By Tom Orsborn, Staff | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-04-11 14:39:59
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
德克萨斯州奥斯汀，11月15日：奥斯汀马刺队主教练斯科特·金在2024年11月15日于德克萨斯州奥斯汀的H-E-B中心举行的对阵德克萨斯传奇队的比赛中注视着比赛。照片由Jacob Gonzalez/NBAE通过Getty Images提供
马刺队应该感谢来自新罕布什尔州德里的一个焊工，是他将“执教也许适合斯科特·金(Scott King)”的想法植入了金的脑海。
在执教马刺发展联盟球队的第一年，33岁的金带领奥斯汀队自2021年以来首次打入季后赛，并因此荣获2025年发展联盟年度最佳教练的称号。
对于仅仅九年前还不知道自己想从事什么职业的人来说，这成绩相当不错。
“当我结束球员生涯时，我真的不知道自己想做什么，”金说道。在石溪大学(纽约州)效力了三个赛季后，他曾在2015-16赛季效力于费尔菲尔德大学(康涅狄格州)，司职6尺10寸的前锋。“我的父亲是一名焊工，他总是告诉我，我将来会成为一名优秀的教练，而我当时的想法是，‘是是是，随便你怎么说。我只想打球。’”
“……所以，有一段时间我并没有太在意，只是在新罕布什尔州和波士顿地区做了一些零散的工作，直到我想清楚自己想做什么。”
慢慢地，金开始倾向于执教，帮助他以前的一些AAU教练，并在该地区训练一些年轻球员。就在他即将在一所预备学校任职之前，他在2017年通过大学关系获得了一份工作，在印第安纳步行者队的发展联盟球队韦恩堡疯蚁队从事篮球运营工作。
一年后，他进入了NBA，担任底特律活塞队的视频实习生。
2019年，纽约尼克斯队聘请金担任助理视频协调员。他的工作给球队留下了深刻印象，他们将他提升为球员发展助理总监。他还负责教练挑战，并因帮助尼克斯队在2023-24赛季赢得47次挑战，在NBA中排名第11位而受到主教练汤姆·锡伯杜的称赞。
尽管在纽约取得了成功，但金已经准备好离开，去寻找合适的球队担任主教练。当马刺队放出关于奥斯汀队主教练职位的消息时，他说他的“天线竖了起来”，因为他们的“基本价值观和原则”是一致的。
“你内心好胜的一面总是希望在任何你正在做的事情上做到最高水平，”金在被问及是什么促使他离开尼克斯队时说道。
金渴望从最低层开始攀登教练生涯，这给长期以来以球员培养技能而闻名的马刺队留下了深刻的印象。
“斯科特(金)早期吸引我们很多人的地方在于他渴望成为一名发展联盟的主教练，”马刺队代理主教练米奇·约翰逊说道。“他是一位冉冉升起的新星，在纽约尼克斯队担任助理教练，在那里他备受重视和重用。”
“因此，对于一个想要接受这一挑战的人来说，这意味着他是真心实意的。而不是一个失业且无事可做的人，(想着)，‘也许我可以申请发展联盟主教练的职位。’”
约翰逊钦佩任何在发展联盟中辛勤工作的人，因为他亲身体验过在该级别执教的挑战。
“那是一个艰难的地方，”他说。“我在那里待了三年(担任助理教练)，这很艰难。……每一个转折点都充满着逆境和不确定性。”
“因此，当你看到像(金)这样的人拥抱它并期待它，然后又在那里取得成功时，这强烈地反映了他的性格和他的工作能力。”
在一个由于球员人员流动频繁而被他称为“瞬息万变”的环境中，金擅长让任何出现在名单上的球员团结在一起，追求实现共同的目标。
“他们互相鞭策，力求做到最好，”他说。“他们以关怀的方式相互负责。一切都围绕着胜利，并且以解决问题为导向。无论情况如何，他们全年都对彼此充满信心，以完成工作。”
在季后赛西部决赛中，奥斯汀队在第一轮击败犹他爵士队的附属球队后，不敌萨克拉门托国王队的农场球队。新秀前锋哈里森·英格拉姆，去年7月与马刺队签下了一份双向合同的次轮选秀，在每场比赛中都获得了两双，其中包括第一场比赛的16分和14个篮板。
22岁的英格拉姆本赛季场均得到12.8分、9.3个篮板、3.6次助攻和1.6次抢断。
“他对我们来说非常重要，在多个方面做出了制胜表现，”金说。“他是一名出色的篮板手，可以防守多个位置，可以攻击篮筐并完成得分，可以投中空位三分。而且他的传球能力也令人印象深刻。”
金帮助英格拉姆和其他年轻球员了解成为一名职业球员需要做些什么。
“所有这些家伙都是伟大的球员，”金说。“如果你不伟大，你就无法来到这里。但还有其他的东西——你如何照顾你的身体、睡眠、恢复、营养、你的准备工作——他们需要学习。我们花了很多时间试图成为每晚准备最充分的球队。”
这是他从纽约带来的信念，他在纽约向要求严格的锡伯杜学习，金说锡伯杜坚信基本功的价值——“一遍又一遍地以正确的方式做事”——以及准备工作，尤其是在防守端。
“你可以成为最有天赋的防守者，拥有所有的工具，”金说，“但如果你不知道你的对手要做什么，你不知道他们的倾向，你就会做出反应，而不是提前思考，能够消除别人的优势，让他们做其他的事情。”
奥斯汀队在常规赛结束时，防守效率（102.3）排名联盟第一，场均抢断（10.1）排名第三，盖帽（6.6）和篮板（48.4）排名第四。在以22胜12负的战绩结束比赛后，奥斯汀队还创造了联盟历史上最大的胜分差纪录（正23.5）。
马刺队后卫马拉基·布兰汉姆，最近曾在奥斯汀队短暂效力过，他说金对防守的投入使他非常适合这支球队。
