Lester Conner

Lester Conner
Personal information
Born (1959-09-17) September 17, 1959
Memphis, Tennessee
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight 180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
High school Fremont (Oakland, California)
College
NBA draft 1982 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Golden State Warriors
Playing career 1982–1997
Position Shooting guard
Number 15, 32, 7, 12
Coaching career 1998–present
Career history
As player:
1982–1986 Golden State Warriors
1986–1987 Rapid City Thrillers
1987–1988 Houston Rockets
1988–1991 New Jersey Nets
1991–1992 Milwaukee Bucks
1993 Los Angeles Clippers
1993–1994 Rapid City Thrillers
1994 Indiana Pacers
1995 Los Angeles Lakers
1996–1997 Florida Beach Dogs
As coach:
1998 Boston Celtics (assistant)
2004–2005 Philadelphia 76ers (assistant)
2005–2007 Milwaukee Bucks (assistant)
2007–2010 Indiana Pacers (assistant)
2010–2013 Atlanta Hawks (assistant)
2013–2015 Denver Nuggets (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 4,337 (6.3 ppg)
Assists 2,669 (3.9 apg)
Steals 1,085 (1.6 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Lester Allen Conner (born September 17, 1959) is an American professional basketball coach and former professional basketball player, who played for numerous NBA teams. On the floor at the collegiate level the 6'4" Conner was a "swingman," playing both the shooting guard and small forward positions. In the NBA Conner was a "combo guard," playing both the shooting guard and point guard positions.

Collegiate career

After two seasons playing for Los Medanos Junior College and Chabot College, Conner played collegiately at Oregon State University under legendary coach Ralph Miller, and was on the 1980-1981 squad which spent most of the season at #1 in the polls, before being upset in the second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament.

Professional career

Conner was drafted in 1982 as the 14th pick overall, by the Golden State Warriors, and played with the Warriors for 4 seasons. He would later play for the Houston Rockets, and serve two stints with both the New Jersey Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks, finishing his NBA career with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Indiana Pacers, and the Los Angeles Lakers. He ended his NBA playing days in 1995. He earned the nickname "The Molester" for his ball-stealing defensive play.[1]

Coaching career

Conner began his NBA coaching career in 1998 as an assistant to head coach Rick Pitino of the Boston Celtics.[2] Conner credits Pitino with teaching him to project his voice from the bench, shouting instructions that cut through the din of an NBA arena.[2]

He also was twice the assistant coach in Milwaukee for head coach Terry Stotts, leaving after Stotts was fired following the 2006-2007 season.

Conner is considered a protege of former Indiana Pacers head coach Jim O'Brien and has worked under O'Brien on three separate occasions. The first was with the Boston Celtics from 2001-04. The second was as associate head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2004-05 season. In June, 2007, Conner moved to Indiana, to once again work for O'Brien and the Pacers.

In 2010, Conner joined Larry Drew as his top assistant at the Atlanta Hawks, leaving the team following Drew's termination at the end of the 2012-13 NBA Season. Conner joined the Denver Nuggets for the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach.

Conner has expressed an interest in returning to his alma mater, Oregon State University, as a head coach, but was informed in 2014 by Beaver Athletic Director Bob De Carolis of the university's unwillingness to make the job available to him due to Conner's lack of a college degree.[3] Conner expressed lament at the university's refusal to consider him for what he called "the only university job I want" owing to lack of academic qualification.[3]

"I understand the importance of having the degree," Conner told an interviewer from the Portland Oregonian in May 2014. "But at the same time, that doesn't define who I am or what I am as a coach and as a person." [3]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Lester Conner," BasketballReference.com, www.basketball-reference.com/
  2. 1 2 Michael Cunningham, "Conner Adds His Voice to Hawks," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 14, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Connor Letourneau, "Beavers Great Lester Conner Loses Sleep Over Oregon State Head Coaching Vacancy," The Oregonian, May 13, 2014.
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