Gar Forman opens up on love for game, job and peace with role in Bulls hierarchy
CHICAGO - Growing up in suburban Moraga, Calif., about 15 miles east of the Bay Area, Gar Forman occasionally would skip a day of school, hop on public transportation and sneak into Warriors practices at Oakland Coliseum.
Enthralled with the sport, Forman's eyes would travel everywhere at a time when the NBA was popular but not stratospherically large like today - and able to allow access to the occasional teenage truant.
Rick Barry commanded plenty of attention, and rightly so. But Forman's gaze often would stop on Steve Bracey, a seldom-used reserve on the 1974-75 NBA champions.
"He was my favorite player, partly because I was always the last man," Forman said. "I fell in love with the game even when I was in elementary school. By the time I was in junior high, there was absolutely no question in my mind that I wanted basketball to be my life. I played 365 days a year. I could shoot it. And I had absolutely zero athletic ability."
Forman paused after delivering his self-deprecating remark before adding a crucial detail.
"But I remained relentless in my work ethic," he said.
The NBA draft is Thursday. Forman is a year removed from moving to a less-public role with the Bulls, for whom he has worked since Jerry Krause hired him as a scout
