Woolpert’s Plan D

Ex-Sun Kings coach focuses on teaching, not victories in new job with Tulsa 66ers ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — It’s been a rugged few months for Paul Woolpert.

Fresh off getting married and wedging a foot in the NBA door with a coaching job in its Developmental League, the road has since turned bumpy as the former Sun Kings coach adjusts to something he hasn’t experienced in quite a while.

Losing. Plenty of it.

Tulsa 66ers coach Paul Woolpert talks with his team during their game against the Idaho Stampede on Feb. 2 in Tulsa, Okla. (RICH CRIMI/NBA Entertainment)

Woolpert’s first foray into the NBDL, with the Tulsa 66ers, has been a harsh reminder of just how thin the line between winning and losing really is.

He sure didn’t lose his coaching acumen in the move from the Continental Basketball Association to the D-League. It’s just that in the world of sports, seasons like this, for whatever reason, are going to happen.

In this case, injuries and a key promotion stripped Tulsa of players who were expected to form the nucleus of the team, and the 66ers have stumbled to a 7-22 record, worst in the 16-team league.

“To be honest, I’ve had to kind of de-emphasize winning and losing and work more on making players better,” Woolpert said during an interview last weekend while back in Yakima with the league on break. “It’s really taken me a long time to get to that frame of mind. It’s development, not wins and losses that are important.”

Developing players has always been a top priority for Woolpert, but let’s face it, coaching is always better when you can win as well. And winning was something Woolpert’s teams did exceptionally well his last three seasons in the CBA.

In that span, the Sun Kings went 109-35, a .757 winning percentage, winning two championships. Last season, the Sun Kings were 43-5, setting league records for winning percentage (.895) and quarter-point average (5.50), giving Woolpert his second-straight coach of the year award.

Those numbers must seem a distant memory now as he battles through an injury-plagued season with the affiliate of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

Former Indiana star D.J. White, former Thunder player Steven Hill and second-year player Chris Richards, along with former Washington State standout Kyle Weaver, were going to form the nucleus of the 66ers.

Instead, the first three were sidelined with illness or injury, and Weaver earned a spot with the Thunder.

“Obviously, they were going to be a big part of our plans,” he said. “It’s important to fill the roster spots, but with the right players. We want to identify players who will fit into the Thunder’s philosophy.”

While they’ve found players fitting that mold, their on-court talent hasn’t matched those other four’s potential.

Compounding Woolpert’s coaching frustration is the fact that he and his wife, Nicole Trammell, have been living half a country apart since he moved to Tulsa because Trammell has a successful career at Perry Tech.

“We didn’t get married to live separately,” said Woolpert, who married Trammell last April and has called Yakima his full-time home since becoming Sun Kings head coach in 1998. “I rent an apartment. There’s no home to come home to.”

Fortunately, the two have managed a few rendezvous, with both making three trips to the other’s locale, but the long-distance relationship remains just another adjustment Woolpert’s had to make.

On the court, Woolpert is slowly adapting to life in the D-League, although he admits it’s been difficult not having as much impact on assembling the roster he now coaches.

In Yakima, Woolpert enjoyed almost total autonomy on those decisions — and who could argue given his three championships. But in Tulsa, he has far less say on the roster, which is assembled by the Thunder from players they’ve drafted or selected out of the NBA-approved pool of NBDL players.

“I have a lot of input and I’m allowed to voice my opinion … but the Thunder make all the personnel decisions,” said Woolpert, who was able to assist in the Thunder’s training camp and scout the players in the pool. “The most important thing for them is developing players at the D-League level who can become NBA players.”

That’s something Oklahoma City, led by general manager Sam Presti, has done quite well, Woolpert said, which led to an unintended repercussion for the 66ers, who had hoped to have Weaver play a key role this season. Instead, the rookie proved to be NBA-ready from the  outset.

“We decided that 12 to 15 minutes a night with the Thunder is more important than 40 minutes in the D-League,” Woolpert said, adding that White could’ve also made the jump before he was diagnosed with a tumor in his jaw, leading to surgery.

“That shows they’ve drafted the right guys,” Woolpert said of the Thunder. “If we had those guys, we would’ve been a better team, but they’re NBA-quality players now.”

For now, Woolpert is resigned to having his first losing season since going 17-31 with the Sun Kings in 2004-05, but, as he’s learned over the years, you can still find positives out of almost any situation.

In this case, it’s an opportunity to continue developing young talent into NBA-caliber players.

“They (the Thunder) want it to be a seamless transition,” Woolpert said, adding that he teaches the NBA team’s “schemes and scenarios” to aid that process. “Our job, we hope, is that these guys will eventually be productive for the NBA team.”

And if there a few more wins along the way, that would be just fine with Woolpert.