Inside Miami Coach Jai Lucas' Basketball DNA, 5-Star Coaching Pedigree And The Kobe, LeBron, Rick Barry & Coach L Connections

For new Miami Hurricanes head coach Jai Lucas, he and his family are the unlikely answer to what Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Rick Barry have in common. The renowned Duke assistant-turned-Cane-head-coach grew up down the street from Bryant, watching him play in high school and playing alongside him in Philadelphia 76ers workouts that were run by Lucas’ father, legendary NBA player/coach/mentor John Lucas II. John II tells CaneSport that Kobe would even drive Jai and his older brother, John III, to school.

“The story goes like this,” John II says. “My wife and I have been together 48 years, and one day she says to me `I think I’ve seen a better basketball player than you.’ I said, `Who is it?’ She said `A young man named Kobe Bean.’ I went to Kobe’s high school game, me and my family, and my daughter went to school with Kobe and I run into Joe Bryant. He says `What are you doing here?’ I said `My wife thinks there’s a better basketball player than me, some kid named Kobe Bean (Bryant’s middle name from his dad’s “Jellybean” nickname).’ He said `That’s my son!’ So I saw Kobe play and the next day invited him to work out with the 76ers and he worked out with me from 10th grade till the pros. Jai was in seventh or eighth grade, was just starting to play. So Kobe used to pick John (III) and Jai up from school and they’d come to the 76ers and work out with me.”

The LeBron connection? Well, John II coached the Cavaliers from 2001-03 (James’ rookie year was 2003).

“Jai was playing with Kobe when they first saw LeBron,” John II said. “And I did the same thing I did with Kobe with LeBron when he was in high school and Jai was in junior high school. They’d work out with us. Jai became interested in basketball watching Kobe that first time, and the real feel of it for him was when he first saw LeBron.”

Which brings us to the Rick Barry connection. Barry’s playing career ended in 1980 when Jai wasn’t even born yet. So what does arguably the best player in Miami Hurricanes basketball history have in common with Lucas’ family?

“I was the compensation to the Warriors for Rick (when he went to the Houston Rockets in 1978),” John II says with a laugh. “It was me or Moses Malone, so I knew to start packing my bags.”

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Between the lines:

Yes, Lucas II is a who’s who of basketball knowledge, and if you mention a former NBA great from back in the day, Lucas has probably worked with him or knows him. The father of the new Hurricanes’ coach was the No. 1 pick of the 1976 NBA Draft out of Maryland and went on to play 14 years before becoming the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, 76ers and Cavaliers. In eight of his playing seasons he averaged double-digit points, is a member of the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame, and he also has a tie to Miami – in 1991 John was a championship coach for the Miami Tropics before moving on to coach in the NBA.

Lucas II also knows that Jai will have to fight for things, and he taught his son there’s always going to be adversity.

Dad certainly had plenty of that. He’s well known for battling substance abuse … and helping others battle their addictions. He was suspended and released from the Warriors during his playing days due to a cocaine addiction that he later admitted while playing for the Washington Bullets, getting waived by that team afterward. His drug problem plagued him for years before he got clean, and now part of his life mission is to help others with their addictions. The backdrop of it all is basketball and sports, and dad makes it his life mission to be a mentor.

“I’m a recovering alcoholic for 38 years, and I don’t think I would ever be who I am if someone told me to help me avoid my experiences,” Lucas II said. “You become who you are based on your experiences. My thing is if it’s yours it’s yours, you have to decide.”

John III, Jai’s older brother, has found his own success playing hoops and coaching. He stood out at Baylor and Oklahoma State, then played for eight seasons in the NBA. He went on to become an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves and is now a developmental coach with the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.

As John II puts it, oh so simply, “Basketball is our family business.”

So how can this all perhaps benefit Jai as he looks to follow in dad’s footsteps as a top coach? Well, dad still trains some of the best players in the nation through his JL3 Basketball youth program that has top 9U-14U national teams.

“Jai has always been around elite basketball players at the highest level,” John II says. “A lot of kids who played for me when I coached early now have kids that are about to go into the league or are in the league. A lot in this class played for me, other classes that played for me. That tie of those kids, nothing beats deep relationships outside of on the court. For Jai, he’s 36 years old but he’s really 56 (with old wisdom).”

What’s next:

Now Jai’s task begins of building a roster at Miami. He will answer questions on how he’ll go about that at his press conference scheduled for Monday, and dad has no doubt his son will succeed.

“Jai for me is an old spirit,” John II adds. “He’s been around a lot. He exemplifies what I consider as a coach – that’s to be a counselor. I also see him as being a great mentor because Jai has been the No. 1 guy, to the guy that didn’t get drafted, to the end of the bench, to the guy who had to sit out as a transfer. He’s had to be a lot of things. And then he’s an educator. Jai can really teach the game of basketball because he’s grown up in good settings. He can teach the game, is very good on the defensive side of the ball and because of his size had to learn how to maneuver and do things so he’ll be very good coaching the offensive side. What separates Jai from me and his brother? He is what I call a `positive confronter.'”

In other words, he teaches with positivity, not yelling.

So could Jai unite with his older brother at Miami, hiring him as an assistant and truly making this a family affair at UM?

“One thing I’ve learned and tried to teach my kids, they are their own men,” John II said in regards to that possibility.

The bottom line: If family history is taken into account when it comes to the new coaching hire, then Jai has 5-star status. Heck, if he sent a 23andMe DNA test in it would probably come back “100 percent basketball.”

“When Jai was in high school he was playing and made the McDonald’s game, so he didn’t work (a job),” dad says. “I told him back then, I said `This is your job, this is our family business. Either you work at McDonald’s or you play in the McDonald’s game.’

“Jai, I knew he had it when he went over to Latvia (in 2011) to play for little or no money when he graduated from college. I haven’t had to give him advice on this (Miami job) and don’t have to give him advice. He knows what to do.”

Oh, by the way, go ahead and add one more connection to the Kobe, LeBron and Rick Barry trivia question.

That’s Jim Larranaga.

“Jimmy Larranaga was one of my first teachers of basketball when he was at Davidson College (in Larranaga’s first job as an assistant in the early 1970s),” John II said. “I was at Maryland and (Larranaga) used to work with me every day on my game at basketball camps. I was a counselor, and he was running it.”