Witness greatness while it’s here: Kevin Ollie is a gift to UConn

The man who helped mold the mind of a young LeBron James is now doing the same for Rodney Purvis

Kevin Ollie was a journeyman in the NBA—he played on 12 teams in a 13-year time span. During his career he was teammates with multiple future hall of famers including Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Kevin Ollie was known for his professionalism and what he brought to the team as a person more than as a player.

Jim Paxson, the General Manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers, once said: “We thought he could come in and be a bridge for us at the point guard position, and also be a good influence on our younger players, the primary one being Lebron James.”

Kevin Ollie was hired to help ensure LeBron James was a good person. The man who helped mold the mind of a young LeBron James is now doing the same for Daniel Hamilton and Rodney Purvis.

UConn basketball will continue to be a powerhouse as long as Kevin Ollie coaches here. Better yet, UConn will continue to put good men on the court.

Unlike other big basketball schools, the players at UConn rarely are in the news for committing a crime or doing something out of line.

Earlier this semester Rodney Purvis complimented me on the pair of Jordan threes I was wearing when he held the door open for me. One could not compare his courteous actions to those of the Florida State football player who was caught on camera punching a young woman in the face at a bar.

If there was ever a year when all the stars seemed aligned for UConn it is this year. After SMU was banned from the NCAA tournament it left UConn at the top of the conference.

No one could now block us from reaching the post season as long as this team jells together and stays healthy. Better yet, the final four is in Texas this year where all of the magic really happens for UConn.

It just feels as if the students of UConn, myself included, don’t realize how good we have it with Kevin Ollie. No one realizes what they have until it is gone, and if there was ever a year for Kevin Ollie to leave it would be after this season.

The NBA is no longer the organization it used to be. The league was once a plenty with entertaining coaches such as Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. To fill this void, the league is beginning to be infiltrated by successful NCAA basketball coaches moving up to the NBA.

This transition began when Brad Stevens moved in 2013 from Butler to the Boston Celtics. Just this Summer Billy Donovan made the transition from the University of Florida to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Before Billy Donovan accepted the job in OKC the biggest name in the race was Kevin Ollie.

The dumpster fire that is the Los Angeles Lakers, will inevitably need a new coach after this season. Better yet a coach who could recruit former league MVP Kevin Durant to the Lakers.

When asked about Kevin Ollie, Kevin Durant once said: “[Ollie’s] mindset, his professionalism, every single day.

“And we all watched that, we all wanted to be like that, and it rubbed off on Russell [Westbrook], myself, Jeff Green, James Harden.

“And you know, everybody that comes through now, there’s a standard you’ve got to live up to as a Thunder player. And that started with Kevin Ollie.”

Everyone in the NBA loves Kevin Ollie. They just want to emulate him, and be exactly like him. If Coach Ollie does ever decide to leave UConn he will find a job in Los Angeles. Any NBA franchise would be lucky to get Coach Ollie if he does ever decide to leave the basketball capital of the World.

I just hope we all are thankful we get to cheer on UConn basketball while he is still here.

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