Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 22, 1993 TAG: 9301220010
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ED MILLER LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LANDOVER, MD. LENGTH: Long
COLES SETTLES IN WITH HEAT
EARLY IN his NBA career with the Miami Heat, Bimbo Coles had a reputation as a gunner and a point guard who played out of control. Now, the former Virginia Tech All-American starts most of the time and is a player other teams ask about in trade talks.
Scoring 2,484 career points seemed like a good idea at the time.
On NBA draft day 1990, however, all those baskets in a strange way worked against Bimbo Coles.
This guy is a gunner is what some NBA scouts were saying. Many didn't think Coles had the mind-set to play point guard in the NBA, which, at 6 feet 1, is the position he would have to play.
What's more, they didn't much like the way Coles scored his points. Too many on frenetic, slashing drives to the basket. Too few on smooth jumpers.
So despite his credentials as an All-American and a 1988 Olympian, 39 names were called before the Sacramento Kings selected Coles in the second round and promptly sent him to the Miami Heat in a trade for Rory Sparrow.
It has taken him nearly three years, but Coles has just about silenced the last of his doubters. While he's no all-star, Virginia Tech's all-time leading scorer has turned into a serviceable NBA point guard.
"Bimbo can score and appears to be better at running a team than most people would have predicted," Washington Bullets general manager John Nash said. "You've got to give him credit."
Don't just give him credit, give him the basketball. And don't worry - Coles can be trusted with it. His assists-to-turnover ratio (4.4-to-1) is the best in the NBA, well ahead of the likes of John Stockton (3.9), Tim Hardaway (3.2) and Mark Price (2.96), the league's elite point guards.
"I'm definitely happy," Coles said recently. "Early in the season, I was kind of having a good game, then a bad game. Now, I'm more consistent."
Which is more than he could say when he first came into the league. Coles' rookie season was a disaster. He shot 41 percent from the field and averaged 4.9 points.
"I was looking over my shoulder," he said. "I'd make a mistake, and I'd get yanked right out of the game."
That was under coach Ron Rothstein, who was fired after the 1990-91 season and replaced by Kevin Loughery.
Coles said Loughery was more willing to let him play through his mistakes. Actually, Loughery had little choice. Former starter Sherman Douglas had been shipped to Boston for Brian Shaw, who just wasn't working out, and rookie sensation Steve Smith, who was working out quite nicely, injured a knee. Coles started 28 games and averaged 10.1 points and 4.5 assists.
This year, with Smith hurt again, Coles has started 32 games and has improved his numbers to 11.4 points and 6.3 assists.
"Playing point is definitely something I had to adjust to early," Coles said. "When I got here, there were eight or nine guys who had been big scorers in college."
Coles hasn't turned off his offensive game entirely, but he does put up fewer of the circus shots for which he was known as a Hokie. And he no longer can be left alone behind the 3-point arc.
"He's shooting much better," Loughery said. "He's added some 3-point range to his game."
Coles has made 19 3-pointers this season, three more than in his first two seasons combined.
"He's played great," Loughery said.
The same can't be said about Miami. The Heat made the playoffs last season but is in the Atlantic Division basement now.
"It's good to be starting but no fun to be losing games," Coles said. "I've been going to the basket all over the place, but we haven't been playing hard. We haven't stepped up and responded to the challenge."
Coles sounded frustrated, but he's not one to make much noise, on or off the court. He speaks so softly that, in the din of the Miami locker room, you have to bend over to hear him.
In fact, a visitor who knew him then doesn't find Coles much changed from his days at Greenbrier East High School in Lewisburg, W.Va., where he was a four-sport star.
Coles, 24, plans to return to Lewisburg after the season, get married, find a house and settle down.
"I'm kind of getting tired of the city, being from the country," Coles said. "When I first got [to Miami], I loved it. I was single, and it was great. Now I've kind of settled down."
He's settled down on the court, too. Whether he'll settle in as the Heat's point guard of the future remains to be seen. Smith, who is 6 feet 8 and is regarded as a budding star, is back, so Coles knows his minutes will diminish.
Nash, for one, thinks Smith and Coles can play together. Even if they don't, Nash says Coles has a solid future.
"He's a solid, young, veteran player at this point," Nash said. "In the event they would ever want to make a trade, there would be a number of people interested in Bimbo."
That could happen. USA Today columnist Peter Vecsey wrote recently that Miami quietly was shopping several players - Coles and Shaw among them - to make room for Smith.