Chet Holmgren’s former coach on the Minnesotan’s rise to NBA stardom

NINA MOINI: Well, the NBA Finals begin tonight. And even though the Minnesota Timberwolves will not be there, a Minnesotan will be on the court. Before he was a starter for the Western Conference champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, Chet Holmgren was a tall kid in youth basketball, learning the game with guidance from my next guest.

Larry Suggs coached Holmgren on a club team starting in elementary school. Also on that team was Suggs' son, Jalen, who's a point guard for the Orlando Magic. Larry Suggs joins me now in the studio. Thank you very much for being here, Mr. Suggs.

LARRY SUGGS: Hey. I'm very happy to be here.

NINA MOINI: You know what I love about this story is as was reading about it is, sometimes you'll see a kid, and you'll say, this one's going to be a star, or this-- and I understand that was really not the case [CHUCKLES] with Chet Holmgren. So tell me a little bit about how you came to him and what you were seeing early on in him.

LARRY SUGGS: Well, it's typical at rec center day when the kids all come in. You kind of see what team you have. You space the kids out. And we're all out there practicing, just having a good time.

And lo and behold, Chet Holmgren comes walking through the door, still long and lanky like he is now at 7' 1". You know what I'm saying? It's just in that third grade body.

So he comes to the door, and he walks up to me. He shakes my hand firmly. So I knew he was a confident kid. And I said, hey, if you're here to play basketball and you're ready to go, I said, I'm going to throw you in the fire. So he jumped right in there. So it was fun.

NINA MOINI: And I did hear, though, it's kind of funny that you said think of the worst person in your gym class. So it's just comical. What made you, though, see? You said he had confidence. What else kind of made you go, hmm, there's something in there.

LARRY SUGGS: Well, it was the confidence Because when a young kid comes up and shakes your hand, he still had a nice, firm handshake. So that part, I knew he wasn't scared or wasn't intimidated.

Now, at the time, he believed he was really, really good. But he wasn't really, really, really good. So after he did layups, we did three-man weave, and we did all the basketball practice, he kind of stepped over to the side. And I said, hey, what do you think?

And he said, hey, you know what? I'm not very good. But I said, if you stick with me and you listen, I said, I can help you become a better basketball player. And then that's where the relationship started.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and what positions were you having him play early on? Because it wasn't all about height, right? You were kind of thinking strategically. And where did he kind of start on the team?

LARRY SUGGS: So thinking outside the box, I was watch-- I'm a big fan of FIBA basketball, so watching the European bigs move and play all positionless basketball. That's a little bit what Kobe was saying back in the days.

So when I had Chet, basically it was like a piece of clay, I always tell people. So I could mold that into anything I want. And I told him, I said, I'm going to teach you how to play guard like the rest of the guys that are in here. And it's fun to play guard. And you won't get bored by just sitting on a block.

So right away he grasped for that, and he really, really enjoyed getting better, even though it was a struggle. But playing with the good guards, though, he enjoyed being on the perimeter.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And what is he playing-- I mean, what is his kind of expertise now? Because it's like you want to know what other people on the team are doing. It helps, right, to know what everybody's doing?

LARRY SUGGS: So right now, he's like a Swiss army knife. So if they want to space him and put him in a corner to bring the other big out so it gives Shai a little bit of time to drive to the basket, he can do that.

If he trails on a fast break, he can pull the big out and shoot the 3 at the top of the key. And with that, he can pump-fake and take straight line drives. That's kind of what the NBA is right now. So he had had all that going as in his younger years to prepare him for what he's going to basically be in the NBA Finals and have to see in these next seven games.

NINA MOINI: And so the relationship that you all have and with your son, Jalen, that was kind of more high school time, like at Minnehaha Academy? Or were they friends when they were little? What do you think about their kind of progression together? It's really remarkable.

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah, so the day that Chets basically walked through the gym doors, I mean, he's been at our house the whole time. So I always tell people, the kids can come right in and go in the refrigerator and probably drink out of the milk carton. So he's like one of those type of friends, you know what I'm saying. Not everybody can go in the refrigerator.

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

LARRY SUGGS: No, we all love Chet, and all the guys have all been with him since the third grade. And so we've came all the way up to right now at this point, which it's crazy, but I could still project it.

I told the boys, I said, one of you guys will be in the NBA Finals, and one of you guys will win it. So we have a pretty good chance. We had a good group back then of guys that were really talented.

NINA MOINI: I mean, it's amazing. And also to be at kind of the top of your game and going through a lot of pressures, but to have a friend there from childhood? I mean, that's really fortunate. Do they help each other out kind of on their journeys as they went to school, to college together for a little bit? What's their friendship like?

