Wake Forest Athletics
Suns.com Q&A With Danny Manning
9/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning recently talked with one of his former NBA teams, the Phoenix Suns, for a Q&A on Suns.com. Read below to see what Coach Manning had to say about his time in Phoenix and in the NBA.
Story courtesy of Suns.com:
This week's guest is former Suns forward and Sixth Man of the Year Award winner Danny Manning, who reflected on being drafted No. 1 overall, his time with the Suns in the 1990s and how his career has helped him empathize with college athletes as the head coach of Wake Forest men's basketball.
On his new job as head coach of Wake Forest men's basketball...
It's been a lot of fun. It's very enjoyable for me just in the sense of being very fortunate to be here where I grew up. It's a great school at Wake Forest in the ACC. It's a wonderful opportunity that I'm very fortunate and blessed to have.
On the similarities between college hoops now and then...
I get a chance to be around college students on a regular basis. In the recruiting world, your experiences in the past kind of help you out. I don't reflect back on anything in the sense of what type of player I was or anything like that. I just look back on it as a wonderful time. I learned a lot and I really enjoyed it.
I think social media has really changed a lot. There's just so much stuff going on that changes the dynamics of athletics in general...of the world in general, but especially in athletics. We've got the Twitter accounts. You've got Instagram. You've got Facebook. There are so many different things that are out there now that weren't when I was growing up or in college. That's probably one of the biggest deals you've got to navigate and be aware of.
On being drafted No. 1 overall in 1988...
It was one of those deals where you really can't worry about what you can't control. Everyone is hoping that a certain team picks them for whatever reason that they have. At the end of the day you've just got to sit back and hope that it's a great situation for you. That was kind of the mind-set that I had. Be happy. Be thankful. Enjoy the moment. Whoever drafts you, you've got to go in there and earn your way.
I thought the Clippers might draft me, but you never know until you know. My father played professional basketball[1] and I had a little bit of experience from other friends getting drafted a year or two ahead of me. I was hoping to get picked at a high level by a team that needs you. For me, the Clippers drafted me and I embarked on my professional career.
On his early years with the Clippers...
For me, any time you get drafted, your mindset is "I want to show that I belong." That's the mentality. I want to show that I belong. In the course of that, obviously you want to help your team become as successful as possible.
We got drafted by the Clippers, and I say "we" because there was a bunch of us that came in as young kids. First-year players, we had a bunch of second-year players...we were a young team. We had some talent but it takes time in the NBA to figure it all out and get everything hitting the right switches at the right time. We certainly went through our growing pains, but I thought we got to a point where we were a very competitive team, especially when coach [Larry] Brown got there.
