Pros Versus Ivy League Joes

Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett—and now, Keith Wright. While all play for Massachusetts-based basketball teams, they now have one more thing in common: all have been influenced by Brian Adams.

In June of this year, Adams joined the Harvard men’s basketball program as an assistant coach, filling the void left by former assistant Kenny Blakeney. Prior to joining the Crimson’s staff, Adams was involved with multiple NBA teams. For the New York Knicks, he was the organization’s intern for basketball operations. Most recently, Adams spent the last five years working for the Boston Celtics, four of them as video coordinator.

“He has an energetic, young, enthusiastic mind for basketball,” head coach Tommy Amaker says. “He is going to bring a wealth of experience from [the Celtics], that incredible first class organization and franchise, of how they did things, how the organization was run … He has been an incredible resource for our guys.”

As video coordinator, Adams’s responsibilities included creating scouting videos on opposing teams and editing film from Celtics’ games. As NBA fans will realize, his time with the organization overlapped with its 17th title—earning him his own championship ring.

“I think the only time I see [the championship ring] is when we have recruits come up and he flashes it just to remind them where he came from,” co-captain Oliver McNally says with a smile. “All jokes aside, it’s pretty special. That’s essentially an assistant coach on an NBA championship team.”

Even before the season’s tipoff, Adams has already impacted the Crimson. His connections with the NBA have led him to help his new players in ways that would not have been possible for most college assistant coaches.

“He’s showed us all types of pick-and-rolls—Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat stuff,” junior forward Christian Webster says. “He gives us different game tapes of different players we like. [Junior forward Kyle Casey] got a Carmelo [Anthony] tape, and [sophomore guard Laurent Rivard] and I got a lot of shooting tapes. He actually gave me a Ray Allen shooting workout.”

While his wealth of experience is undeniable, Amaker revealed the true reason for Adams’ hire.

“When he interviewed for the position and wanted to come on board here, he promised me that he would bring Kevin Garnett over here,” Amaker says. “I was teasing him, but it is big. Let’s not kid ourselves … the highest thing we could do in the world of basketball is play in the NBA, and to have someone who has that experience right now … and is interested in being a part of this program, coming from that organization, is very meaningful for us.”