Slam dunk of an opportunity
Jake Ness isn’t sure what he could possibly teach Dirk Nowitzki in a few weeks when he shows up for his new job as a player development assistant with the Dallas Mavericks.
Maybe Ness could break the ice with a story about the time he got dunked on by Shawn Kemp’s son.
Ness’ introduction to big-time basketball took place shortly after the Billings (Mont.) West High product headed back east in 2009 to play post-graduate ball at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.
It was an open gym. Shawn Kemp Jr., son of the former Sonics great, had the ball on the fast break.
Ness was on defense.
“And I remember, being young and naive, I decided I’m going to go up and try and block this,” Ness recalled. “He just dunked all over me and put me on the ground ... I knew right then and right there I was out of my element a little bit.
“But it was one of those things ... you’ve just got to keep going.”
A THREE-sport athlete in high school, part of an extremely athletic family, Ness kept going. After being a team manager the first year at Hargrave, he made the team his second year. That led to a three-year hoops career at Boise State, followed by a return to Hargrave as assistant coach the past two years.
While coaching at Hargrave, Ness took some online classes through Washington State and earned a master’s in athletic administration.
When the coach he worked for at Hargrave (A.W. Hamilton) left for another job as an assistant at N.C. State, joining the coach he played for at Hargrave (current N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts), Ness figured it was time to move on as well.
He searched the internet, and recently landed the job with Mavericks.
“I want to be an athletic director at a bigger college; that’s kind of the end goal,” Ness said. “Right now, there’s a lot of different routes in getting to that goal. I’m open to any opportunity and experience. This just seemed like a onec-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
UNTIL LEAVING for Dallas in mid-August, Ness, 27, is relaxing at the family home in Coeur d’Alene. He was born in Billings, and also lived in Oregon and Virginia before the family moved back to Montana. He graduated from Billings West in 2009, and has spent most of his time since then in Virginia or in Boise. The family moved to Coeur d’Alene in 2010 when his dad, Jon, was named CEO of Kootenai Health, and Jake spends his free time in the Lake City.
The 6-foot-8 Ness played football, basketball and tennis at Billings West, earning a total of eight letters and winning a state title in hoops as a junior. He wanted to play basketball in college, and his dad remembered Hargrave from the time the family lived in Virginia.
Prep schools in the West are rare; most are back East.
“He told me, ‘the basketball players out there are really good,’” Jake said. “And I’m like ‘yeah, OK, whatever ... ’
“I went out there and I realized right away, these guys are all D-1 players ... ACC, Big Ten ... and it just hit me in the face real fast, real quick. It was really eye-opening.
“So the first year I was the manager. I practiced with them, and I lost like 67 pounds of my football weight. They decided to bring me back to actually play on the team my second year.”
During his second year at the prep school, Ness received a few scholarship offers from Division 1 schools in the East — including Tennessee-Martin, Navy, West Point, Bucknell and Belmont.
But Ness was hoping to play closer to home.
Then Boise State came into the picture.
DURING NESS’ second year at Hargrave, he came home for Christmas break and, like college kids do, went down to Peak Health and Wellness in Coeur d’Alene to play some pickup basketball.
“Someone saw me playing and told this guy over at Gonzaga, Jerid Keefer, who then told the assistants up at Boise about me,” Ness said.
Boise State head coach Leon Rice is a former Gonzaga assistant.
Bronco coaches watched him play a few games at Hargrave and offered him a scholarship.
He came off the bench for three seasons in Boise, helped the Broncos win a Mountain West Conference championship, and played in the NCAA tournament.
And all because of a pickup game at Peak.
“Crazy, small world,” Ness said. “I didn’t even know anyone here. Small, small world I guess.”
JAKE IS the middle of three children to Jon and Pam Ness. Jon Ness played basketball at North Dakota State, where Pam was a member of the track and field team.
Their oldest child, Kate, two years older than Jake, played tennis at Montana.
Luke Ness, three years younger than Jake, attended Lake City High his last three years of high school, starred at tennis, and is now playing at Eastern Washington.
Jake says he is “extremely competitive” with his brother. They were on the tennis team together at Billings West, when Jake was a senior and Luke a freshman, but never got to play doubles together.
“He can finally beat me now in tennis,” Jake said. “He still can’t return my serve, regardless of what he says.
“After he’s played in college, I don’t think I’ll play him in a match again, because I don’t think I’ll like the result.
IT’S NOT uncommon for a prep school like Hargrave to have a dozen or so Division 1 players on its roster. During Ness’ time there as a player, his teammates included P.J. Harrison, who went on to play at North Carolina, and Dez Wells (Maryland). Among the more notable Hargrave alumni are David West, Marreese Speights, Jordan Crawford and Vernon Macklin.
“Practices were just nuts,” Ness recalled. “It was like you were in an actual D-1 practice. Every kid can play; there’s not a bad player on the team and if you don’t bring it every day, you’re going to get exposed and destroyed. It was awesome getting to go play against those guys.
It was extremely eye-opening.”
Ness said the Mavs liked that he had coached at the prep school level, as they usually have a player or two in camp or on the roster from prep schools. When Ness was in prep school, he played against a guy or two who has been with the Mavs.
In his new role with the Mavs, Ness said he’ll help work out the players, practice with team occasionally, get them game-ready, break down film ... a little bit of everything.
“I just want to be a sponge ... taking whatever I can learn and using it wherever I go,” Ness said.
And, if Dirk asks, give the German star a pointer or two.
“I don’t know what I’m going to tell him to do,” Ness admitted with a laugh.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.