10.
Who was the best coach you ever played for? Jeff Capel (assistant
coach for the Charlotte Bobcats) and Sam Worthen (assistant coach
under Capel last year for the NBDL’s Fayetteville Patriots).
11.
Who was the best coach you ever
played against? The toughest to play
against was Pete Carril of Princeton.
12.
What players have made the biggest influence on you? The biggest
influences on me came from Jose Ortiz, Dave Johnson, and Thomas
Jordan.
Sam Winter:
Forward, Harvard, 2000-2003, led conference in rebounding in 2003
with 8.1 RPG.
1. What professional
teams have you played for since graduating? I played for just one
season with a team in the Swiss National League B called SAV Vacallo
in Switzerland.
2.
If your playing days are already over, what are
you up to these days? As it stands today, my competitive basketball
career is over. I broke my foot twice in a short period of time,
and ended up having surgery to ensure a full recovery. From that
time, I made the decision to look ahead to a post-basketball
career. My focus with professional basketball was always
short-term, and if I did not have had foot surgery I may have played
for one more year at the most. Next up for me is some sort of
paying job, which has yet to be determined. I have considered
getting into writing, film, advertising, or finance: I suspect I
will dabble in whatever I can until I find a good fit.
3. What was the best
moment of your professional career? I think my best moment came in
a game against the first place team in our league. By this time in
the season, the opponent was familiar with my game and knew that I
was my team’s biggest offensive threat, so they were working really
hard to deny me any good looks at the basket. However, I was able
to get a few difficult shots to drop early, and from there my
confidence was high and I scored 30 difficult points. Our team won
the game and we celebrated really well after that one.
4. What was the best
moment of your college career? It is hard to pinpoint the best
moment of my college career, but one game I was really proud of was
against New Hampshire during my junior year. I had been up all
night working on a paper, and had almost no sleep. We then went
into New Hampshire’s gym, where I had 15 points and a career-high 14
rebounds, and we won the game (Harvard beat New Hampshire 70-65 on
December 12, 2001). I liked that game because it was a microcosm of
my dual efforts during college: athletics and academics.
5. What are the major
differences between the professional game and the college game? I
can only speak with intimate knowledge about my level of
professional play, which was in all honesty not as competitive as
Ivy League basketball. However, one important difference is the
player/coach dynamic. In college, the coach is more like a
dictator: sometimes authoritative, sometimes compassionate, but
always in charge. His word is the law. In a professional setting,
there is more give-and-take between the players and the coach. It’s
an age thing and a power thing: certain players are closer to the
coach as being his equal.
6. What are the major
differences between Ivy League play and other Division 1 play?
Everyone thinks of the Ivy League as smart man’s basketball (such as
the Princeton offense), but that is not necessarily what sets it
apart. A lot of schools outside the Ivy League run Princeton’s
offense, and a lot of schools play smart basketball. I think of us
as a three-point shooting league. All of the power forwards can
play facing the basket and shoot the jumper, and there is also a
high volume of three-point field goals shot and made at a good
percentage. A lot of scoring comes from penetration and then a
pitch to the three-point shooters.
7. Who was the best
player you ever played with? I’ve played a lot of summer league
ball with Paul Shirley (2-time All-Big 12 Academic 1st-team).
He is from near my hometown and went to Iowa State. He has had a
few short-term stints in the NBA, and has played overseas as well.
8. Who was the best
player you ever played against? Kareem Rush (2-time All-America
Honorable Mention at Missouri) was always really good. Growing up,
we would play his teams in AAU, and he has turned into a big-time
player.
9. Who was the best
coach you ever played for? Frank Sullivan (at Harvard): you could
never question how hard he worked or how badly he wanted to win.
Those are the first things you want from a coach.
10. Who was the best
coach you ever played against? It is hard to say, but I always
liked how James Jones’ teams played at Yale.
11.
What advice do you have for current Ivy League
players who want to make it to the pros? The best in the Ivy League
might have agents or professional teams pursuing them. More than
likely, you will have to be pursuing them to some extent if you want
to play professionally: use whatever contacts you can to help you.
12.
What advice do you have for current Ivy League
players who are not sure what to do if they cannot make it to the
pros? Put that education to use. And maybe just as important, put
those contacts you make while at such an elite school to use. You
are in a privileged position to network: your alumni, classmates,
and former teammates are some of the best career resources anyone
could hope for.
13.
What players have made the biggest influence on
you? I always wanted to have a balanced, well-rounded game, and I
looked up to players who were multifaceted and big men who had
perimeter skills. Grant Hill, Scottie Pippen, Tom Chambers, simply
because of his dunk over Mark Jackson where his head was two feet
above the rim (widely acknowledged as one of the most sensational
NBA dunks of all-time), the young Larry Johnson, and Derrick
Coleman. More recently: Antoine Walker, Dirk Nowitzki, Lamar Odom,
and my Harvard teammate Dan Clemente (1998 Ivy Rookie of the Year).
My older brother had a huge influence on my game growing up. And
there is not a player alive who has not been inspired by Michael
Jordan, period.
14. What are the best
changes in the game that you have noticed from the time you played
until now? One of the best changes is the rise of non-American
teams and players. For the American way of basketball to be
challenged like this, it should do something to raise the quality of
play at all levels in America: I hope that is what happens anyway.
15. What are the
worst changes in the game that you have noticed from the time you
played until now? The And 1 Streetball episodes on TV are fun to
watch, but they have a horrible influence on the game, in that it
gives kids something to practice that will not help them play the
game. Also, big men who do not want to play inside. It is great to
have outside skills if you are a big man, but it is so much better
if you are a major threat inside as well. My case in point is
Jonathan Bender: he is 7-feet tall with skills, but he cannot play
inside, so he is just an average wing player.
