Sidney Moncrief spent last season as a shooting coach with the Golden State Warriors. He's one of many former Bucks that have gone on to enjoy a coaching career. (Getty)

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July 16, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- The only National Basketball Association jerseys Sidney Moncrief ever wore – aside from the Eastern Conference All-Star edition, which he graced five times – were those of the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks.

Moncrief’s career achievements, though, reveal that he was a trail blazer, too. He became the original recipient of the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1983 following the fourth of his 10 seasons with the Bucks.

Moncrief was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team that year, and he was a fixture on that squad from 1982 through ’86.

Don Nelson was Milwaukee’s head coach during Moncrief’s run as the NBA’s paramount backcourt defender, so he had a bird’s-eye view of it all. And he didn’t forget it.

Twice during his ensuing years in NBA coaching, Nelson has enlisted Moncrief as an assistant, first with the Dallas Mavericks and last year with the Golden State Warriors.

To those who did not monitor Moncrief’s playing career, but were aware of his defensive prowess, his second hiring by Nelson may have carried a twist of irony – he was designated Golden State’s shooting coach last fall.

Those who did witness Bucks Employee No. 4’s body of work, though, could have provided plenty of references if needed. Over the course of his 11 seasons as an NBA player, Moncrief not only converted better than 83 percent of his free throws, but shot at a .502 clip from the field.

Hall-of-Fame guards Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Walt Frazier and Dave Bing can’t make that latter claim. Neither can Michael Jordan. Allen Iverson will never reach that neighborhood, and it’s doubtful that Kobe Bryant will, either.

Yes, Moncrief could shoot the basketball. But it wasn’t strictly his marksmanship that earned him his latest niche. He was a student of the game when he played it, and he hasn’t stopped studying.

"I shot 50 percent from the field and about 81 or 82 percent from the line and was a 20-point scorer,” Moncrief said. “My defense certainly defined me, but I was probably as much of an offensive player as I was a defensive player."

"Shooting is something I've studied. I've had a basketball training company, so shooting is something I've studied quite a bit and feel comfortable teaching."

Moncrief realized when he took his Golden State post that he wasn’t going to perform miracles overnight.

“I'm not trying to reconstruct shots right now,” he said during his visit to Milwaukee last season. “You do that in the summertime. I'm just trying to build confidence more than anything else.

“I also find small things that don't interfere with the players’ confidence level, but I certainly don't get in and try to change hand position and elbow position. I just try to focus on things that can help the players become better shooters."

The Warriors would do well to be as attentive to Moncrief as he was to his coaches back in the day. He realizes what a profound impact they have had on his career in the game.

"I've always been influenced by my coaches, from my junior high school coach, Johnny Greenwood; to my high school coach, Oliver Elder; to my college coach, Eddie Sutton; and then to Don Nelson and Del Harris in the NBA,” Moncrief said. “I think I was always a student of the game who paid attention to what was going on out on the court. I had a good feel for the game itself and I had decent leadership qualities.

"So when a coaching opportunity became available and the time was right, I decided to give it a shot. And it's something I really enjoy. I enjoy teaching, I enjoy coaching and being around the game of basketball."

The 1980s Bucks captured seven division championships and won 50 or more games seven times, so Moncrief wasn’t the only one who was paying close attention to Nelson and his successful successor, Harris. Not surprisingly, several of Moncrief’s teammates have resurfaced as NBA assistant coaches.

Paul Pressey teamed with Moncrief to form one of the most tenacious backcourt defensive tandems in NBA history, joining him as an NBA All-Defensive First-Teamer in 1984-85 and in 1985-86.

Following hitches as an assistant with Golden State, San Antonio, Orlando and Boston, Pressey joined Byron Scott’s New Orleans staff in 2007 and played an integral role in the Hornets’ dramatic turnabout. They buzzed from the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery to the second-best record in the league’s fiercely competitive Western Conference this past season.

Pressey said the seeds that grew into his coaching career were planted during his playing days in Milwaukee.

"We talked a lot back then,” he said. “Coaching for me was something I wanted to do after I was finished as a professional athlete.

“I'm truly grateful that I've been able to spend 16 years in this profession."

Future coaches Moncrief and Pressey had already put in four years as backcourt partners in Milwaukee prior to July of 1986, when the Bucks acquired center Jack Sikma in a six-player deal with the Seattle Super Sonics.

Sikma, who like Moncrief and Pressey had been an NBA All-Defensive Team selection (a second-team pick while with the Sonics in 1981-82), not only provided the Bucks with a formidable inside presence, but another weapon in their shooting arsenal. He shot .884 from the free-throw line and sank 199 3-point goals during five seasons with Milwaukee.

The originator of “the Sikma move” put his basketball career on hold following his retirement as a player. But he returned to the NBA as an assistant coach with Seattle in 2003, and put in four seasons in that capacity before spending the 2007-08 campaign on Rick Adelman’s Houston Rockets staff.

"My thought was to get back into the game at some time after I retired as a player,” Sikma said. “But I had two young ones at the time, and we had plans for more. We now have three. I felt if I got away from the game a little bit, it would give me a chance to enjoy the family and establish good, firm, solid relationships with my kids as a dad. That was very important.

"After about 12 years, I had an opportunity in Seattle to get back into the game and felt the time was right. I got back in to see how I liked it, and I do. I have aspirations to continue in coaching and be involved with an organization. Hopefully I'll get an opportunity to run a team or run an organization at some point in time."

Sidney Moncrief, Paul Pressey and Jack Sikma are just three of the former Milwaukee Bucks who have entered the coaching ranks following their playing days.

Next time you page through a Bucks Media Guide in search of team trivia, visit the all-time roster pages and see how many ex-Bucks you can count who have gone on to pursue coaching careers.

Spanning the NBA, the National Basketball Development League, the Continential Basketball Association and the collegiate ranks, I counted 41.

The Milwaukee Bucks coaching tree might not be visible to those driving up State Street between the Bradley Center and the U.S. Cellular Arena (formerly known as the Milwaukee Arena and MECCA), but its roots are bedded in 40 years of a rich tradition.