“他在防守方面的重点和波波一样，”布兰汉姆在提到马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇时说道。“我为他打球感到非常愉快。”
金的成功引发了关于他可能成为奥斯汀队最新一位成功教练的故事的讨论。
奎因·斯奈德在犹他爵士队执教了八个赛季后，目前已在老鹰队执教了三个赛季；厄尔·沃特森在2016-17赛季执教了菲尼克斯太阳队；泰勒·詹金斯在孟菲斯灰熊队执教了六个赛季后最近被解雇；约翰逊去年11月在名人堂成员波波维奇在11月初轻微中风后接替了他的位置；他们都曾在奥斯汀队担任主教练或助理教练。
斯奈德是在2009年获得该奖项后，奥斯汀队历史上另一位年度最佳教练。
“我来到这里后，”金说，“我了解了为什么有这么多人从圣安东尼奥取得成功的原因：这是因为他们关心人的方式，他们重视引进具有高尚品格的优秀人才的方式，然后支持他们。”
关于支持，金还要感谢他的父亲，因为他看到了他最初没有在自己身上看到的东西。
“他真的非常非常敏锐，”金在谈到斯科特·金(Scott King Sr.)时说道。“他对比赛有着非常敏锐的眼光。”
点击查看原文：Scott King's 'genuine' desire to guide G Leaguers pays off for Spurs
Scott King’s ‘genuine’ desire to guide G Leaguers pays off for Spurs
AUSTIN, TX NOVEMBER 15: Head coach Scott King of the Austin Spurs looks on during the game during the game against the Texas Legends on November 15, 2024 at H-E-B Center in Austin, Texas. Photo by Jacob Gonzalez/NBAE via Getty Images
The Spurs have a welder from Derry, N.H., to thank for planting the thought in Scott King’s mind that coaching just might be his thing.
In his first year guiding the Spurs’ developmental team, King, 33, earned 2025 G League Coach of the Year honors after directing Austin to its first trip to the playoffs since 2021.
Not bad for someone who just nine years ago didn’t know what career he wanted to pursue.
“When I finished playing, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” said King, who spent the 2015-16 season playing for Fairfield University (Conn.) as a 6-foot-10 forward after three seasons at Stony Brook University (N.Y.). "My dad, who is a welder, always told me when I was playing that I would make a good coach, and I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I want to play.’
“…So, I didn’t really pay it any mind for a while and had a couple of just random jobs around New Hampshire, the Boston area, until I figured out what I wanted to do.”
Slowly, King gravitated toward coaching, helping some of his former AAU coaches and training some young players in the area. And then just before he was about to take a post at a prep school, he landed a job in 2017 through a college connection working in basketball operations for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Indiana Pacers’ G League team.
A year later he was in the NBA, serving as a video intern for the Detroit Pistons.
