Charles F. Gardner

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tim Grgurich eats, sleeps and drinks basketball.

The 74-year-old hoops guru even sleeps in the gym now and then.

It’s no big deal to a coach who has dedicated his life to basketball and now is helping tutor the Milwaukee Bucks in the ways of the game.

You won’t find Coach Grg in the media guide. You’ll find him behind the scenes, working on the court with Jabari Parker or John Henson.

In the summer, you’ll find him at the well-respected camp he runs in Las Vegas.

In the winter, you’ll find him in the gym.

“You talk about needing balance in your life; I don’t think he has any balance,” said Bucks forward Steve Novak. “I think he is basketball 24-7 and I think he loves it.

“That’s the way he is wired and that’s why he has been in the NBA for as long as he has.”

Grgurich, a Pittsburgh native, coached at Nevada-Las Vegas under Jerry Tarkanian and designed innovative defenses for the Runnin' Rebels and later in the NBA.

McCarthy named Bucks' chief operating officer

He has coached at various stops in the NBA, including under George Karl in Seattle and Denver and under Rick Carlisle in Dallas.

And he has influenced thousands of players and made an impact on countless coaches.

Bucks coach Jason Kidd was in high school when he met Grgurich, and so was 39-year-old Bucks veteran Jason Terry.

“Knowing who he is and his work ethic and what he means to the game of basketball, he should be in the Hall of Fame,” Kidd said.

“For what he’s done … let’s just round it up to a million (people he has influenced). You might be short-changing him.

“He’s responsible for why we have development coaches. He’s a big part of that.”

Grgurich was asked the reason for his success and shook his head, not seeking any publicity.

“I know how to keep quiet,” he said as he headed to the court before the Bucks' game Monday against Orlando.

But he can be stinging in his appraisal of players, something they grow to appreciate.

“He’s a big voice for me,” Henson said. “He’s always with the bigs. He breaks film down. His perspective is almost always brutally honest, which is great.

“He’s going to tell you how it is.”

Novak said he met Grgurich during a stint with the Dallas Mavericks.

“Literally when I was in Dallas he was sleeping at the gym,” Novak said. “He definitely sleeps here (at the Cousins Center).

“We respect him because he’s a guy that’s in the gym so much. When I was in Dallas he pulled me aside and set up some drills for me specifically and our offense.”

Grgurich cares about helping every player on the roster, from the superstars to the bench guys.

Terry said he was instrumental in the Mavericks’ run to the NBA title in 2011 when Terry and Kidd were teammates on a team that included Dirk Nowitzki and Tyson Chandler.

“He is one of the sole reasons we won the championship,” Terry said. “He was the glue. You would never see him during the games out on the court but he would be in the tunnel.

“If I came out of the game and he could tell something wasn’t quite right, he would be taking notes. I’d check his notes and go back in the game and correct what I had done wrong.

“He’d be right on. And he gave me positive reinforcement when I was right. That’s a great sign for a coach.”

Terry met Grgurich years earlier when the guard was a sophomore at Skyline High School in Seattle.

“As our relationship grew, I continued to work with him throughout college,” Terry said. “In my early years as a pro, I would go to Vegas in the summertime and participate in his clinics and camps.

“He was always teaching. He always challenged you to learn something new and he held you accountable. Long story short, I was traded to Dallas in the summer of ’04 and I got the word at Grg’s camp in Vegas. He literally pulled me out of a drill and told me I was traded from Atlanta to Dallas.”

The famous camp Grgurich runs in Las Vegas each summer includes rugged two-a-day sessions for players.

“He’s been responsible not only for developing a lot of good NBA careers but for saving a lot of NBA careers,” Bucks assistant Greg Foster said. “Guys that have totally been written off, guys that teams have wanted to trade or get rid of, guys that have lost total confidence in their own ability.

“I would take it another step further and say not only players but coaches (benefit). It’s a great place as a coach to get a lot of experience, and it’s work.

“He’s always been about work. He’s probably the best at understanding how much energy from a coaching standpoint needs to go into the game. There are no days off with him.”

Kidd said the Bucks are lucky to have him, even though Grgurich hates the Milwaukee winters.

“We work inside,” Kidd said. “He’s a gym rat. Hopefully next year when we’re in the new building (training facility), he can park inside and he won’t have any complaints about the weather.”

Grgurich will be on the court early before games, and he will stay long after practice is over to talk with players or work with them on a certain aspect of their games.

“He’s definitely the guru of basketball and we’re so blessed and fortunate to have him on our side,” Parker said.

“He has directed me in the right path, where I want to be as a basketball player. He lives for the game.

“When you have someone who is constantly thinking about the game and ways you can improve, you pretty much have to take his word for it because that’s all he does.”