Rather than view an arrival with his 11th team in 11 NBA seasons as perhaps his final chapter, new Timberwolves guard Kevin Ollie considers this latest stop perhaps the foreword to the next phase of his life.
An undrafted player who has closely watched Don Nelson, Byron Scott, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas, Paul Silas and Maurice Cheeks, among others, work the sidelines during those 11 seasons, Ollie thinks he wants to coach when those 35-year-old legs finally give out.
He's getting a chance right now, mentoring young point guards Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair while he competes with 24-year-old Blake Ahearn for the team's third point-guard spot.
He calls himself not just a grizzled vet but also a "fountain of positivity" for the young guys.
"They're young, energetic and willing to learn," said Ollie, who spent the past four seasons with Philadelphia. "I'm just trying to complement that any way possible. That's just part of my niche in the league. I embrace the challenge. I look forward to passing down anything I've learned over my career to them. The way I look at it, this is just preparing me to coach one day."
The good thing about lugging your suitcase to Dallas, Orlando, Sacramento, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Chicago, Indiana, Milwaukee, Seattle and Cleveland? You get the opportunity to learn from many teammates, and you experience about every coaching style there is.
"He's probably got a lot of playbooks in his closet somewhere," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said.
KNICKS' CURRY PRACTICES FOR FIRST TIME: New York Knicks center Eddy Curry practiced for the first time this season Monday after he was sidelined last week because of a bacterial infection.
Curry missed the Knicks' entire training camp in Saratoga Springs, leaving his hotel room only for visits to Saratoga Hospital. That cost him valuable time as he tries to grasp new coach Mike D'Antoni's system.