Scott Skiles Frightened Draft Prospects And Small Animals

Scott Skiles was an intense player.

He set the record for most points in a single season at Michigan State while snorting coke and smoking weed between games. This furiosity continued during his coaching career, frightening top draft prospects like LaMarcus Aldridge and small animals.

He Was an Instigator

Long before Scott became coach Skiles, which is a story in itself, as it happened in the middle of a season in Greece for a team he was playing for, he was an instigator.

His former teammate on the Orlando Magic Shaquille O’Neal once described him as

A little gnat that got under my skin

Egging on a fight at a 1994 practice between Shaq and Magic backup center Larry Krystkowiak, whose name I would butcher if I tried to pronounce it out loud, will generate this kind of sentiment.

Others have echoed this and made even more serious claims like Larry Sanders saying his former coach “didn’t like black people.”

Between former teammates and players all saying the same thing, Scott must have that Steve Urkel personality that just rubbed people the wrong way. You can add top draft prospects to this list as well.

I Hope I Play in Toronto

When LaMarcus Aldridge declared for the 2006 NBA Draft, he was a consensus top 3 pick.

The Chicago Bulls owned the 2nd overall pick, so a meeting/workout between the two sides was inevitable. At the time, the Bulls were coached by none other than our man Scott Skiles, which set up one of the most awkward pre-draft dinners ever!

Picture this: The top brass of the Bulls, like GM John Paxson, other execs, and head coach Scott Skiles are all wining and dining Aldridge at a swank steakhouse in the city.

The kind where they give you an embroidered napkin when you sit down.

Everyone is settling in and the drinks are starting to flow, but Scott scared the shit out of LaMarcus by staring directly at him for the first 10 minutes or so, without saying a single word.

Afterward, Aldridge said, “It scared me, I hope I play in Toronto.”

The Raptors, who had the top pick, drafted Andrea Bargnani instead, and the Bulls did end up taking Aldridge second overall.

Fortunately, for everyone involved, the future All-Star didn’t have to spend any more time around the NBA’s version of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho.

The Bulls dealt Aldridge to Portland on draft night in exchange for Tyrus Thomas and Russian Victor Khyrapa, who probably had regular staring contests with Skiles at practice👀

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