Former University of Hawaii player and Lakers assistant Phil Handy still living his hoops dreams

DALLAS >> Phil Handy might not have played in the NBA, but he has the credibility of someone who has with today’s players.

During the Lakers’ recent road trip to Dallas, that cred was on full display after morning shoot-around.

On one end of the court as the media interviewed various players and coach Frank Vogel, Handy, a former Hawaii standout and current Lakers assistant coach, was putting veteran guard Rajon Rondo through a series of shooting drills. Rondo, a four-time NBA All-Star who led a championship team in Boston and is now in his 14th season in the league, treated Handy’s tips as gospel, doing every drill to the letter and near-perfection.

After watching them collaborate for just a few minutes, it was not hard to feel the high level of mutual respect between them.

“One, I like helping players get better. I feel like that’s what I was put on this earth to do. I really feel like I found my calling,” said Handy, who played at UH under Riley Wallace between 1993 and 1995. “As a former player, it’s easy for me to hone in on what a guy needs and try to help him get better.

“To be able to do it at the highest level every day, man it’s awesome. I wake up, I breathe it. It’s just a tremendous blessing. I wake up with a smile on my face every day. I love helping the guys get better and the relationships you’re able to build. I think they become so much bigger than basketball.”

Like many who played under him, he credits Wallace for laying the foundation for him to later play in the CBA and abroad before entering the coaching ranks in 2011 with the Lakers.

“He made me mentally stronger because he was not easy on me,” Handy said. “I had to deal with a lot of different things from him and I think it was all from a good place. He was just tough on all of us. His expectations were high. It just made me a tougher individual.”

His two seasons at UH might have been trying at times, but those are also two seasons he will never forget, not just for the success he and his teammates had, but for the strong bonds they forged.

“Hawaii, it was a character-building time for me. Getting a scholarship, as a kid it was like a dream,” Handy recalled. “I learned a lot about myself. I had some great teammates. Trevor Ruffin was my roommate. Tony Maroney was my roommate, too. My first year, we won the WAC (tournament), went back to the (NCAA) Tournament the first time. It was just a great experience.”

After Hawaii, he played four seasons in the now-defunct CBA, a league spread across the country that was something of a precursor to today’s NBA feeder system, the G-League. Handy played for Omaha, Grand Rapids and Lacrosse in the CBA, another experience that helped shape him as a player, future coach and individual. Again, years he will never forget.

“If you were playing in the CBA, you were hungry,” he said. “My experiences there was with a bunch of older guys. They had families, they were married, and these dudes wanted to hoop. It was tough. There were some players in the CBA who were grinding and there were some good coaches in the CBA — Eric Musselman, George Karl, Phil Jackson. It was one of those places not just for players, but for coaches, too. That was another place that made you tough. You were playing in small cities. You were riding on buses, you were catching flights at three o’clock in the morning.”

Those experiences at UH and in the CBA laid a foundation for what he’s been doing since 2011, working as an NBA player development coach. After working for the Lakers between 2011 and 2013, he was in Cleveland through 2018 and spent last season in Toronto before returning to the Lakers last offseason.

Handy has been to five consecutive NBA Finals and has rings from Cleveland in 2016 and from Toronto earlier this year. Now he’s in a great spot to maybe win another with the star-studded Lakers.

“Being in the right place at the right time. I think that’s part of it,” he said. “Part of it is I’ve worked hard. I’ve been blessed to coach on some good teams. Obviously, me and LeBron (James) have a great history together. Four years in Cleveland, now we’re back together in L.A. I care about winning, one.

“Winning is important to me and to have the opportunity to go to Toronto last year and be a part of that, that was amazing. When you’re in this league, there’s no guarantees, but if you have a chance, that’s all you can ask for and I think this team that we have here has a chance.”

Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas.