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With one career goal accomplished, Gordon Herbert moves on to the next. As a bonus, he gets to come home, too.
The newest member of the Toronto Raptors' coaching staff is in Las Vegas working with the team's summer league entry, but that's just the latest stop on a long basketball journey that began in Penticton, B.C., visited Idaho for college basketball, and took him all over Europe as a player and coach.
"Since I began coaching, it's always been a goal of mine to coach a Euroleague team and to be an assistant coach in the NBA," Herbert said in a telephone interview yesterday. "This opportunity allowed me to get into the NBA and come back to Canada, too."
It was his work in Europe that caught the eye of Raptors management, who wanted to add a basketball development specialist to work with their younger players. Development will be Herbert's focus on the five-man staff of Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell.
While Herbert coached three different teams in the Euroleague, he never had the luxury of signing top European stars. He believes making more from less will serve him well on the Raptors.
"I always had smaller-budget teams, so developing our own players was essential for us to compete," he said. "So we had to spend a lot of time on it."
The European practice model typically requires players to be in the gym twice a day — once in the morning for positional tutoring and skill development and a second time for team concepts.
It's a model practised informally in the NBA, but clearly admired by the Raptors' front office.
In particular, Herbert will be working with Croatian guard Roko Ukic, about to start his rookie NBA season, and third-year centre Andrea Bargnani, who regressed last year after a promising rookie season.
Herbert is familiar with both from his time in Europe. Australian rookie Nathan Jawai will be a focus, too.
"You have to develop a real trust with the players," he said of his approach. "But you there is no substitute for work."
With each player, he will develop an individual "game plan" based on his own observations and the desires of Mitchell and the Raptors' front office. He is already beginning to study video to get a feel for each players' strengths and weaknesses.
But it's not just about making jump shots in the gym.
"The goal isn't to be able to be effective in a one-on-zero situation in the gym, the goal is to be able to make plays at game speed in a five-on-five situation," Herbert said. "You have to work on mental toughness, self-confidence, physical toughness. It all goes into it."
He will begin to work with Bargnani when the big Italian arrives in Las Vegas this month. Before those sessions start, he will "pick the brain" of David Blatt, Bargnani's head coach at Benetton Treviso and a close friend of Herbert.
"He has tremendous potential, but he's young," Herbert said of Bargnani. "But of course, there are a lot of expectations on him as the No. 1 pick."
In the meantime, the former member of the Canadian national team will be keeping an eye on Athens, where Canada is trying to qualify for the Olympics in Beijing next month.
Herbert was in Toronto while Leo Rautins's squad was training at the Air Canada Centre, and was impressed.
"The team has a lot of talent and Leo has done a good job," said Herbert, who came second to Rautins when Canada Basketball was looking for Jay Triano's replacement in 2005.
"I was surprised. The program was down for four or five years but they have the makings of a really good team there. … I think they have an excellent chance to qualify."