LARRY SUGGS: So it's funny, because all the guys at Minnehaha, they still are in a big group chat.

NINA MOINI: Oh!

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah.

NINA MOINI: I love that!

LARRY SUGGS: So they all talk and stuff like that, and they're such good friends. They all decided that they didn't want to have a youthful look anymore, so they all decided to grow beards. So that's--

NINA MOINI: Everyone's got to make that mistake once, I guess.

LARRY SUGGS: Yes. So that's how good of friends they are. They all got on this group chat and then said, you know what, we're all going to grow facial hair. So this is what we're going to do.

So no, they have good laughs. And anytime I want to talk to some of the boys, I just tell Jalen, give me your phone, and then I'll shoot everybody a text or something like that. So they're all still good friends.

NINA MOINI: And may I ask, how is Jalen doing? Because I understand he was out with an injury. How's your son?

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah, he's doing well. He just started getting back on the court a couple weeks ago, started shooting 15-footers and some 3-pointers. And he's not really cleared to run till August 1, but that gives us three months to get back into action.

And we always say he's like the Wolverine. So his nickname back when he was little was "Break Bones" because we thought he would break all his bones all the time. But he'd heal up really fast, so he's got like a little Wolverine quality in there.

NINA MOINI: So he'll be just fine. So I understand you split your time between Minnesota and Florida, and you're actually still doing some coaching work. How does all of that work? How do you balance all that?

LARRY SUGGS: Well, we have 40 teams from second grade all the way to 17U, multiple teams in each age group. I run it with Brian Sandifer and Quincy Caldwell.

NINA MOINI: And this is your nonprofit?

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah, and the nonprofit is jsizzles.org, and we have girl teams down in Florida. So it keeps us pretty busy, so I try to pop up in town at least twice, just to take care of the AAU business and basketball and check in on Minnehaha hoops. I always got to do that.

NINA MOINI: So did you watch the Western Conference Finals games between Oklahoma City Thunder and Timberwolves? Were you feeling torn? How was that for you?

LARRY SUGGS: OK, I had a lot of phone calls about that one. So I decided I was going to go to the game. So I came down. I sat like second row, like mid-court.

And yes, I am a Timberwolves fan. I used to always call them the Timber Puppies, but I'm a Timberwolves fan. And so I wore a Timberwolves hat. And in the honor of Chet Holmgren, I wore a OKC chain that I got from the new NBA store in the Mall of America, which, by the way, is really, really nice.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. How are you going to be experiencing the NBA Finals and watching Chet? I mean, do you like to be alone? Do you like to be with the family? Take us into the living room, or are you going to be there? What's it going to be like?

LARRY SUGGS: So in my living room, I have three TVs. I have one for Chet, one for Jalen, and one for Paige.

NINA MOINI: That's so sweet!

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah, yeah. So sometimes we'll have all three on, all at one point. And I kind of stand up in a corner over by the side. And then I'll have a basketball. So as the boys-- and Paige also-- as they're playing, I'll be doing the moves in the living room, you know what I'm saying, and walking back and forth. So it's--

NINA MOINI: And Paige Bueckers, of course. Hopkins grad--

LARRY SUGGS: Yes.

NINA MOINI: --the Great.

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah, real good friend of ours, yeah, also.

NINA MOINI: What do you think makes Minnesota produce all of these amazing athletes? I mean, I'm sure every state, but really, these people are at the top of their game. It's pretty incredible. What do you think it is about Minnesota?

LARRY SUGGS: Well, I think it's the combination of the winter. I would have to say that. So we're in the doors six months out of the year. And a lot of us are running from our house to the car to the basketball court.

And I believe that the coaches here in Minnesota, we teach the game of basketball, like I would say, the right way, I would say. A Midwest style of basketball where it's a lot of movement. And our superstars really don't exceed 30, 40 points here. Our superstar might score 22 points. And people really love to see the team chemistry and the good players move the ball around.

NINA MOINI: Consistency.

LARRY SUGGS: Yes. And then when we branch out into the NCAA teams, they really, really complement a lot of the great players around the other country. So people always say like, hey, that kid is really good. Where is he from? They'll say, he's from Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Somewhere cold.

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, hey, we're always in the gym hooping in Minnesota. So we got good ball players.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. Larry, thank you so much for stopping by. What a beautiful gift you gave to Chet and so many others in recognizing something in them and drawing that out. That's a great coach.

LARRY SUGGS: Yeah, no. Thank you, and thanks for having me back. I love coming back to Minnesota. It's Minnesota nice.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. Larry Suggs is a former coach of Oklahoma City Thunder player and Minnesotan Chet Holmgren. The first game of the NBA Finals between the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers starts at 7:30.