Overview: Behind the Bench
The annual NBA Summer League is now over. It isn't just for players hoping to get invited to training camp later this year, but also for coaches who aspire to move up the ranks one day. MSR talked to two Black Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coaches in separate interviews earlier this month before the team left for Las Vegas.
Kelly McCarty
I stood behind the local media scrum as Wolves Summer League Assistant Coach Kelly McCarty took questions after a practice. He handled the questions as if he were the head coach, who usually conducts such sessions.
“It’s always exciting trying to get a group together just because there’s so many new pieces,” McCarty said.
McCarty played 15 pro seasons, including one NBA season with Denver, but mostly labored internationally in Israel and Russia. It is during his time overseas that the assistant coach believes he developed an edge in working with foreign-born centers, 7-foot-3 Rocco Zikarsky, who played in the G League last season, and 6-foot-11 France native Joan Beringer, who played in Slovenia before the Wolves drafted him in 2025 and split time between Iowa and the parent club.
McCarty, before turning to coaching, played collegiately at Southern Mississippi, where he’s in the school’s Hall of Fame. As a pro, he is a two-time EuroCup champion (2004, 2011), 2004 EuroCup Finals MVP, 2005 FIBA EuroChallenge MVP and won that year’s EuroChallenge championship.
His first coaching job came with the Iowa Wolves, the Timberwolves’ G League affiliate (2023-25), and he finished his first season with the parent club as an assistant coach.
McCarty reflected on his Iowa Wolves days: “They give you a workload. They’re really strategic about how they develop coaches as well as players. I think that’s super good for coaching to develop, if you have to learn and develop your voice as a coach.
“I think that was great for me to go there, develop a coaching voice,” he said. “I understand a little bit more about our game.”
After he met with the media, I had a few stolen moments with McCarty as he left the group. He told me he fully understands that summer league players want to show what they can do to impress the coaches and get invited to training camp.
“They’re not just been chosen, they’re here for a reason,” McCarty said. “We want to help each one of the guys on the roster grow their value, whether it’s here, whether it’s with other organizations, wherever it is. We want to help them grow their potential to be NBA players.”
On his first summer league experience on the sidelines: “I’m just super excited to be a part of Summer League, my first time coaching,” McCarty said. “Just get a chance to lean into these young guys, not just about basketball, but about life.”
James White
Summer league games are more than just winning games, says third-year Timberwolves Assistant Coach James White.
“We want to win, of course,” White said before the Wolves’ summer league squad headed to Las Vegas earlier this month, “but really it’s to see what we can do with these two bigs,” 6-foot-11 Joan Beringer and 7-foot-3 Rocco Zikarsky, “get these guys better and see how they play our system.
“We want to play the right way,” White said. “What are you going to bring to the table with the other guys, not just for summer league but will we get some real support? Can you help us? I think that’s the biggest thing for us, more important than just winning games, even though we do want to win games.”
White’s coaching resume includes two seasons as a Timberwolves assistant player development coach, and a season as Iowa Wolves assistant coach. He played in the NBA, NBA D-League and overseas after college, one year at Florida and three years at Cincinnati. Portland drafted White 31st overall in 2006.
“Everybody gonna try to do some stuff, try to show people stuff that they’ve been working on,” White said of the summer players on the roster, especially the rookies. “But at the end of the day, the smartest thing to do is try to play to win it the right way, winning basketball.”
Playing in Vegas also offers White the opportunity to work on his own coaching: “Continue to get better,” he said. “I’m getting way more experience running drills, running the defense, being able to have a bigger voice, and hopefully I can carry that over to the season.
“I should have a little bigger role,” he said. “So just being prepared, preparing for that kind of stuff.”
Copyright © Charles Hallman