87ers coach Baker focused on player development
Rod Baker, the new coach of the Sixers' D-League team, brings 35 years of experience to the job.
NEW DELAWARE 87ers head coach Rod Baker is no stranger to Philadelphia, having grown up here, graduating from Roman Catholic (Class of 1970) and serving as an assistant coach at Saint Joseph's. And he's definitely no stranger to coaching.
Baker, 62, has been around the block a few times, putting together a 35-year resume that reads like a who's who in hoops. The 1974 Holy Cross graduate was the head coach at Cal-Irvine, served under P.J. Carlesimo at Seton Hall for 3 years and was an assistant at Holy Cross, Brown, Columbia, Tufts, Cincinnati and Rutgers. Professionally, he was most recently the assistant head coach of the NBA Development League's Bakersfield Jam. And from 2003-05, he was the head coach and director of basketball operations for the Harlem Globetrotters.
But as the head coach of a first-year franchise, Baker knows his job is all about player development.
"Our goal is to get guys to get better than they were the day before," Baker said. "Whatever that's going to take. We'll try to evaluate what they're good at, what they're not so good at and hopefully with the guidance of [Sixers general manager] Sam [Hinkie] and [Sixers head coach] Brett [Brown] and [87ers general manager] Brandon [Williams] . . . 'We really think this guy is going to be this if we can get him to do that.' "
But not every player is going to be in that mindset.
"The D-League can be a humbling experience. It's absolutely the second best league in the world next to this one," said Baker, motioning to the Sixers court at the Wells Fargo Center. "You better come with everything you've got every night from a coaching standpoint and from a player's standpoint, because it's extremely competitive. And if you're not trusting in your teammates and you're not trusting in the system, it can be humbling."
Baker likes the idea that the parent 76ers are just a 40-mile trip up I-95. For some players, it could be an easy, 44-minute drive, but for others, that road to the Wells Fargo Center could be paved with lots of potholes, traffic jams and flat tires.