One on One: An Interview with Ronald Bazemore
By Helena Ramirez
The NBA’s offseason is about to get wilder than it has been in years as LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade headline a stacked free agency class that could change the face of the league. But one move has already been made that could have a big impact on the Washington Wizards, as new owner Ted Leonis fired most of his front office and coaching staff, and lured Ronald Bazemore out of retirement after 12 years out of the NBA. Bazemore last coached the Miami Heat from 1996-1998, retiring after the Heat won their second straight title in the spring of 1998.
Players on his former team, from top to bottom, have all voiced their confidence in Bazemore’s return.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever played for,” said former Heat star — and current LA Laker — Kobe Bryant. “He’s smart, he’s relentless, he has a work ethic second to none. I wouldn’t be the player I am today if not for some of the lessons he taught me … I hate to hurt his win-loss record, but I’ll enjoy showing him the new things I’ve learned in his absence. He’s going to be good for whatever players he coaches.”
Former member of the Heat, Dominque Wilkins, echoed similar thoughts.
“He was the reason I have two rings,” said Wilkins. “He pitched me in a limo, convinced me to give him and the NBA another chance. After my experience with the Clippers, then Boston, I just wasn’t sure if I belonged in the league anymore … but playing for Coach Bazemore, I found my game again. If he hadn’t of retired, I would have kept playing for him till my legs fell off.”
I sat down with Coach Bazemore recently to ask him why, after all these years, he decided to come back.
***
Coach, let’s start with the obvious: you’ve been out of the NBA for a dozen years. Multiple teams over that timespan have tried to convince you to come back. Why the Wizards?
They’re really the only team I wanted to coach for. After I left the NBA, my life was pretty different … I was a father to a baby, I was involved in a relationship with that child’s mother that eventually saw us marry a year later. I was happy and fulfilled, so getting back into coaching wasn’t even on my mind then. We moved to DC area in 2000 and I left strict instructions with my agent that I would only coach for the local team; I wasn’t going to move my family and I wasn’t going to entertain any offers until my son was at least in school. I had a couple of other things I wanted, mainly control of the roster, but that’s the gist of it. DC offered me all that this offseason and, after long discussions with my wife and my son, we agreed as a family to take on this challenge. This isn’t about just me now and they deserved to have input on this decision. It will affect them as much as me.
Some organizations question your hiring after being out of the game so long. After you left the Heat, the team you helped build seemingly broke up overnight. How do you think your time outside the NBA has prepared you for such a different league?
I believe I have something few coaches get a chance to get: perspective. I’m a two-time title winner, but I worked myself to the bone to get that. I put in many long nights, many hard hours, to study the film and analyze the tape. That was back in the 90s, now we have technology that makes our lives so much easier in that respect. I can study those things on my laptop while at the kitchen table, I can hit pause on a piece of footage and not worry about losing my spot, I can have a digital call with my scouts all around the world without worrying about the call dropping. The evolution in technology and scouting practices has made things a lot simpler than before, and I believe I can bring a balance to my work life that I was lacking before. Ultimately, that balance will benefit the team, myself, and my family.
After you retired and left the NBA, the owners initiated another lockout in 1998. That lockout stopped all play and lasted for months, eventually leading to Kobe Bryant demanding a trade out of Miami once Pat Riley took over. Do you regret how all that played out?
I do. I wish things had happened differently for everyone in the league at that time … the lockout was ill-conceived in my opinion and hurt everyone associated with the league. What happened with Kobe, specifically, is not something I would have imagined but I understood why and he called me up before the news broke to let me know. He’s obviously found great success in LA so I think we can say he made a good choice for himself and his family, but I will always live with that ‘what if’ in the back of my mind.
Final question: the Wizards have the 1st overall pick in the draft and a team that’s missed the playoffs the last two years. Do you feel Gilbert Arenas and other veterans on the team are part of the Wizards future?
I’ve spoken with Gilbert and the other veterans since I took the job and I’ve asked each of them how they feel about things. We’re having an ongoing dialog, we’re discussing a lot of different things right now. I can’t speak for them, there’s nothing to announce as far as decisions, but what I can say is that the Wizards are back on a path to longterm success. This pick we have in this draft will be key, as will other things we do this offseason. To all Wizards fans, I tell you this: we will not be tanking, we will not be stripping things down to the studs. We will compete and play hard every night, there will be growing pains, but we will not quit on you. Please do not quit on us.