EDINBURG — Kevin Burleson has a response whenever he’s asked about the pressure that comes with being the new head coach of the most successful organization of the NBA G League, the four-time champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
“Preparation,” Burleson said. “Pressure is a concept — what it is to you. You put in the work, you get the results (and) the results are it. So there is no pressure. I come and I put in the work; if I don’t put in the work I’m looking for a career.”
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 Seattle P-I.
The RGV Vipers named Burleson their new head coach Sept. 6. He follows Mahmoud Abdelfattah as the ninth head coach in the history of the team, which started operations during the 2007-08 season.
The Vipers, an affiliate of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, are the defending NBA G League champions after Abdelfattah led them to a 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.
Expectations are clearly high, higher maybe more for the Vipers, the premiere G League team, than any other team.
But Burleson is accustomed to living under incredibly high bars to hurdle, coming from a family the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 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 Seattle P-I.
“…Beginning with dad, a much-decorated defensive back for the Washington Huskies and CFL’s Calgary Stampede, 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.”
…Beginning with dad, a much-decorated defensive back for the Washington Huskies and CFL’s Calgary Stampede, the Burlesons boast the most accolades, even offering a sports rarity, Raley continued.
Burleson said he and his siblings thought they were growing up like every other kid. The difference was a father that had a plan for the future and a mother who “was keeping our heads on straight.”
“When you’re a kid you don’t know you’re getting trained for something and that every kid is like you but, obviously, I grew up in a sports family where the dinner table was competitive fighting over the last piece of whatever,” Burleson said. “It’s one of those things where we were getting groomed but didn’t know it to be in sports for the rest of our lives.
“It was great growing up and me and my brothers have all gotten something out of sports.”
A major task for any coach — bigger than the Xs and Os — consists of guiding a team to find its identity. While the Vipers have been known since their inception for a unique style of play that includes running, launching threes at a moment’s notice and using high-pressure defense to transition to a blistering offensive pace, working with the nuances of each individual and their own style of play is critical for a group of players to transform into a team.
Burleson already mentioned after a 127-116 home loss to Memphis that “we played a little too selfish. Everybody wanted to ‘get mine.’” One game earlier, the Vipers set a team record for 3s made in a game (28) and taken (54) in a 149-124 win over that same Memphis squad.
That can only be expected when you have a group hungry to reach the NBA, attempting to return to the NBA or hoping to restart their career again at the NBA level.
But, if anything, the Vipers’ story and system as it stands has sent a myriad of players — and coaches — to the ultimate league. Trust the system is a common phrase from coaches to players.
“I’ve told the guys that I want elite competitors, not just guys who like to play basketball,” Burleson said. “No matter how good or bad I was playing I felt like I could compete with anybody in the world and I want that fighter’s attitude, that determination with these guys.”
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.
Willie Cauley-Stein has played 422 NBA games and started in more than 250 of them since being drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 2015. He was quick to praise Burleson’s patience.
“That’s super unique. He really likes teaching the game and doesn’t leave any loose ends,” Cauley-Stein said. “He’s going to explain something to the ‘T,’ which is great because a lot of teams I’ve been on they want you to pick up on things so fast they say it one time and if you didn’t pick it up, they are getting after you until you get it.
“With Coach B he comes and says, ‘this is what we are doing, this is how we are doing it,’ and goes over it. If you can’t get it from that point, you’re just not locked in.”
One thing for sure is that the Vipers have shown that offensively they can still spin the scoreboard numbers like in a video game.
In eight games, they are second in the league in scoring at 121.1 points per game. Only Fort Wayne averages more at 128.9.
Take away the season-opener, when the Vipers only mustered 84 points and they are averaging 127 per game.
“We’re still going to be fast paced, take a lot of threes, get to the basket and get to the free-throw line,” said Burleson, who has worked with former Viper coaches Chris Finch and Matt Brase while working with the Rockets. “The system is pretty much the same, with some of my tweaks and personality. This is really big. I’ve dreamed of being a head coach since I started in the NBA and there have been a lot of successful coaches with the Vipers and that gives me even more motivation to do well.”
Burleson had 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.
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 Stampeders. He finished his playing career with Al-Ittihad Alexandria of Egypt.
