EDINBURG — Rio Grande Valley Vipers President Rene Borrego looked across a table at the team’s new head coach, displayed a ringless thumb and said, “I want one for the thumb.”
He was referring to a fifth NBA G League championship ring during Wednesday’s news conference at Bert Ogden Arena introducing Kevin Burleson as the team’s ninth head coach in franchise history. The Vipers began operations during the 2007-08 season.
The phrase “one for the thumb” was the rallying cry of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1981 as the aging core of a four-time Super Bowl championship squad made one last push for a fifth ring.
Burleson was most recently a player development coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Vipers, an affiliate of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, are the defending NBA G League champions after head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah led them to league-best fourth title last season. Abdelfattah was hired as a Rockets’ assistant coach during the offseason.
Prior to that title, Joseph Blair coached the team to a third title. Blair is now an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards after holding similar positions with the Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.
Burleson knows what the incredibly high expectations are, leading the most successful franchise in G League history. He said he’s up for the challenge.
“This is a great opportunity. I’ve been in sports my whole life. If you know a little about my family, we are a sports family and basketball has been my life,” Burleson said. “I always wanted to be a head coach and when this opportunity came about, I jumped on this.
“My coaching career began with the Rockets, and it’s great to be back. The Vipers are a first-class organization so I’m excited to, yes, get another championship, I’ll say it now. We coach to win, so I’m excited to push forward and do it again.”
Burleson has been with the Timberwolves since 2019 after spending the 2018-19 season with the Memphis Grizzlies. He began his coaching career with the Iowa Wolves of the G League in 2017. Burleson spent time — from 2014-17 — in the Rockets’ organization as a player development coach.
A Seattle, Washington, native, Burleson played for the University of Minnesota from 1999-2003. After not being selected in the 2003 NBA draft, Burleson began his professional career in Germany for USC Heidelberg in 2003. The Charlotte Bobcats signed him in 2005 but cut him later that season.
He played in the G League for the Idaho Stampede. He finished his playing career with Al-Ittihad Alexandria of Egypt.
Burleson comes from an athletic family that the Seattle Post Intelligence called “the first family of Seattle sports” in a 2006 article.
“The Burlesons — specifically Al Sr., Al Jr., Kevin, Nate and Lyndale — provide bloodlines, if not sweat glands, that locally have no equal in terms of collective success rate and competitive balance,” wrote Dan Raley in the Sept. 12, 2006, edition of the Seattle P-I.
“Coming close are the Tuiasosopos, if not the Richardsons. Yet beginning with Dad, a much-decorated defensive back for the Washington Huskies and CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, the Burlesons boast the most accolades, even offering a sports rarity.
“Nate Burleson, a starting wide receiver for the Seahawks, and Kevin Burleson, a reserve point guard for the Charlotte Bobcats, are believed to be just the second set of siblings to make it to the highest levels of pro football and basketball, joining the now-retired Cris and Butch Carter, Ohio natives and also a pass catcher and playmaker.”
“It’s a unique situation, where there are four boys, close in age, and you could compete against each other every day,” the then-27-year old Kevin Burleson said. “Our dad, being in sports, bred that into us. It’s a competitive household.”
The Vipers have won titles in 2022 (Abdelfattah), 2019 (Blair), 2013 (Nick Nurse) and 2010 (Chris Finch). Nurse also became the first coach to win both a G League and NBA title, taking the Raptors to the championship in 2019. Finch is the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Vipers will open the 2022-23 season on the road Nov. 6 against the Mexico City Capitanes, who will be joining the G League throughout the full season. Then, the Vipers will host the Birmingham Squadron for the home opener Friday, Nov. 11, at Bert Ogden Arena.
Burleson said he became familiar with the unique style of run-and-gun play the Vipers have used throughout the years because of his time with the Rockets, as well as talking to both Finch and Blair while with the Timberwolves.
“Even when I went different places, I would say, ‘Why are we doing it this way?’ because the Rockets taught me a certain way,” Burleson said. “Even Coach Finch, I learned a lot from him. He’s a great offensive coach, and there were very similar things we did over there.”
This season’s home opener will consist of a ring ceremony to celebrate the 2021-22 NBA G League champions. The Vipers will be presented with their championship ring and witness the unveiling of the fourth championship banner.
