Why Australian basketball legend Luc Longley joined the Sydney Kings as a special advisor
Australian basketball legend Luc Longley says he lives life as an adventure. Which is part of the reason why he has joined the Sydney Kings as a special advisor.
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No matter what Luc Longley experiences in life, the Australian basketball legend likes to live on the edge.
It’s a mentality Longley adopted when he left Perth for college hoops and then the NBA as a terrified yet excited teenager in 1987.
He rode his emotions through the downs of a difficult rookie season at a battling Minnesota franchise before relishing in the highs of three championships at the Chicago Bulls alongside the mercurial Michael Jordan.
Longley lent heavily on his audacious approach when he retired from the NBA due to injury and he battled with life post basketball.
In a bid to find happiness, he removed himself from the hoops bubble to dabble in a charter boat business and ownership of the Perth Wildcats.
The Aussie basketball legend didn’t really enjoy either role and found himself spending most of his time alone on a farm, five hours south of Perth.
But largely thanks to the joy he discovered as an assistant coach with the Australian men’s national team, Longley is ready to return to the domestic basketball scene as a special advisor with the Sydney Kings.
As a proud Perth product, the Kings is the last place you’d expect big Luc to lob at but he says his reasoning is simple.
“I’ve always lived my life as an adventure,” Longley told The Saturday Telegraph.
“Basketball was an adventure to start with. I didn’t plan to become an Olympian or an NBA player.
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“And I certainly didn’t plan to become a coach or a special advisor but when I do things I try and do things that are interesting to me.
“The Kings are interesting to me in that they haven’t had success for a while.
“They have new pieces, they’ve got Will Weaver as a head coach who I have had a lot of involvement with and really like.
“So for me, it is a riddle to be solved.”
Longley wasn’t feeling as optimistic when he hung up the sneakers at the New York Knicks in 2001 due to an ankle injury.
Like a lot of athletes, he struggled to find his purpose without the routine and camaraderie that his stellar basketball career provided.
“I think the transition out of sport is hard for a lot of people and I found it challenging as well,” he said.
“Part of it was the injury and part of it was it being the thing that you spend your life trying to master and what you identify as changes and it’s gone.
“So you’ve got to reinvent yourself.
“They say athletes die twice, which I think is a bit dramatic, but it does paint the picture a little bit.
“I definitely struggled in my retirement and it coincided with a divorce and a broken family, so that amplifies the effect.
“But that was a long time ago now and it is good to be back around it.”
Today, the positive change in Longley is written all over his face when he talks about helping rising young bigs such as Sydney-born King, Jordan Hunter.
Assisting with the growth of rising ballers was a major reason why he agreed to coach Will Weaver’s approach to join the Kings.
“There is lots of talent in this Kings group and it’s exciting,” said Longley, who has previously worked with Weaver at the Boomers.
“There are other organisations who are more established but that is probably less exciting to me.
“I also really like owner Paul Smith and the energy that he is bringing to the club.
“I also really like the roster and I love being around Andrew Bogut, so it is a bit of everything but it is an adventure for me.”
Longley will work with the Kings in stints, travelling from Perth and basing himself with the team in Sydney before leaving and returning.
“I’ve been selling it to the players like the old frog in the pot, so I’ll come in after a break and do things with fresh eyes and pick up on things that might not be noticed if you were here every day,” he said.
“Everything is new. Ownership, management, players and coaches. I’ll be keeping an eye on everything new and making sure that it doesn’t get clunky.
“I think my role in this organisation is best described as a floater - I’ll just float in between things.”
Originally published as Why Australian basketball legend Luc Longley joined the Sydney Kings as a special advisor
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