By NIKOLE JAVIER
Five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher is looking to translate his successful playing career into a more meaningful coaching journey following his visit to the Philippines for the NBA Jr. Coaches Clinic at the NBA Community Court in Mandaluyong earlier this week.
The former Los Angeles Lakers point guard was generous with his insights as he weighed in on more Filipinos making it to the NBA – whether it was through coaching or as a player.
“The game is continuing to grow all over the globe. I don’t know if there’s any particular thing that has to happen in order for [Filipino players to make it],” Fisher said.
“NBA, the academies are growing. There are international competitions, with NBA teams and executives scouting players from all over the world at all times.
“In terms of coaches, that world is smaller. So finding ways to build a relationship with other coaches that work either in the program or in the college game, those are really important aspects of that coaching opportunity.
“Coaches are busy but they love to share so whether through social media, it is not an easy thing to do. But reaching out to coaches and letting them know that you’re following them or supporting their school or their team and keeping them up to date on the things that you are working on, you never know when it’s going to reach their desk at the right time,” he detailed.
In front of high school and collegiate Filipino tacticians looking to get inspired and learn from the decorated player, Fisher is finding it special to be in a vulnerable position in order to impart his knowledge about the game.
There is no easy path to the big league, with Erik Spoelstra being the most prominent of Filipino descent actively coaching in the NBA for the Miami Heat since 2008.
Last year, Gilas Pilipinas hero Jimmy Alapag entered the NBA coaching scene as he became the Sacramento Kings’ player development coach.
However, aside from Fil-American players Jordan Clarkson, Jalen Green and Raymond Townsend currently seeing action in the league, no pure blooded Filipino has fully made it to the NBA.
Two years ago, Kai Sotto went unselected in the NBA Draft before making his debut in the Summer League the following year for the Orlando Magic.
Though nothing NBA-related has since really materialized out of the back-to-back opportunities for Sotto.
“I think discipline for a Filipino player specifically or any player, discipline oftentimes only goes to practicing shooting, practicing your ball handling, your skills, that part is given. If you want to be an NBA player, you have to be good at basketball. There’s discipline in showing up one time, there’s discipline in being coachable. There’s discipline in being a good teammate. There’s discipline in wanting others to be successful sometimes more so than yourself which is part of being a great teammate. Those are skills we don’t talk about as much,” Fisher said.
“And I think for Filipino players, you are not just surely gonna make it to the NBA to become a 20-point scorer, you got to make it to the NBA for a lot of other things that require discipline. Those things I listed are really some of the valuable,” he added.
After securing all his five rings with the Lakers, Fisher bounced around the league before retiring with the Oklahoma City Thunders in 2014.
Shortly after, the 49-year-old Fisher went straight to coaching for the New York Knicks with his former Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, who was then the president of the team, factoring in his decision to take on the role which lasted until 2016.
In 2019, Fisher was named head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) before he parted ways with the team three years later.
As of now, Fisher has remained coaching mostly in California this time with Crespi Carmelite High School.
Not that Fisher’s successful playing career is now behind him as he continues to draw inspiration from it in his ongoing coaching journey.
“There are similarities between coaching and playing from the competitiveness standpoint. You really want to win at a very high level. But you are not out there. So it really does test my ability to how do I continue to learn or grow while hoping to influence other people’s decisions and your players’ abilities without you being in complete control over what the results or decisions are going to be,” Fisher said.
“That’s what makes coaching so hard. I think it’s important when I’m presenting myself to other coaches is really to be vulnerable and say ‘I don’t have all the answers.’ I’m not smarter than every other coach in the world just because of my experiences. I try to learn from other coaches as much as humanly possible.
“The coaches here in the Philippines as well as others around the world. If I read, studied, and learned about how they manage things, the decisions they make with their teams, I’ll get better from it. That’s probably what I try to carry the most from playing into coaching is always being willing to learn. Grow and know that there’s always something that you could be doing to get better. I’d always try to think of it as a coach,” he concluded.
