NEENAH (NBC26 — The Bahamas men’s national basketball team was so close to making their first ever Olympic appearance and two coaches with ties to the Fox Valley almost helped them get there.
“It doesn’t matter what level you’re at and you can coach basketball and you can relate to players, that’s all that matters,” said Golden State Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco.
A little over 2 decades ago, Chris DeMarco was a high schooler in Appleton, shining for Xavier Hawks basketball team.
“I look on it and I remember really good times and having a lot of success,” said DeMarco. “I can’t believe it’s been 20 years ago now.”
His head coach at the time was Lee Rabas, who is now the head coach of the Neenah Rockets.
“If you go back 20 years, a lot of people would hate going to practice,” DeMarco said. “I always enjoyed it because of coach Rabas and the energy he brought and the drills we were doing, they always had a purpose.”
Rabas still remembers a play where DeMarco stole the ball to seal the game away against FVL.
“It was a really cerebral play that he made with the ball, came up with and was smart enough to dribble it out,” said the Neenah head coach. “I kinda, still I can almost picture him dribbling by me in the blue number 25 jersey up the sideline.”
DeMarco went onto play college basketball in California, after that he was out of the game for a few years, but his love for basketball drew him back in.
“I had a former college teammate start part-time with the Warriors and I would go play pickup with him and the (Warriors) staff and that’s how I got to know the staff and then when a video internship opened up, I was one of two or three finalists, I got the job eventually and that was in 2012,” he said.
That was then Warriors head coach Mark Jackson’s staff. Steve Kerr who replaced Jackson kept DeMarco as a part of his bench. Fast forward 13 seasons later he worked his way up from a video internship to assistant coach and now he has 4 NBA rings.
“It’s incredible man – Incredible,” he said. “I don’t think that I’ve really had a chance to sit back and enjoy yet. It’s one of those things down the road, maybe I’ll have some time off and I'll really appreciate it. But it’s been an incredible ride for sure, going to 6 finals in 10 years.”
The Warriors aren’t the only team he coaches. After forming a relationship with NBA player Buddy Hield, he went out to some practices and eventually found himself as the head coach of Bahamas men's national basketball team.
“It means alot to me, I’m very passionate about it,” said the Bahamas head coach. “I spend a lot of time on it. It’s more than coaching the team. We’re trying to grow the game of basketball in the Bahamas and make sure the youth is better prepared.”
That was 5 years ago now. After building up the team and its resources, last year DeMarco knew of the perfect coach to join his staff. Lee Rabas.
“For somebody who has been grinding along as a high school coach and a junior college coach a little bit as a (NCAA) Division 3 assistant it was an honor and a privilege,” Rabas said.
“I would put him up with anybody I’ve been around – player, coach, management, for the love of the game of basketball,” said the Warriors assistant coach. “He just loves it.”
DeMarco along with Rabas and a staff of what they both say is full of many future head coaches had the Bahamas men’s national basketball team 1 win away from making their first Olympic appearance, but they suffered a close defeat to Spain.
“It’s been a hell of a run here these last 5 years and we went from getting beat by 50 to team USA to almost beating Spain to go to the olympics in a 5 year span,” said DeMarco.
DeMarco said now the team will continue to take steps forward for another crack at their first ever Olympic appearance, but they couldn’t have got this far without Rabas, who he calls his chief of staff
“I don't know if we would’ve survived without him,” DeMarco said.
Rabas joked he didn’t sleep much as he tried to soak in as much of the experience as he could, but after working with some NBA players, there’s a few things he can bring back to the Rockets. The biggest thing, attention to detail.
“I like to always tell them the story of why it’s important to start in close up to the hoop and work your way back shooting. A lot of those guys, it’s really unbelievable the meticulous amount of time they’ll spend from shooting close to the basket and working their way out and their attention to detail with their shooting,” Rabas said.
