Wizard of Odds

The unlikely and unyielding success of Tom Konchalski, the New Yorker considered by many to be America’s finest and most influential basketball scout. By David M. Napier

Travelling to Rucker Park is, for the die-hard basketball fan, akin to a person of deep faith making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  In the summer of 2018, I returned to the fabled basketball court at 155th and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in the Harlem which has long been the home to basketball’s version of the gods; a place where fans have pressed up against the chain-link fence or sat on roofs with their feet dangling perilously over the edge as they watched some of the best basketball players in the world put on displays of sheer athleticism that became the stuff of basketball lore. 

This is where “Jumpin” Jackie Jackson rose to the challenge and snatched a quarter off the top of a backboard.  This is where a lean and afro-ed Julius Erving came (from Philadelphia) and operated so beautifully he earned the nickname “Dr. J”.  And the Internet still racks up hits from those who want to see clips from the night Kevin Durant played in a Rucker league game and dropped a silky 66 points under the floodlights as fans went berserk. 

Rucker is a holy place for those who follow urban basketball.  But as with any fundamentalist hotspot it is also a place to be approached with a certain degree of caution:  Rucker can be a raucous and even dangerous place when competition gets heated, fans get hyped, and the mercury rises.  So on a warm summer afternoon, as I emerge from the subway and step into the afternoon sun, I approach the park with its worn swings and teeter-totters and the high-and-rusty fence that surrounds the single court slowly.  I am overcome by a mixture of excitement and fear; a nervous swirl of emotion fueled by my deep reverence for this place in hoop history.  That, and the knowledge that Rucker fans do, on rare but bloody occasions, wield hand-guns and shoot each other.   The first thing I notice is that the cracked asphalt at Rucker has been overlain by hardwood that glistens with colorful graffiti that could easily stood upright and displayed in a Soho gallery as laid flat on a Harlem playground.  The next thing I see is the the long line-up to get into the court.  Admission to Rucker requires an invitation to play or enough patience to endure concert-length queues that preface entry.  The other option is to come with a basketball legend.  

Tom Konchalski fits the bill, perfectly. 

The 70-something-year-old basketball scout and sole proprietor of HSBI Report has been covering high school boys’ play for more than 50 years. And Konchalski has achieved massive fame within the most important basketball circles for his remarkable prescience for identifying the most talented high school ballers and then accurately projecting the level of university or college play at which they can contribute with maximum impact. 

“If you’re out here and you run into somebody who doesn’t know Tom Konchalski then they don’t know New York basketball.  Tom’s been a fixture in our community for 50 years,” says Jeff Riviera, a long-time high school coach in New York City.  When asked about what it is exactly that Tom does that few others can or will do, Riviera explains that, “Tom’s not all about the all-star of the future hall of fame player… they’re going to get where they are going anyway.  He’s looking at the little guy who may be under the radar.  It’s those players whose skills are really good but may not be getting a lot of court time or a serious look from college coaches that Tom finds and helps place in the appropriate basketball program.  “The next thing you know that kid is playing at Kansas or someplace.  That’s what Tom can do.” 

<< TO BE CONTINUED… >>

"Have You Ever Been to North Preston?"

A few weeks ago I attended a somewhat swanky breakfast at Pier 21 put on by the fine folks at the YMCA in Halifax-Dartmouth to honor local community leaders.  Shortly before the formal portion of the event started a man plunked himself into the chair beside me.  It was impossible not to notice that this guy in his mid to late 60s had the energy of a puppy off his leash.  (And, in the morning sun, it was clear that he was wearing a very colorful sweater for which he should had saved the receipt.) 

Soon enough I introduced myself.  He did the same.  It was another lesson for me about ‘not judging books by their covers’.  Who knew that John Lindsay, Jr., the man responsible for putting his father’s name on the new Y and tossing a suitcase full of cash at what will become Halifax’s next landmark building, could pass for your folksy uncle?  

After the breakfast had wrapped up, John and I bumped into each other at the coat-rack. I mentioned how much the Y had impacted me as a kid and noted that UP Basketball was a sort of extension of some of the work that had gone on there.  I added that UP was headed to North Preston in a few weeks and asked if John had ever been there. 

“No,” came the reply of one of Halifax’s most successful commercial real estate builders, before quickly adding, “No one has ever asked me.”

So there you have it, I thought: one of our city’s most generous and wealthy white businessmen has never visited one of our province’s most vibrant yet impoverished (and, there’s shamefully no coincidence here, predominantly black) communities.  It’s not that John wouldn’t go, he’s just never been asked. I told him that I am not from NP but that I have friends who are, and, if he was interested, I was sure we could secure an invitation.

As it happens, I went to NP in early December with UP for a small, spirited game of pick-up ball. 

John, as far as a I know, still hasn’t been there.

It’s a shame.  Just think of what a man like John Lindsay, Jr., teamed with a few others from different communities and backgrounds could do to grow North Preston.  They could build some new houses around the lake.  They could open a gas station/grocery store.  They could bring a coffeeshop to the NP Community Centre.  The list of possibilities is as long as it is exciting.  (And if anyone needs proof that ‘build it and they will come’ applies to NP, just look at what young Shaq Smith is doing with his new $300K outdoor basketball court.)

The bottom line is that we’d all be better for walking through North Preston once in a while. And we’d all be better if that fine community got a little bit of the love and respect that other Halifax neighborhoods take for granted. 

So here’s my small effort to walk that process forward. It comes in the form of a simple but long-overdue question:  “Hey, John Lindsay, Jr., wanna’ take drive out to North Preston someday?”

— D.N.

