Las Vegas a Win-Wynn Situation for Green

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July 18, 2008

LAS VEGAS -- In a very real sense, the future of the Knicks is here in Las Vegas this week at Summer League.

And if you look hard enough inside the team hotel -- inside the casino, in the restaurants, through the carpeted walkways where he moves so easily and has a smile and a wave for his co-workers -- you'll find a little piece of their past as well.

Say hello again to Sidney Green … son of Brooklyn, former Knicks muscleman and now domestic marketing host for the luxurious Wynn Las Vegas Hotel.

And that man you passed in the lobby the other day, the one that made you stop in your tracks and say, "Now, that face looks awfully familiar," is now sitting over lunch and explaining how it all happened -- how a bruising rebounder coached by the likes of Jerry Tarkanian, Chuck Daly and Rick Pitino now has one of the world's most recognizable business moguls for a boss.

"I think I was destined to be an executive host, thirty years ago when I first met Mr. (Steve) Wynn," says Green, now 47. "In my first year out here, 1979, when I came out here as a freshman (at UNLV), I met him. One thing he always told me was that when I decided to move back out here permanently, I will always have a home in his heart. That's when he owned the Golden Nugget. Thirty years later, here I am. He still remembered me, and it's an honor and a privilege."

Green's job used to involve battling the Barkleys and Rodmans of the world. Now it involves being all things to all those who walk through the Wynn's palatial doors.

"We tend to all our guests, particularly our high rollers," he says. "We establish a credit line for them here at the hotel, accommodate them with their needs, their rooms, food and beverage. Just to keep a smile on their face so they can enjoy themselves. The bottom line with this type of a job is to treat our guests the way you'd want to be treated when you go to a world class resort like ours."

A product of Brooklyn's Thomas Jefferson High School, the 6-foot-9 Green initially came to Las Vegas in 1979 to star for Jerry Tarkanian's Runnin' Rebels at Nevada-Las Vegas. Then came a 10-year NBA career highlighted by two seasons with his hometown Knicks -- 1987-88 and the 1988-89 Atlantic Division title season -- and by his selection as the very first member of the Orlando Magic in the 1989 expansion draft.

After his playing career ended in 1993, Green turned to coaching and served as head coach at Southampton College on Long Island, the University of North Florida and Florida Atlantic University, then added one year at Indiana as an assistant to Mike Davis in 2005-06.

"I enjoyed it immensely," says Green of his coaching career. "It was a way of giving back to a game that has been great and wonderful for me and my family. I wanted to coach (in) college. Schools that I coached at had very miniscule resources, so we had to go out and fund-raise. But it was a blessing for me because I was able to give back to kids and help them fulfill their dreams of graduating and taking their skills to a high level overseas, professionally."

Following a year off, Green's career road would turn away from coaching and toward the city he once owned as a Runnin' Rebel.

"A good friend of mine who's the former governor of Nevada, Bob Miller, encouraged me to come out here and talk with Mr. Wynn," remembered Sidney, who began at the Wynn Las Vegas in September 2007. "And Mr. Wynn opened the door again for me to be part of his family here at the Wynn. My wife is from here and the kids are all grown up, so we decided to relocate out here."

And the place that was home three decades ago is home again.

"Everybody's been telling me, and I'm starting to feel it, that this is my element," says Green. "I was made to do this, everyone's telling me. I love it. I haven't missed coaching; I was coaching for 13 years. This is my second career here, outside of basketball."

Although his hoops legacy was forged in Las Vegas, Green will always have a special place in his heart for the Knicks, starring on the first two of the franchise's 14 consecutive playoff teams.

"Those were some good years," he remembers. "I liked it because, as much of a great coach as Coach Pitino was, we had a lot of great players on our team. … Patrick (Ewing), Mark Jackson in his rookie year in particular. And the following year we got Charles Oakley. But it's nice that people do remember that year because in Rick Pitino's first year, everybody said that his style of play wouldn't work in the NBA and we wound up winning our division (in the second year)."

During his Knicks years, Sidney was often trailed by a precocious toddler, his son Taurean. Now Taurean Green is 21, with two NCAA Championships at Florida and a year in the NBA under his belt, and is here in his dad's backyard playing for Denver in Summer League.

"It's special, it's indescribable, like any dad would be proud of his son," says the elder Green. "Seeing him fulfill and accomplish his dream of being a professional basketball player. Watching him win back-to-back NCAA Championships, and overcoming certain obstacles of certain critics not acknowledging his true work to attain, his talent coming out of high school."

Father and son have different styles: Taurean is a lithe point guard while his dad was a board-crashing bruiser.

"He's a totally different style player than me," says a grinning Sidney. "He's a better player than me, he's a true winner and he just knows how to keep his teammates happy on the basketball court. And that's what he did for the University of Florida and that's how they were able to win back-to-back championships. He has a winning edge, a winning mentality, he's a solid kid and he has a passion for the game. I'm proud of him."

Turns out that Las Vegas is just as proud of one of its most prominent adopted sons.

"When I made the decision to come here (to UNLV), many, many, many folks thought that I was nuts, crazy," says Green. "Why am I doing it? Why did I turn down St. John's, UCLA, Louisville, etc.? My mother and I saw a great opportunity here for me to fulfill a dream of not only graduating from college but playing in the NBA, and to help be part of a program that was about to blossom with the direction of Coach Tarkanian and his staff."

"It's a dream come true. I still have a long way to live, a long way to go. I just want to apply myself with his opportunity and continue to be part of the Wynn family."

That means continuing to perform for a boss who's even more renowned and famous than any of the Hall of Fame-caliber coaches Sidney played for.

"(Steve Wynn) commands perfection and he doesn't expect anything less from you, and for you to give your top performance to everything that he asks of you and what you're responsible to do to enhance his company," says Green. "He's the same wonderful person to this day that I met 30 years ago when I was a freshman in college. And it's just an honor to be part of his family."