[Quesadilla Joe]

The gem of the Denver Broncos' football draft? Ask Larry Brown, basketball coach

When I called former Nuggets coach Larry Brown about a Broncos draft pick, who knew what he’d say? Not me. I wasn’t sure if Coach Brown would even remember Courtland Sutton.

Coach Brown’s been coaching since the '60s. (And yes, he told me that he hopes to coach again.) How many players is that? 300? 400? And here’s a guy — Courtland Sutton — who played one basketball season at SMU and made one shot (a 3-pointer!) after earning a roster spot in an open tryout.

If you’re Larry Brown, you remember David Thompson, Danny Manning, Allen Iverson.

You don’t remember Courtland Sutton.

Larry Brown remembered Courtland Sutton. He remembered Sutton's first practice. He remembered a hustle rebound in a practice drill. He remembered everything about Courtland Sutton, the basketball player.

“When I saw you wanted to talk about Courtland it got my attention,” Brown said. “I’ll talk all day about Courtland. Special, special guy. His leadership, his personality. Just thrilled for him to go to the Broncos.”

Before I could butt in and mess up Coach Brown’s scouting report on Sutton, he offered one up: “I keep reading he’s 6-3. I don’t think he’s 6-3. For us (on the basketball court) he played bigger than that. We used him under the basket. I honestly thought if he would have come to us his freshman year and stayed with us (Sutton played hoops after his freshman football season at SMU) he would’ve been a regular player for us. He made our practices better every day. And he’s an unbelievable kid. (Ex-SMU forward) Ben Moore is with the Pacers. And Courtland held his own every day. He just became family. He has that type of personality you want to work with. It’s contagious.”

http://gazette.com/paul-klee-courtla...rticle/1625191