Perhaps with the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics going on, some may have forgotten that the NBA All-Star Game and all of the festivities that go along with it will be held in Los Angeles this weekend.
For some, All-Star Saturday which includes the league’s 3-point shooting contest as well as the Slam Dunk Contest, is even a bigger highlight than the actual game itself.
A former Slam Dunk Contest participant now shares his professional basketball experiences with the youth of the Burbank community.
Greg Minor, who was once a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Clippers and spent five years in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, has created the Minor Sports Academy, which is based out of the gymnasium at St. Finbar Parish School. He also coaches the St. Finbar School’s ‘A’ team. The Minor Sports Academy is held weekdays at St. Finbar from 5 to 9 p.m. and is open to elementary, middle and high school students.
“It is a year-round training program that I started in September. It is for kids of all ages around the Burbank area. It is for anyone that is willing to train to help their skillset. The classes are not overly big. It’s a more intimate setting. I try to train with a lot of intensity,” said the 6-foot-6 guard.
Minor, 54, said he first came to the area in 2017 to work with a friend. He then left in 2023 to go back to his native Georgia, but returned a year later.
“Living in the state of California everything is much more pricey, but the quality of life is also much better,” he said.” I came back to start the Minor Sports Academy and so far it has been pretty good. It is the families and the connections I made out here that have really made it and it is still growing with the Finbar family.”
Basketball has brought Minor around the world as he spent five years living and working in China prior to coming to Burbank.
He played for the Celtics from 1994 until 2001 when a hip injury forced him to retire.
“When I retired I went back to school to get my degree. Then i started to get into coaching. I started working for the NBA Basketball Without Borders and I would go to China whenever they had basketball camps and in different countries,” said Minor, who played under the legendary Denny Crum at the University of Louisville. “They would bring current or retired players and coaches to work these clinics and that’s how I made my connection with the Chinese companies there.”
Minor also has experience working in the NBA’s developmental league with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
“My job was to develop players and put together reports for the general managers or assistant general managers of those teams,” he said, noting that he got to work with the likes of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as well as many others.
Minor’s pro career finally settled in Boston after being selected by the Clippers as the 25th pick of the 1994 NBA Draft. He was traded on draft night along with Mark Jackson to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Pooh Richardson, Malik Sealy and the draft rights to Eric Piatkowski.
But his experience in Indiana was short-lived as the team already had Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and longtime Lakers star Byron Scott at the shooting guard position.
The Pacers had also drafted University of Indiana star Damon Bailey, who was considered a fan favorite in the state.
“They failed to sign me, so I became an unrestricted free agent and it came down to Chicago and Boston. Boston offered a bigger deal and I ended up choosing the Celtics,” said Minor, who said he grew up a fan of the Lakers. “In the first two weeks to a month, I fell in love with the organization with how they do things and the professionalism they have. Eric Montross and I were the only rookies and we came into a veteran team. I had a chance to play with Dominique Wilkins and Dee Brown, Sherman Douglas, Dana Barros and Dino Radja.”
Minor said he has Brown, the 1991 Slam Dunk champion in the event, to thank for his opportunity to participate in the event in 1996 in San Antonio.
Brown passed on the chance to participate once again and recommended that Minor be given the opportunity. Minor finished third out of six behind winner Brent Barry and Michael Finley.
“It was a wonderful experience. One of the things I always share with people is that it is not as simple as it seems because you as a dunker know everybody out there is watching you, whether it is the fans locally or around the world,” Minor recalled. “When you go up and attempt a dunk they don’t think about the back drop. If I am looking at the rim and the back of the rim the glass is clear there are cameras and flashes going off everywhere like crazy and you need to focus. The last thing you want to do is miss a dunk. It is very challenging.”
For those who would like to become a part of the Minor Sports Academy, information can be found online at www.saintfinbar.org or by calling (818) 848-0191 and asking to speak with Jhoanne Gabagat.
Jim Riggio
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