In 2019, the New York Knicks hired King as assistant video coordinator. Impressed by his work, they promoted him to assistant director of player development. He was also responsible for coach’s challenges, and earned praise from coach Tom Thibodeau for helping the Knicks win 47 of them in 2023-24 to rank 11th in the NBA.
Despite his success in New York, King was ready to leave for the right head coaching opportunity. When the Spurs sent feelers out about the Austin job, he said his “antenna went up” because their “fundamental values and principles” aligned.
“The competitive side of you always wants to do whatever you’re doing at the highest level,” King said when asked what motivated him to leave the Knicks.
King’s desire to climb the coaching ladder starting at the lowest rung impressed the Spurs, long known for their skill at player development.
“What drew a lot of us to Scott early on was his desire to be a G League head coach,” acting Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "He was an up-and-coming assistant with the New York Knicks who was highly thought of and highly used there.
"And so for someone to want to take that challenge means it was genuine. It wasn’t a guy out of a job with nothing going on, (thinking), ‘Maybe I’ll apply for the G League head coaching job.’ "
Johnson admires anyone who toils in the G League because he has first-hand knowledge of the challenges of coaching at that level.
“It is a hard place to be,” he said. "I spent three years there (as an assistant), and it’s tough. … There’s adversity and uncertainty at every turn.
“And so when you see someone like (King) who embraces it and is looking forward to it and then has success at it, it’s a strong reflection of his character and his ability to do the job.”
In a setting he called “ever-changing” due to the revolving door nature of player personnel in the minors, King has excelled at getting whoever was on the roster to come together in pursuit of achieving common goals.
“They push each other to be the best versions of themselves,” he said. “They hold each other accountable in a caring way. Everything’s about winning and is solution-based. No matter what the circumstances are, they’ve shown up all year with confidence in each other to get the job done.”
Austin bowed out of the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals against the Sacramento Kings farm team after defeating the Utah Jazz’s affiliate in the first round. Rookie forward Harrison Ingram, a second-round pick who signed a two-way contract with the Spurs last July, had a double-double in each game, including 16 points and 14 rebounds in the first one.
Ingram, 22, finished the season averaging 12.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals for Austin.
“He’s been huge for us, making winning plays in a multitude of facets,” King said. "He’s a great rebounder, can defend multiple positions, can attack the basket and finish, can knock down open threes. And his passing ability is impressive as well.
King helped Ingram and other youngsters learn what it takes to be a professional.
“All these guys are great players,” King said. “You can’t get here without being great. But it’s the other stuff - how you take care of your body, sleep, recovery, nutrition, your preparation - they need to learn. We spend a lot of time trying to be the most prepared team every night.”
It’s a belief he brought with him from New York after learning from the hard-driving Thibodeau, who King said possesses a firm belief in the value of fundamentals - “doing things the right way over and over and over again” - and preparation, especially on the defensive end.
“You can be the most talented defender with all the tools,” King said, “but if you don’t know what your opponent’s going to do and you don’t know their tendencies, you’re going to be reacting versus thinking ahead and being able to take away people’s strengths and make them do something else.”
Austin ended the regular season ranked first in the league in defensive rating (102.3), third in steals per game (10.1) and fourth in blocks (6.6) and rebounds (48.4). In finishing 22-12, Austin also set a league record for biggest margin of victory (plus-23.5).
Spurs guard Malaki Branham, who recently had a brief stint with Austin, said King’s devotion to defense makes him a perfect fit for the organization.
“He’s like Pop in that the emphasis is on defense,” Branham said, referring to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “I had a great time playing for him.”
King’s success sparked conversation that he could become Austin’s latest coaching success story.
Snyder, who is in his third season with the Hawks after eight with the Utah Jazz; Earl Watson, who coached the Phoenix Suns in 2016-17; Taylor Jenkins, who was fired recently after six seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies; and Johnson, who took over for Popovich last November after the Hall of Famer suffered a mild stroke in early November; all either served as head or assistant coaches in Austin.
Snyder is the only other Coach of the Year honoree in Austin history after winning the award in 2009.
“Once I got here,” King said, “I learned the reason why there’s been so many people that have had success coming from San Antonio: It’s because of the way they care about people, the way they value bringing in great people with high character, and then support them.”
On the subject of support, King also has his dad to thank for seeing something in him he didn’t initially see in himself.
“He is really, really sharp,” King said of Scott King Sr. “He’s got a really good eye for the game.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff, via San Antonio Express-News
