Joe Wolf, a former North Carolina captain for Dean Smith who went on to play for seven groups in an 11-year NBA profession earlier than turning into a coach, died unexpectedly Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks introduced.
Wolf, an assistant coach for the Wisconsin Herd — the Bucks’ G League affiliate — was 59.
“All through his life, Joe touched many lives and was a extremely revered, adored and devoted coach and participant throughout the NBA,” the Bucks mentioned in a launch asserting Wolf’s loss of life. “His well-regarded expertise was instrumental for the Bucks and Herd over eight years with the group, together with as a participant and coach.”
Wolf was a highschool All-American in 1983 earlier than becoming a member of the Tar Heels to play alongside the likes of Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins.
Wolf was a co-captain for the Tar Heels as a senior in 1986-87, sharing that function with Kenny Smith.
North Carolina went 115-22 in Wolf’s 4 seasons, making the Candy 16 twice and the Elite Eight twice in that span.
Wolf — a 6-foot-11 middle and ahead — rapidly moved into teaching as soon as his NBA profession was performed, utilizing abilities he mentioned Smith started instilling in him from the beginning of his school expertise.
“I wish to suppose I began getting skilled the minute I stepped on campus,” Wolf informed the Greensboro (N.C.) Information and Document in 2018. “Coach Smith was all about constructing the correct habits. That advantages me right now.”
He was an All-ACC decide in 1987 and left North Carolina with 1,231 factors.
The Los Angeles Clippers used the No. 13 decide within the 1987 draft on Wolf, who spent his first three NBA seasons there earlier than later taking part in for Denver, Charlotte, Orlando, Portland, Boston and Milwaukee — a return to his residence state of Wisconsin, the place he was a highschool legend.
Wolf led Kohler Excessive Faculty to a few Wisconsin state championships, and in 2005 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel named him the state’s best highschool basketball participant ever, the Bucks mentioned.
He coached on the school stage as an assistant at William & Mary and UNC Wilmington, was a head coach in what’s now referred to as the G League with Idaho, Colorado and Greensboro, had been an NBA assistant for Milwaukee and Brooklyn and was employed in 2023 as a G League assistant for the Herd.
