The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

CHRIS DeMarco has some big plans for the Bahamas men’s national basketball team. It may not come overnight, but he considers it a work in progress with the potential of talent available at his disposal.

“It wasn’t that I was going out trying to find teams that I could work with,” DeMarco said. “It was a natural fit here. I worked with the team last year and I really got along with the staff and players.

“They were all very receptive with what I want to do and Mario Bowleg (former head coach and president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation) has been very professional in working with me.”

DeMarco, a player development coach with the Golden State Warriors for the past four years, originally joining the team as a video intern in the 2012-13 season, takes over from Bowleg as the new head coach of the Bahamas men’s national team.

His sting began yesterday when the team played against the Texas Tech Raiders at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. Before the game, DeMarco said this gives him a chance to really scrutinise the talent here.

“The federation has done a great job in getting us the players,” DeMarco pointed out.

“I’m looking forward to working with this group of players and those who will be available to us in the future.”

All that DeMarco requires is that the players give him their best.

“That’s all you could ask for,” he said. “We’re trying to put the best chemistry out there and getting them to know each other. Once we can do that, we will be in great shape.”

There’s no time limit placed on DeMarco’s tenure, but in the short term, his goal is to work with the federation to put the best team together.

“It’s going to take time,” DeMarco stressed. “We want to beat some of the other countries, but we will have to grow together and play as a unit to get the best out of our players.”

And long term, DeMarco said his ultimate goal is to get the Bahamas to qualify for the Olympic Games.

“That’s got to be our goal,” he stated. “We have a big road ahead of us playing against the United States and Puerto Rico in the next round of FIBA games for the World Cup qualifier. But we have the ability to do it. It’s just going to take time.”

When he’s not here coaching the men’s national team, DeMarco will be back in the National Basketball Association on the coaching staff of the Warriors, who relinquished their title to the Toronto Raptors this year.

The Warriors are going through a transition, having lost Kevin Durant to free agency, traded swingman Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlers in exchange for forward Julian Washburn and waived guard Shaun Livingston.

“We have still a lot of great players. We have three All-Stars in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and we’ve added D’Angelo Russell,” he lamented. “Obviously, it’s going to be a little bit different with some of our key pieces gone.

“But we are very excited about sbout our young talent.”

The Warriors, coached by Steve Kerr, will be without the service of Thompson for an unspecified period of time after he underwent surgery last month to repair his torn ACL.

He suffered the injury in game six of the NBVA finals.

“Klay is progressing well. I’m not sure how long he will be out, but he’s a tough kid,” DeMarco stressed. “We’re looking forward to him getting through his rehab and back on the court very soon.”

With so much wheeling and dealing during the free agency period this summer, there will be a lot of changes with familiar players suiting up to play on different teams when the season opens in October.

“It’s kind of a new NBA. It’s going to be the same every summer,” he pointed out. “You just have to deal with that and worry about yourself and make sure that your players and your team are getting better.”

Looking at the landscape of the league, DeMarco said the Warriors will still be the team to beat in the west, but he anticipates that the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets will give them a run for their money.

“There’s a lot of teams in the west that could make the playoffs,” he proclaimed. “So it’s going to be competitive. That is what makes the sport so great.”

As for 30-year-old DeMarco, he grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin and played collegiately for three seasons at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin from 2005-2008. He transferred to Dominican University in San Rafael, California for the 2008-09 season.

“I just love the game and am here to help the Bahamas in any way that I could to get better,” he summed up.