Feature Story: Jon Koncak

[MrMustang1965]

So this is what it means to be both lucky and good.

Sure, former Center High School standout Jon Koncak had talent, and being 7 feet tall didn't hurt. But throughout his career, Koncak had a knack of being in the right place at the right time.

Surprising even to him, he was a member of the U.S. 1984 gold-medal Olympic team. The next year he was picked fifth overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA draft.

But Koncak, whose competitive basketball career began as a 15-year-old when he was discovered by an AAU coach while shooting in the St. Thomas More Catholic Church gym, proved to the basketball world in 1989 that he, indeed, had some luck on his side.

The world champion Detroit Pistons were desperate for help inside after Minnesota picked Rick Mahorn in the expansion draft. They started courting Koncak, who averaged 6.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in his first four years.

A few weeks later, the signing deadline looming, the Hawks matched the Pistons' offer and stunned the basketball world when they signed Koncak to a six-year, $13 million deal.

“I signed on Sept. 15 and got paid more money in the next six weeks than I had in the previous four years,” Koncak, 42, said from his home near Atlanta. “For 1989 standards, the money was mind-boggling.”

Say what you want about the contract that made Koncak one of the highest-paid NBA players, even higher than Michael Jordan. Chances are, Koncak has heard it all before. How he didn't deserve the money. The nicknames, such as Jon Kontract. And, even the one about how he helped raise ticket prices. Hey, he didn't make the offer, he just signed the deal.

“If I had a nickel for every negative comment, I would've made more than 13 million,” Koncak said. “If you think there was pressure of being a top-five pick, imagine the pressure of being one of the highest-paid players in all of sports.”

Koncak says the Atlanta fans were happy that he re-signed. Well, at least until he missed his first shot during a preseason game.

“The bar was set so high that there was no way to succeed,” Koncak said. “That was a tough time. At least my coaches and teammates knew I was there to do whatever was needed. When I had those sleepless nights when I was getting booed, I knew the guys wanted me on the team.”

In the spring of 1995, Koncak contemplated retiring. The Hawks weren't going to re-sign him. He was 32. His knees were bothering him.

A young Orlando team, however, wanted him. Koncak played in 67 games that next season, including a playoff run to the Eastern Conference finals where the Magic lost to Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Koncak was satisfied.

“Going there was almost a rebirth,” he says. “That was a great way to end my career.”

The next year, Koncak and his family basically disappeared.

“Well, we moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which is like falling off the face of the earth,” Koncak joked of the place where he lived for seven years and owned a horse farm. “Each year that went by, because we were so isolated, I felt like I had never played basketball before. But I still have the T-shirts and shorts, so I guess I played sometime.

“I wanted to have a normal life with my kids, which we did in a beautiful place.”

Koncak didn't completely escape in Wyoming. In 2003, when the Baylor basketball was rocked by the murder of Patrick Dennehy by teammate Carlton Dotson, Koncak's name resurfaced.

After then-Baylor coach Dave Bliss, who coached Koncak at Southern Methodist University, told reporters that he had never cheated at any school, an NCAA memo leaked that included how Koncak had received money illegally during his junior and senior years from a booster. Koncak admitted then that the basic information was true.

“The focus of that story was obviously Dave Bliss, but other people got caught up in it, which is unfortunate,” Koncak points out. “But, yes, there had been some benefits while I was at SMU, and I did accept some of those benefits.”

Although Koncak says he regrets that his family had to “go through this again,” he used it as a teaching tool with his two teenaged daughters.

“What I did was against the rules,” he said. “It was a good learning experience for my kids to see that something that happened 20 years ago could come back at any time.”

Today, much as he did in 1986 when first admitting to SMU's president that he had received payments, Koncak has put the story behind him.

After going through a divorce last year, Koncak is back in the Atlanta area.

“My day consists of going to the gym, doing some paperwork and then seeing my kids every three or four weekends,” he said. “I'm about 20 pounds lighter than when I played because I love focusing on diet and fitness.”

Koncak never became the dominant big man that many thought he would, but he was a player that gave his all on the court. Even if he didn't have 20-point, 20-rebound performances every game, if fans wanted to see a 7-foot, 250-pound guy diving after loose balls or swatting shots, Koncak was the man.

“From shooting around a few years earlier in the church gym to reaching the NBA, it was a quantum leap,” he said. “Sometimes opportunities are right there and you have to grab them.”

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 930561.htm

[No Quarter]

The Hawks have the #2 pick in the draft this year and the AJC is talking about the bad high choice they made with Koncak. But I think the worse high choice was the administration and management of the Atlanta club.