Ollie willing to be mentor before becoming a coach

Jeff Roberson, Associated Press

Eleven-year NBA veteran Kevin Ollie is hoping to snag a roster spot as the third point guard for the Timberwolves.

The veteran point guard wants to share his wisdom with the Wolves' young players before eventually taking over a team himself.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 7, 2008 - 8:06 AM

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MILWAUKEE -- 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.

Ollie said he has learned to become a forceful voice on the floor from playing with former NBA star Derek Harper. And he calls former 76ers coach Larry Brown, whom Ollie considers the man who nurtured his NBA career, the kind of coach he hopes to someday become. Their travel histories certainly are pretty similar.

"I always look at him as the guy I want to emulate and have my team run like his team," Ollie said.

For now, Ollie's job is to prove to Wittman that he can play a limited number of minutes in relief of Foye and Telfair -- he played three minutes in Monday's preseason-opening rout of Milwaukee -- and, perhaps more important, offer guidance and wisdom.

"He's already done that in the short time he has been here," Wittman said. "He's done a lot of tutoring, especially with Randy and Bassy, telling them the things they need to do. That's what I'm looking for: a guy who has been around the block. A guy who has played a lot of minutes, who has not played a lot of minutes. He has been a guy who has been through it all, and I think he can help those guys foresee what lies ahead."

Foye is 25. Telfair is 23. And both apparently are willing to listen.

"We both know he's been around the league a lot," Telfair said. "He knows things we don't. He's a great defender, and he understand things about communicating and assignments. When a guy has been around the league like that, you listen. Of course, you listen."