Community college men’s basketball: OCC’s Spencer chooses former

NBA player as assistant

COSTA MESA - New Orange Coast College men’s basketball coach Steve

Spencer announced the first addition to his staff, Wednesday, naming Brad

Wright as an assistant.

Spencer, who took Coast’s head-coaching job after a five-year stint as

an assistant on UCLA’s staff, chose a fellow Bruin. Wright played at UCLA

from 1982-85 and also in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors, New York

Knicks and Denver Nuggets.

“Brad has a wealth of knowledge and experience for the players to draw

from, for me to draw from, and for the school to draw from,” Spencer

said. “His knowledge and experience will be a huge benefit to the

program.”

As a senior at UCLA, Wright, a 7-foot center, blocked 44 shots, the

second-most ever in a single season by a Bruin at the time and still on

the school’s top-10 list. In his second-to-last collegiate game, he

scored a game-high 23 points to lead UCLA to a 75-66 win over Louisville

in the NIT semifinals. The Bruins defeated Indiana two days later to

capture the school’s only NIT championship.

After finishing his NBA career, Wright later played professionally in

Italy, France and Spain.

“I’m very grateful for this opportunity,” Wright said. “After playing

basketball for so many years, it’s great to finally be able to give

something back.”