ASU Basketball: Holder joins rich history of Larry Brown-led guards

Last week, former ASU basketball guard Tra Holder signed with Fiat Torino of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A League. The team’s leader may be crucial to the former Sun Devil’s success.

More likely than not, you haven’t heard of Fiat Torino.

The professional basketball club is based in Turin, Italy, and has competed in the Korac Cup, top-tier Italian leagues and EuroCup competition in its 44 years of existence. The team recently won its first domestic title in franchise history and boasts former NBA talents in Sasha Vujacic and Carlos Delfino.

After being cut from the Philadelphia 76ers’ summer league roster earlier this month, former Sun Devil guard Tra Holder signed with the Italian club last week, marking the first professional signing from Arizona State’s four seniors on last year’s roster.

Normally, such a commitment outside of the NBA would be met with little excitement. Holder was the catalyst of the best start in ASU basketball history, leading the Sun Devils to the No. 3 ranking in the country and their first NCAA Tournament berth in four years while earning All Pac-12 First Team honors and becoming a top-5 scorer in program history.

However, signing with the Italian club might just be the best-case scenario for the 22-year-old outside of the NBA. It’s because of a name those in the basketball sphere know all too well: Larry Brown.

The Hall of Fame head coach was announced as the team’s skipper on June 13, his first job since leaving Southern Methodist University in 2016. As a coach, Brown boasts one of the best resumes in basketball history, being the only coach to win both NCAA and NBA titles.

But outside of his championship pedigree, arguably Brown’s best skill has been his ability to develop elite professional guards. Holder might be the next in Brown’s line.

Brown began his career as a head coach in 1972 with the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association. In his two seasons as the Cougars’ head coach and his first season as coach of the Denver Nuggets, Brown had the opportunity to coach Mack Calvin, a player similar to Holder’s stature at 6 feet tall and 165 pounds.

Calvin, who was 25 years old when he met Brown, had been recognized as a dynamic scorer that lacked skills as a true point guard. But Brown knew Calvin had another gear in him. In three seasons under Brown’s tutelage, Calvin had the best years of his career, adding three more all-star appearances while earning All-ABA First Team honors twice and All-ABA Second Team honors once.

In 1975, Calvin posted a career high of 7.7 assists per game, a drastic change from how he played the game just three seasons prior. In an interview with clipsnation.com, Calvin noted how integral Brown was in his development as an all-around player.

"“I knew of Larry Brown and I think that was his first pro coaching experience. He was a great coach and I didn’t score as many points as I did in Florida, but I became a better all-around player. He was a teacher and he came from a system in North Carolina where he learned under a great coach in Dean Smith and we played a style of basketball similar to what Golden State and San Antonio are doing these days.”He went on, “He was a great student of the game and a great teacher. He always got great players and great guards and I was the first of the great guards that he had, before he had the Iverson’s and the Reggie Miller’s of the world. He helped make me a better point guard.”More from Devils in DetailSun Devils Primer: Game 2 vs Oklahoma StateSun Devil Insight: Quarterback RoomArizona State Spotlight: Kenny DillinghamArizona State 2023 Season Opener: Off To A Good StartArizona State vs USC Prediction and Promo (Expect Offensive Fireworks)"

Brown’s next successful project was Cedric Hunter, another 6-footer that played for him at Kansas from 1983 to 1987. Hunter was an integral part of Jayhawk teams that reached the Final Four and Sweet 16 in his junior and senior seasons, leading the Big 8 in assists per game and total assists in back-to-back seasons.

Brown’s success at Kansas gave him another shot in the NBA, where he would coach Hall of Fame center David Robinson before tutoring another guard in Indiana Pacer sharpshooter Reggie Miller.

In 1996, Miller had one of the best shooting seasons, knocking down a career high of 229 3-pointers en route to earning All NBA Third-Team honors while leading his team to a No. 3 playoff seed and two regular season victories over the 72-10 Chicago Bulls. Had Miller not succumbed to an eye injury at the end of the year, it was likely that the Pacers could’ve played spoiler in the postseason.

After splitting from the Pacers organization in 1997, Brown decided to join a rebuilding organization in the Philadelphia 76ers. It was there that he would develop his notorious relationship with Allen Iverson.

Coming into the league, Iverson was known as one of the greatest cultural icons the league had ever seen. While sporting a headband, shooting sleeve and cornrows, he became the founder of fashion fads that have become all too common in the NBA today. And with that, Brown had to deal with a lot of baggage.

It was hypothesized that Iverson’s ego, notoriously sported in his “practice” rant, wouldn’t mix well with Brown’s history of pass-first point guards. Instead of electing for the risk, Brown told Iverson to become a shooting guard, a move that helped Iverson become the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2001 and in Iverson’s words, “the best player on planet Earth.”

The former first-round pick characterized his admiration for Brown in this video interview:

Brown’s experience with Iverson pitted him with Chauncey Billups, a labeled journeyman who came under Brown’s wing with the hopes of finding a home in the NBA. With the Detroit Pistons in 2004, he found one.

Billups and the Pistons’ own “Fab Five” dominated the favored Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals, winning the series four games to one. Billups was named Finals MVP of the series after averaging 21 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.

Billups would go on to play for the Pistons for six full seasons and the final one of his NBA career, citing Brown as his favorite coach in an article by SportsDay of the Dallas News.

"“He’s the best coach I’ve ever played for,” Billups said. “I’d give my kidney for Larry Brown. I love him so much.”"

Through all of his years coaching these aforementioned players, Brown helped his guards tally nine all-star appearances, 10 All-NBA selections, one All-Defensive selection and one NBA MVP award.

For Holder, it’s hard to get better company than that.

The 6-foot-1 guard has already seen elite guard coaching, having played under Bobby Hurley for two seasons. Hurley, who’s considered one of the best collegiate point guards of all-time, has spoken highly of Holder several times throughout his Sun Devil career.

Hurley has also been a huge catalyst of Holder’s year-to-year improvement in a Sun Devil uniform. Holder saw statistical increases in points and rebounds per game as well as free throw and 3-point percentages each year he played in a Sun Devil uniform.

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With a foundation in place, Holder will begin on a new journey, one that an outsider might view as a rocky start. But with the work ethic that he has, the history of Larry Brown, and the encouragement of an entire community, it’d be best to not bet against Holder’s quest of playing professional basketball in the United States.