six minority head coaches hired at the beginning of the season. All but one were retained for the 2017–18 season (the exception being Rex Walters, who was promoted to the Detroit Pistons coaching staff)
• There are a total of eight minority head coaches out of 26 for this coming season. New hires include Aaron Miles (Santa Cruz), Stan Heath (Lakeland), and Glynn Cyprien (MEM).

Eight minority head coaches is an all-time high for the G League, but that number only accounts for approximately 30 percent of the league. A far cry from the early years of the league when minorities made up as much as two-thirds of the league’s head coaches (four out of six hires for the 2004–05 season).

Front offices are becoming increasingly more progressive on this front and the NBA is making an effort to be proactive as noted last season at D-League Digest.

Among those hired to fill a general manager position is former NBA champion Malik Rose, who was hired to oversee the Atlanta Hawks new expansion affiliate in Erie.

Rose spent 14 seasons playing in the NBA and is well versed on the player side of the game, but wants to earn a living on the other side of the business. Rose doesn’t even consider his position of GM a job because he enjoys the work he does so much.

Despite his dedication on the court, and his Master’s in Sports Management he earned in 2011 from Drexel University, he’s still had to battle against the negative connotations associated with being labeled simply as a “former player”.

“It’s stuff I’ve dealt with my entire career,” Rose said. “I’ve battled stereotypes and the like,” noting the media’s tendency to latch onto negative press and thus being indicative of all athletes.

“The former player is just basketball guys that played and they don’t want to work hard,” Rose continued. “That just blows my mind, how are you going to operate and hold one of the 450 jobs in the world that tens of millions want and you don’t know how to work hard?”

Rose, who was with the Hawks for two years as Manager of Basketball Operations before being promoted to his new position, is not alone in this adventure in the G League. Alongside him are a number of former players including Elton Brand (Delaware 87ers), Allan Houston (Westchester Knicks), Anthony Parker (Lakeland Magic), and Dee Brown (Agua Caliente Clippers).

Rose is thrilled to see fellow African Americans in similar positions as his, something that may not have been as commonplace in the G League as little as five years ago.

“It just feels good mostly because I’m a direct beneficiary of it,” Rose said of the league’s willingness to promote former players into front office positions. “I’m able to succeed on the backs of others who weren’t so lucky like I am. It just feels good, more so than the African American to take on that fight, just for players to be seen in that light.”

NBA teams have shifted a large segment of their front office staffs towards the analytics side of the game, a trend that perhaps left some potential candidates without an interview of their own, according to Rose. The former San Antonio Spurs forward doesn’t disagree with the notion of those well-versed in analytics, but rather feels there needs to be a balance for any front office to be successful.

“Everybody’s different, but our analytic guys played the game too. The same way numbers are natural for them, they can look at an algorithm or metric and bam,” Rose said. “For me I can look at the game and I can see how (players) come in and out of a huddle or their body language on the next call. Basketball is natural or germane to me, the same way numbers are to those guys. I’ve put numbers in my repertoire so to say while the numbers guys have added basketball to their game.”

For now, Rose is enjoying getting his feet wet, most recently with the G League Expansion Draft which took place in late August.

What excites Rose, however, is seeing the real world application on things found in the CBA or the league rule book. Yet learning on the go remains the biggest hurdle for Rose moving forward.

As Rose begins to lay down the foundation, he knows there is plenty of work to be done, and not just for assembling his 2017–18 roster, but for future beneficiaries as well.

“Not just African Americans but former athletes who carried the torch for me. I don’t take that lightly, and I need to carry the torch for others”, Rose said.

“Like African Americans opened the doors for me I have to open the door for someone behind me. You leave the game in a better place than you found it.”