New UP Teammates: A Good (Naw, Great!) Corporate Citizen, and a Former AUS Star

Hey All:

I cannot say too much right now, but let me reveal this much:

UP has a new corporate sponsor coming on board. They couldn’t be bigger or a better fit for UP Basketball and the young athletes that come thru our games. The big reveal will come in the next few months as terms are finalized (and UP nails down it charitable status with CRA) so stay tuned.

And… UP is welcoming a new individual in the form of a former AUS stand-out and big-time community leader here in Hfx-Dart.

Until the formal announcements are made (via this site, and social media) know that the UP is growing in small but important ways.

Peace.

-DN

College Hoops Then & Now

I remember being 13, seated alongside my pal Mac in the "Metro Centre" with our legs dangling toward the lower bowl, watching the St.F.X. men's team, starring John Hatch, wage battle against Acadia.  Mac and I were so enamored of the X-men that we swore, then and there, that we'd attend St.F.X. and wear blue and white in the backcourt.  

I was a decent ball player.  Mac was outstanding.  These two facts came to bear heavily on our respective decisions regarding university and where to attempt to play basketball.  So, a few years later when my parents drove me onto the St. F.X. campus, I wasn't surprised to find that Mac was not enrolled.  He'd been recruited pretty heavily and eventually opted to play in British Columbia - UVic to be precise. 

Mac went west with dreams of eventually making it to the Olympics.  I, on the other hand, stayed the course and, after a summer spent running the streets of Halifax in the hopes of getting into shape for training camp, headed down the highway in the hopes of making the basketball team as a “walk-on”.   My timing was perfect.   That year - 1985 - the X-men had a single spot on its roster for an non-recruited player.  That said, looking around the gymnasium that September day, it quickly registered how deep the pool of basketball talent was: there were all-stars from Halifax, standouts from Ontario, and two players from the United States.  The latter athletes were both outstanding, but it was a strong, smooth, 6’3” guard name Kyle Gayle, who hailed from Bayonne, New Jersey, that seemed other-worldly when it came to ball-handling and the ability to twist and turn to the hoop.

This was ball at a whole other level.

I made the team and, to this day, have friends from those days in the X locker-room.  I am also still in touch with Steve ("Coach K") Konchalski.  And now, as the USports (formerly the CIS) tournament kicks into gear, I find myself making my way to what's now the "Scotiabank Centre" to sit in the stands, sip a beer and watch the latest generation of university players live out their dreams.  It's nice to see.  And it's nice to feel, in a very small way, a part of the long & illustrious legacy of university ball in Canada.  

Damn Shame

We are getting it all wrong as far as player development goes.  How?  By spending a helluva lot of time worrying and working on team-play and systems when skill development is what's needed and sorely lacking.  

When was the last time you sat watching TV while leaning back during commercials to 'shoot' the ball upward toward the ceiling to practice your line and backspin?  When was the last time you saw a player at the local playground working on his handle?  (For that matter, when was the last time you saw a Halifax court busy with more than one ball player on it?) 

We gotta' get back to basics, literally.  This means means improving on dribbling, passing and shooting - and not spending so much time on plays, and then executing ad nauseum on these structured systems during boring basketball games.  Putting the emphasis on the wrong aspects of play stifles immediate development and overall creativity.  

To pick on one aspect of the game, players, young ones especially, need to be much better at dribbling.  And (call me if this ever happens) when a kid feels he's able to dribble in a telephone booth like Steph can, challenge him or her to learn to pass as effectively as Bob Cousy, Pete Maravich or Jason Williams.  

That's right, guys from years and even decades ago, where doing things way better than we are today.  Want proof?  Just type in Williams' name into Google and watch "White Chocolate" spin and pass thru his top 10 plays of all time.  It's stuff you NEVER see players do - let alone even try - anymore.  Damn shame.

Life Coaches

I recall having decent coaches, good coaches and great coaches when I was young. I even recall a bad one or two.  They all had their impact on the young man I was, and the old man I would become.  And, here's the truly lovely part: to my recollection, none of these coaches ever got paid. They came to the gym, often in the dead of winter while their families waited at home, to put kids through drills and scrimmages, for the love of the sport - and for their love of kids. Coaching styles differed, but they had a common trait: they displayed love simply by showing up.  

As UP grows it is evolving.  Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised with the generous input from so many people, but I am.  It such a pleasant truth that in these Trumpian/me-first times we are living through that everyone I have called upon to help with UP basketball - and the UPlifting mentorship project - has come with no hesitation or complaint. They 'get' it.  They realize that a few well-intentioned people with a common goal can achieve a lot.  

UPlifting is taking off.  We have many great relationships underway and dozens of people queued up to help more young people. 

That said, we are taking it slow, realizing that many mentorship projects fail.  The reasons for this are tricky to figure out but I have my suspicions - and am working to avoid those pitfalls. I will keep you posted on our progress.

Meantime, here's one comment from one mentee who tells about a recent meeting with her mentor.  It's a comment that I find uplifting. I think you will to:

“…it was like having a therapist that was truly invested in my success”.

UP@TheSquare

UP@TheSquare  has been rescheduled to Saturday, Sept. 23rd.

Individual players & teams all welcome. Play will be 3-on-3.  Prizes, BBQ, and more. Sign up now.

"UP@TheSquare" has the generous support of: Touch of Gold Fine Jewellery, East Coast Bakery, Loblaw Companies, CRTSD*SNKRS, The Keating-Bekkers Family, Basketball Nova Scotia, Cleve's/The Source, the City of Halifax, the YMCA of Greater Halifax-Dartmouth, Jerome "Junk Yard Dog" Williams, Mary Lou Landry Design, & Fresh Prints Custom Apparel.