DeBusschere had experience in balancing two jobs. Up to that point in his career, he’d spent his offseasons pitching for the Chicago White Sox and their minor league squads. But he had no coaching experience, and was still learning the ropes as an NBA player. Taking on the role of player-coach was a whole new challenge. “[Wattrick and Zollner] thought that he had the ability or the acuity to operate in both positions. … But it was a disaster,” says Scott. “I thought that Dave should have been working on his game at 24 years old, not being concerned about the game of others, and substitutions, and rotations, and scheduling, and all of those things.” According to Thorn, DeBusschere’s coaching limited the team’s best player … DeBusschere. “I think it took away from him as a player,” says Thorn. “To me, he didn’t play himself at the minutes he should have played. During those days, top-flight players played close to 40 minutes a game.” DeBusschere averaged 35 minutes per game in his first season as player-coach .