Posted: Jan 06, 2022
The Chabot men's basketball team welcomed Gladiators legend and former Golden State Warriors' first-round draft pick Lester Conner to the campus, and then delivered a victory over Diablo Valley College, 92-83, on Dec. 10.
"Great time with Lester Conner," Chabot coach Keenan McMiller stated of the Oakland native, adding that the former veteran NBA player and assistant coach plans on being around "a lot more" when time permits.
McMiller can see the stars aligning for his program.
"We are starting to get our offense together, we have a lot of ability," he shared. "We need to get back to our fundamentals on defense. (Tuesday) we will have our point guard back and finally have our whole team back. We haven't had that all season."
In Chabot's first game since Nov. 20, the Gladiators fashioned their typical balance as five players reached double figures in scoring. Isaiah Saams Hoy (13 points, 10 rebounds), Christian Pitcher (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Malik Kaba (13 points, 10 rebounds) all had double-doubles. Diggy Winbush had a team-high 17 points and five rebounds. Skylar Robinson added 16 points and six boards.
A classic swingman, Conner shared California Community College Player of the Year honors at Chabot in the 1979-80 season, after also starring at Los Medanos College.
At Oregon State, he was All-American, All-Pac-10, and Pac-10 MVP in 1982. OSU had a 51-7 record during Conner's career and made two NCAA Tournament appearances, advancing to the "Elite Eight" his senior year.
Conner played for numerous NBA teams over 12 seasons, including four with the Warriors. He was an NBA assistant coach for 12 seasons, with the Celtics, 76ers, Bucks, and Hawks.
Conner was reportedly recently hired as an assistant coach at Oakland's Lincoln University under head coach Gary Payton, a legendary NBA guard.
The Gladiators (5-3) host De Anza at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in nonconference play.