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Igor Kokoskov is the first NBA head coach born and raised outside North America Kalen Ballage Color Rush Jersey , but he reminded everyone at his introductory news conference with the Phoenix Suns on Monday that he didn’t exactly just get off the plane.

”I don’t consider myself as a European coach,” he said. ”I’m an NBA coach.”

Kokoskov, 46, just finished his 18th season as an NBA assistant coach. He’s been with six different teams. Some played slow. Some played fast. He has been on the staffs of seven squads to reach the conference finals. This game is not new to him.

”As a coach, I’m not spoiled,” he said. ”I think your job is to build and create from what you have in front of you. I’m the kind of guy who loves my team. I love my guys and they can feel it.”

Kokoskov was named head coach of the Suns last week but, as an assistant with the Utah Jazz, he had to finish his work in the playoff series against the Houston Rockets before turning his attention to the desert.

He was an assistant with the Suns from 2008 to 2013 and became a U.S. citizen during a ceremony on the court at Phoenix’s Talking Stick Resort Arena.

”We really, as a family, the Family Kokoskov, consider Phoenix as a home base,” he said. ”This is always home base.”

Although he certainly has paid the traditional dues as an NBA assistant, he knows he’ll also have the label ”foreign coach.”

Kokoskov praised the ”courage” of Suns owner Robert Sarver and the team’s management to hire a ”rookie coach, international coach, foreign coach.”

”I kind of carry some responsibilities because, if this fails, then American media and the public are going to say, `See Odell Beckham Jr Jersey , they can’t coach. We’ve got to stick with our guys,”’ Kokoskov said.

But any ultimate judgment, he said, will come from what happens on the court.

”It’s all about winning,” Kokoskov said. ”It doesn’t really matter if you’re an international or American coach. All that matters is can you get it done and can you coach?”

He inherits a team that went 21-61, worst in the NBA and second-worst in franchise history. The Suns haven’t made the playoffs in eight seasons but do have the most ping pong balls in Tuesday night’s lottery to determine what team gets the No. 1 overall pick,

Still, Kokoskov said the Suns have ”a good solid foundation.”

”With a couple of guys maybe we’re going to add, obviously we are expecting a lot from the upcoming draft and free agency,” he said. ”That is something that we have a long summer to discuss, to talk, but the foundation is there.”

Kokoskov, who coached Slovenia to the EuroBasket 2017 championship, said he’s not wedded to any particular style of play, that it will depend on the talent at hand. When he was with the Suns, there was Steve Nash and it was a fast pace.

”I was fortunate to be part of a winning team and be part of the team with Steve Nash and Grant Hill and the rest of the guys,” he said, ”being part of the staff with Alvin Gentry.”

Kokoskov was there when the Suns advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2010.

But the years have not been kind to the once-vibrant franchise since Nash’s departure.

General manager Ryan McDonough has said the time is now to inject some more experienced talent into the current mix of youngsters Manny Pina Milwaukee Brewers Jersey , who are led by burgeoning star Devin Booker.

Kokoskov gets the task of trying to fulfill that ambition.

The team, he said, needs to be playing on television in June, and he wasn’t talking about its perennial appearance in the draft lottery.

”I think the city of Phoenix deserves that,” Kokoskov said. ”I think the fans that love basketball deserve that and we’ll do our best to bring this organization and team into that path. We want to be in June on TV.”

Running back Frank Gore came to Indianapolis with Super Bowl aspirations.

Three years later, he’s leaving without a ring or an assurance he’ll ever play another football game.

General manager Chris Ballard announced Wednesday the Colts do not intend to re-sign the 34-year-old, soon-to-be free agent, who is ranked No. 5 in career rushing.

”Frank is at a point where he knows we need to get younger,” Ballard said during the first day of the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis. ”And I wanted to give Frank a chance to finish his career where he wants to.”

Not much followed the script after Gore opted to reunite with college teammate Andre Johnson with the Colts.

After quarterback Andrew Luck reached three consecutive Pro Bowls and made three straight playoff appearances, taking Indy one step deeper each season, Gore and others thought the Colts were on the verge of a breakout.

Instead, Luck hurt his throwing shoulder three weeks into the 2015 season and everything has gone south.

He has missed 26 of 48 games over the past three seasons, each of which ended with Indy missing the postseason. General manager Ryan Grigson, who signed Gore, was fired following the 2016 season and coach Chuck Pagano was fired in December.

Now, with Luck apparently on the road back to Indy, Gore is on his way out.

Ballard said Luck is expected to return to team headquarters in early April to continue rehabbing.

Getting Luck back in town would be a welcome change for the Colts, who monitored Luck’s recovery for the nearly six weeks he spent in Europe and the eight weeks he has spent in California since the end of the season.

”Is it going to help having Andrew back in the building? Absolutely Authentic Brian O'Neill Jersey ,” Ballard said. ”But I think it will be good for Andrew to be around the locker room and among his guys, and I think he’d tell you the same thing.”

He and just about everyone else, though, will miss Gore’s leadership and optimism.

Despite playing behind a struggling, ineffective offensive line each season in Indy, he never complained. He simply kept working, talking positive and plugging ahead.

The results were impressive.

After falling 33 yards short of his ninth 1,000-yard season in 2015, he rebounded with 1,025 yards at age 33 in 2016 – making him the oldest 1,000-yard rusher since 35-year-old John Riggins in 1982. Then in December, the ageless Gore had a career-high 36 carries for 130 yards in an overtime loss in a Buffalo blizzard.

He even made passing some of the league’s best runners look routine.

Ballard said Gore actually broke his thumb during that Buffalo game and doctors told him they could repair it by inserting a pin. While Gore never hinted publicly he was hurt, it was a different story behind closed doors.

”Frank said `I’m a football player, I’m playing,”’ Ballard said.

Four days later, Gore was back on the field against Denver. Three weeks later, Gore played in his 48th and final game with the Colts – a 24-carry, 100-yard performance that left him just 76 yards short of passing Curtis Martin for No. 4.

The only other players ahead of Gore are Emmitt Smith Michael Dickson Jersey Seahawks , Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.

His nine 1,000-yard seasons are fifth behind Smith (11), Payton, Sanders and Martin (10), and he holds the league record with 12 consecutive seasons with 1,200 yards from scrimmage.

But he was always about more than numbers.

”He’s a legend in my mind,” new coach Frank Reich said. ”He set the standard for on what backs did in (pass) protection.”

And even though, he still wants a ring, he’s not willing to sacrifice his principles to get one.

”I know I still can play, and I know I want to help a team,” he said in late December. ”I don’t want to just be part of a team, I want to help a team, and I don’t want anyone to say I rode the bench to get a ring.”

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By swift
Added Aug 16 '18

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