Phoenix Suns 2010-11 Media Guide - NBA Media Central

Personnel
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Igor Kokoskov
Assistant Coach
Igor Kokoskov (kuh-KOS-kov) enters his third season as a member of the Suns’ coaching
staff and his 11th season overall as an NBA assistant. He spent the previous five seasons
with the Detroit Pistons, reaching the conference finals in each campaign, earning two
NBA Finals appearances and the 2004 NBA title.
Prior to joining the Pistons, Kokoskov served as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers
from 2000-03 under then-head coach Alvin Gentry, becoming the first full-time, non-American
assistant coach in NBA history. Kokoskov later became the first non-American assistant to win an NBA championship
and also the first to serve on an NBA All-Star Game coaching staff. He owns the distinction of being the first European
coach to hold a full-time position with an NCAA Division I-A school when he served as an assistant at the University
of Missouri during the 1999-00 season with current Milwaukee Bucks General Manager John Hammond.
The native of Belgrade, Serbia, owns extensive international experience as a head coach and assistant coach.
He was an assistant with the Serbian national team at the 2004 Athens Olympics and 2005 European Championships
under renowned European coach Zeljko Obradovic. Kokoskov has enjoyed three successful summers (2008-10) as
the national team head coach for the Republic of Georgia, which in 2010 qualified for the 2011 European
Championships. Prior to his move to the United States, the 38-year-old instructed the former Yugoslavia’s top amateur
and professional players for eight years, including a stint as an assistant coach for the nation’s junior national team.
Kokoskov, who was an assistant for the Suns’ 2008 and 2009 Las Vegas Summer League squads, has participated
in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program and administered other clinics throughout Africa and Europe.
He and wife Patricia were married in the summer of 2009 and reside in Scottsdale.
Noel Gillespie
Assistant Coach/Advance Scout
Noel Gillespie begins his eighth season overall with the Suns and this season adds the
role of assistant coach to his duties as the club’s advance scout. In this role, he aids the
coaching staff in their game preparation for upcoming opponents and compiles a scouting
report for each game.
Gillespie served as part-time advance scout under Todd Quinter for two seasons prior
to being named the team’s advance scout in 2008, and spent the previous four seasons as
the Suns’ video scouting coordinator. During the past five offseasons, Gillespie has served as an assistant coach
for the Suns’ Las Vegas Summer League squad. He began his career with the organization in 2003 as the assistant
video coordinator for the Suns and the video coordinator for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
A native of Milwaukee, Wis., and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Gillespie got his start
with the Indiana Pacers in 2001, assisting the video, scouting and coaching staffs. Gillespie then worked as a
graduate assistant at Florida State University in 2002 before joining the Suns.
He and wife, Sherry, are the proud parents of Jack, born in September 2008.
Aaron Nelson
Head Athletic Trainer
Aaron Nelson enters his 11th season as the head athletic trainer, only the second in
team history after replacing Suns Ring of Honor member Joe Proski in July 2000. When
hired, he was the second-youngest head athletic trainer in the NBA. Prior to his promotion,
Nelson served as the Suns’ assistant athletic trainer beginning in 1993.
Included in his role are the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and
assisting in the travel operation of the team.
Nelson, who was named the Joe O’Toole NBA Athletic Trainer of the Year and the Trainer of the Year by the
National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association for 2009, is certified and licensed as an athletic trainer, performance
enhancement specialist (PES) and corrective exercise specialist (CES). He is a member of the National Athletic
Trainers Association (NATA), Arizona Athletic Trainers Association (AZATA), National Academy of Sports Medicine
(NASM) and National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association (NBATA). He currently serves as an adjunct professor
at A.T. Still University teaching Human Movement Dysfunction for the Master of Science in Human Movement Science
curriculum. In the Spring of 2010, Nelson was appointed to serve on the Arizona Board of Athletic Training. Nelson
served as the athletic trainer for the USA Basketball Men’s Select Team that helped prepare the 2007 USA Senior
National Team for the FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas.
Following graduation from Iowa State University in December 1992, Nelson spent the spring 1993 semester as
a graduate assistant at Arizona State University. While an undergraduate, he was a student athletic trainer for four
years under NATA Hall of Famer Frank Randall. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education with
an emphasis on athletic training and a minor in health. Nelson, who is a member of the Performance Advisory
Board for the National Academy of Sports Medicine, received his Master of Science degree in exercise science from
California University at Pennsylvania.
In the summer of 2004, Nelson completed a two-week volunteer internship with the United States Olympic
Committee (USOC) in the sports medicine department at the Olympic training facility in Chula Vista, Calif., working
primarily with track and field and paralympic athletes.
The Manning, Iowa native is the brother-in-law of former Suns guard Jeff Hornacek. He and wife Jessica have
two sons, Andrew (3) and Logan (1).