Cam Black and Atlanta Hawks

[gmartin]

Nice story in the Blade today on Cam Black.

Like most people who grew up in the Cleveland area, Cameron Black is a big LeBron James fan.

Black, a former Bowling Green State University basketball player, even was a member of an AAU team James played for when Black was a senior at Kent Roosevelt High School.

But Black is not rooting for James and his Cavaliers in their playoff series against Atlanta.

That’s because Black is a player development assistant for the Hawks.

“It is kind of weird, because I grew up watching him play,” Black said in a phone interview Tuesday. “But now I’m trying to find ways to slow him down and take away his strengths.”

Black played at Bowling Green from 2010-14, starting 109 of 127 games in his college career. As a senior the 6-10 center averaged 7.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

He blocked 53 shots, giving him 155 career blocks, the third-best mark on the Falcons’ all-time list.

After graduating from Bowling Green, Black was a graduate assistant at Akron in 2014-15. He had planned to return to the Zips for a second season as a graduate assistant until he got a job tip from Louis Twigg, former coach at BG.

“He had heard about this opening for a big guy to be a coach for the Hawks,” Black said. “So I applied on a Tuesday, got a phone interview on Friday, was invited to fly down Sunday for an interview Monday, and was offered the job as I drove back to the airport.”

The whirlwind interview landed Black a job with extensive coaching duties on and off the court.

“I’m on court for practices and individual work, playing defense against and rebounding,” he explained. “Off the court, I do a lot of scouting work with video, putting together scouting videos as well as videos of prospects from Europe, the [NBA Development League] and colleges.

“It’s a 60-hour-plus work week that never stops. After work I go home, take a nap, then get back to work.”

Rest assured that Black is not complaining about the work — he has known for a long time he wanted to coach basketball.

“My dad was a coach, so coaching always has been in my blood,” he said. “Getting to work with these players and coaches is a dream come true.

“This is a great route for me. It has been amazing to see what goes on, and to learn from these coaches and players. I’m not sure of the level, but I am sure that I want to be a coach. All that work? I consider that part of paying my dues.”

For now, Black and the Hawks are focused on beating the Cavaliers. One of Black’s duties is to scout opponents’ end-of-game plays, trying to spot trends and tendencies on the in-bounds plays Atlanta’s opponents run.

“When it’s close at the end of the game, and the other team is running a play, that’s when I bite my nails,” Black said. “When a team runs the play I scouted — and we stop the play — that’s rewarding to me.”

And how has he dealt with friends who are Cavaliers fans?

“A couple of people have talked a little trash, but it’s been all good,” Black said. “I’m just thankful to have this opportunity.”

[Flipper]

It'd be pretty wild to see him land a HC gig in the NBA someday...