Arizona:Β Miller. With the Wildcats, Alkins may not have the same kind of freedom he thrived in at the Combine, but he gets a chance to further work under a coach who is well-respected by NBA execs. Guard Kadeem Allen, who spent three years in UAβs program, said his Combine coach, Jerry Stackhouse, told him the Arizona players there were ahead of the others in part because of the instruction and terminology Miller offered, especially defensively. βThatβs Coach Miller, man,β Allen said. βThe things he told us, a lot of guys really donβt know that. Thatβs a positive.β
Professional:Β Many D-League coaches now, like Mermuys (when he was with Toronto) and Brase (now with Houston) are actually employed by the parent NBA club and often have worked on its big-league coaching staff before coming to the D-League. The D-League is moving toward having a full affiliate for each NBA team, much like major league baseball teams do with Triple-A clubs. So in many cases the schemes, terminology and standards are exactly the same to an NBA team. But the experience can vary by team.Β
