For Rick Majerus, the University of Utah coach and a true basketball aficionado, there are worse ways to spend a summer than serving as an assistant coach for Dream Team II. Which is what he has been doing for the past month.
For a man who watches basketball film into the wee hours because he can't help himself; for a man who keeps a basketball in the trunk of his car because he never knows when he might find a pickup game, it doesn't get any better than this.For five weeks he coached the greatest athletes on the planet; he struck up friendships with his now good buddies Shaquille O'Neal, Joe Dumars, Dominique Wilkins, Dan Majerle, Kevin Johnson, Shawn Kemp and so on; he shared the perks of the bigtime - breakfast with Alec Baldwin and Whoopi Goldberg and limo rides here and there; he turned down job offers from the pro ranks; he watched Shaq and Kemp run his Utah offense so smoothly that the artist in him wanted to cry; and of course he helped the U.S. win the gold medal at the World Basketball Championships in Toronto.
Why, he'd do all this for free. And did - unless you want to count the gold medal he brought home, or the Rolex that Shaq slipped on his wrist.
"I felt like Cinderella going to the ball," said Majerus, who returned from his Dream travels on Tuesday. "The clock struck midnight and the pumpkin turned into my Ford."
For Majerus, the world championships surely was a slice of heaven. If the players were considered the Dream Team, then Majerus was part of the Dream Staff. He was hand-picked for the job last year by a group of NBA coaches and officials to work with head coach Don Nelson and two other assistants, Don Chaney and Pete Gillen.
Majerus actually began the job last summer, scouting tournaments in Africa, Central America and Europe. This summer his assignment required him to break down videotapes, install a zone offense and work with the big men.
It was like giving Julia Roberts and Harrison Ford to Steven Spielberg and telling him to make a movie.
Majerus installed some of the same zone offenses he uses at Utah, as well as several Utah plays and screens (although Nelson did reject one of Utah's plays; he said it was too complicated). The Dream Team even used the same Utah terminology as the Utes. "It was real heady to be playing Russia and yell `Runner!', the same thing we call (that play) at Utah," he says.
Majerus also coached the big men, his specialty, including of course Shaq, who apparently grew fond of the coach. Shaq liked to palm and rub Majerus's bald head. He also liked to give him things.
One day he spied Majerus's beat-up running shoes and arranged to have two new pairs of shoes delivered to the coach. When Majerus showed up the next day wearing the shoes, Shaq asked how they fit. They're a little tight, but fine, the coach said. Shaq turned to his personal manager and told him to deliver Majerus another set of bigger shoes.
"We hit it off," says Majerus. "He's a great guy. We had a great relationship."
Moments after the Dream Team beat Greece in the next to last game of the tournament, Shaq gave Majerus another gift. "You don't have a watch, do you?" he said. "You should have one. Here, I got this for you." Shaq grabbed Majerus's arm and placed a $2,000 watch around his wrist.
"It was a really touching thing that he did," said Majerus.
When Majerus showed up for the next day's practice without the watch, Shaq asked him about it. "You didn't give it away, did you?"
"He was hurt," says Majerus. "He had these big puppy-dog eyes."
Majerus explained that he would never give it away, but that he doesn't wear watches or jewelry, or even socks for that matter.
"I have a dish, and next year I'm going to watch your games, and I better see that watch," said Shaq.
He won't see it. Majerus plans to put the watch in a glass case in his office, next to a note from Shaq.
Shaq also did a little recruiting for Majerus. Seeing a highly touted Canadian high school basketball prospect at a practice, he told the kid, "I hope you play for Majerus. I wish I had played for him. He's a great coach."
There was more. Majerle gave Majerus clothing and invited him for dinner at his restaurant-bar in Phoenix. Kevin Johnson said he would call Majerus when Cal, his alma mater, had a job opening. Almost all of the players said they wanted to send recruits to Utah. Steve Smith, who had little playing time, thanked Majerus for helping to lift his spirits and promised to find him a player in Detroit.
"Will you be back again?" Shaq asked Majerus, referring to future Dream Teams and the Olympics.
No one's officially asked him yet, but Majerus isn't sure he can take another summer away from his basketball camps and Utah's recruiting. He's more interested in coaching a college all-star team internationally.
After a summer of working with the best, the appeal of the NBA would seem to be stronger than ever for the aficionado in Majerus, but he remains loyal to the collegiate game, even after several pro teams asked him in Toronto if he was interested in an NBA head coaching job.
"There are some things you can't get in the pros," he said.
And there are some things you can't get in college. Such as Shaq and a gold watch.