Coach Creger and the NBA
Brad’s uncle (Larry Creger) also had a passion for sports but he gravitated towards basketball and not baseball. Larry eventually was an assistant coach (under Head Coach Bill Sharman) in the ABA with the Utah Stars and later in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers. Coach Sharman and Coach Creger led the 1970-71 Utah Stars to an ABA Championship which caught the attention of the Los Angeles Lakers' owner Jack Kent Cooke. When Bill Sharman left the Utah Stars to become the Head Coach for the Lakers that following (’71-72) season, before Sharman left he asked Larry to follow him to Los Angeles.
Larry wanted to follow Sharman but refused to “break his contract” with the Utah Stars and team owner Bill Daniels as his father instilled in him that "your word is your bond" so he fulfilled his contract. Coach Creger stayed in Utah for the one season remaining on his contract, and then he joined Sharman with the Lakers in Los Angeles for the ’72-73 season. Once in Los Angeles and again coaching with Bill Sharman, Larry coached as Sharman’s Assistant Coach with the Lakers until Bill was forced to retire from coaching professional basketball due to an extreme case of laryngitis.
Larry also coached and/or held front office positions with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers. Coach Creger is also credited with creating the first Summer Pro League where both veterans (working on their game) and rookies (trying to make the league) could play alongside each other.