November 13, 2023

Mike Dunlap reflects on his time coaching the Adelaide 36ers, winning an NBA championship with Milwaukee and learnings from his coaching journey

1 hour 7 minutes

Mike Dunlap has won championships as a coach in both the NCAA and NBA but is still more well known down under for the three seasons he spent as head coach with the Adelaide 36ers.

An assistant coach to Mike Budenholzer during the Milwaukee Bucks run to the NBA title as well as the first college coach to really build their program utilising Australian talent.

Dunlap helped develop a number of NBL talent including Jesse Wagstaff, Mark Worthington, Luke Kendall, Rupert Sapwell and plenty of others and he joins us in this episode to go through his career, learnings and memories of coaching in Australia.

Visit dunk.com.au for your next set of basketball uniforms.

Topics include...

On his recent stint, being a part of the Perth Wildcats coaching staff (2:00)
The technicalities of NBA coaches moving between teams (8:00)
How he began his coaching career in Australia (10:00)
How Dunlap developed an Aussie pipeline to US colleges well before Randy Bennett and St Mary’s (11:30)
The grassroots coaching differences between Australia and the USA that make Aussie players hot commodities (13:30)
Coaching the Adelaide 36ers from 1994-1996 (22:00)
Dunlap addresses criticism of moving away from the older 36ers players at the time like Phil Smyth, Mike McKay and Mark Davis to develop younger talent like Brett Maher and Martin Cattalini (28:00)
The real factor behind Adelaide being unable to retain Rob Rose (36:00)
Joining the Denver Nuggets coaching staff (42:00)
Dunlap’s approach to coaching and learning from others (45:00)
Thoughts on NBA players resting (49:00)
His time with the Milwaukee Bucks, coaching Giannis Antetokounmpo and winning an NBA championship (50:00)
Being hired to coach the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA by none other than Michael Jordan (56:00)
The biggest learning moments and highlights of his coaching journey (101:00)

Listen to our previous interviews with the biggest stars in Australian Basketball.

Head to Aussie Hoopla to check out previous podcasts featuring; Australian Basketball Legends - Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke, Leroy Loggins, David Andersen, Andrew Vlahov, Phil Smyth, CJ Bruton, Chris Anstey, Brett Maher, John Rillie, Tony Ronaldson, Damian Martin, Brad Newley

Current NBL Stars - Bryce Cotton, Chris Goulding, Tyler Harvey, Dejan Vasiljevic, Thomas Abercrombie, Daniel Johnson, Jason Cadee, Mitch McCarron, Anthony Drmic, Luke Travers, Sam Froling

Our Finest Coaching Minds - Brian Goorjian, Barry Barnes, Joey Wright, Adrian Hurley, Aaron Fearne, Rob Beveridge, Ian Stacker, Shawn Dennis, Dean Vickerman, Trevor Gleeson, Lindsey Gaze, Ken Cole, Will Weaver, Bruce Palmer

NBA Stars Past & Present - Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Stephen Jackson, Randy Livingston, Torrey Craig, Jack White, Acie Earl, Josh Childress, Reggie Smith, Todd Lichti, Ryan Broekhoff, Doug Overton

The NBL's Greatest Imports - Darryl McDonald, Ricky Grace, Derek Rucker, Leon Trimmingham, Scott Fisher, Lanard Copeland, Dwayne McClain, Darnell Mee, Shawn Redhage, Al Green, Steve Woodberry, Doug Overton, Kevin Lisch

And the men who run things - Larry Kestelman, Mal Speed, Paul Maley, Vince Crivelli, Jeremy Loeliger, Chris Pongrass, Jeff Van Groningen, Bob Turner, Danny Mills

All that and much more.

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By The Aussie Hoopla Team

55 ratings