Paul Mokeski

Paul Mokeski
Born	(1957-01-03) January 3, 1957 Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Basketball player, coach
Years active	1979–1993 (player), 2007–2018 (coach)
Known for	NBA player, head coach of Reno Bighorns, Moncton Miracles, Nevada Desert Dogs

Paul Keen Mokeski (born January 3, 1957) is a retired American professional basketball athlete and coach. Measuring 7 feet tall, he occupied the center position during his playing days. Throughout his NBA tenure, Mokeski represented five different teams, most prominently dedicating six seasons to the Milwaukee Bucks. His career as a player lasted from 1979 until 1993, after which he moved into coaching roles.

His last known coaching position was as head coach for the Nevada Desert Dogs in the North American Premier Basketball league in 2018.

Early career

Mokeski's basketball journey began at Crespi Carmelite High School located in Los Angeles, California. He then played two seasons at the University of Kansas, where he secured a total of 680 rebounds, placing him fifteenth on the school's all-time list.

Professional career

During his time with the Bucks, Mokeski served as an important reserve player throughout multiple significant playoff campaigns. In the 1984 NBA Playoffs, he achieved his postseason highest averages, posting 6.1 points and 5.5 rebounds over an average of 20 minutes per game. On March 28, 1985, he reached a personal best by scoring 21 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in a 121–116 victory against the New York Knicks.

Regular season

|- | align="left" | 1979–80 | align="left" | Houston | 12 || - || 9.4 || .333 || .000 || .778 || 2.4 || 0.2 || 0.1 || 0.5 || 2.4 |- | align="left" | 1980–81 | align="left" | Detroit | 80 || - || 22.7 || .489 || .000 || .600 || 5.2 || 1.7 || 0.5 || 0.9 || 7.1 |- | align="left" | 1981–82 | align="left" | Detroit | 39 || 3 || 13.4 || .441 || .000 || .758 || 3.1 || 0.6 || 0.3 || 0.6 || 3.2 |- | align="left" | 1981–82 | align="left" | Cleveland | 28 || 1 || 12.3 || .427 || .000 || .767 || 3.1 || 0.4 || 0.7 || 0.6 || 3.3 |- | align="left" | 1982–83 | align="left" | Cleveland | 23 || 18 || 23.4 || .455 || .000 || .615 || 6.0 || 1.1 || 0.5 || 1.0 || 5.5 |- | align="left" | 1982–83 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 50 || 1 || 11.8 || .460 || .000 || .810 || 2.4 || 0.5 || 0.2 || 0.4 || 3.2 |- | align="left" | 1983–84 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 68 || 4||12.3|| .479|| .333|| .694||2.4||0.6||0.2||0.4||3.8 |- | align="left" | 1984–85 | align="left" | Milwaukee |79||6||20.1|| .478|| .000|| .698||5.2||1.3||0.4||0.4||6.2 |- | align="left" | 1985–86 | align="left" | Milwaukee |45||0||11.6|| .424|| .000|| .735||3.1||0.7||0.1||0.1||3.2 |- | align="left" | 1986–87 | align="left" | Milwaukee |62||3||10.1|| .403|| .000|| .719||2..2||0..4||0..3||0..2||2..4 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" | Career !694!!38!!14..0!!..451!!..216!!..694!!3..4!!..7!!..3!!..4!!..40

Playoffs

|- | align="left" | 1982–83 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 4 || - || 3.0 || .500 || .000 || .000 || 0.5 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 1.0 |- | align="left" | 1983–84 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 16 || - || 20.1 || .540 || .000 || .667 || 5.5 || 0.4 || 0.6 || 0.7 || 6.1 |- | align="left" | 1984–85 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 8 || 0 || 19.3 || .444 || .000 || 1.000 || 4.3 || 1.5 || 0.3 || 0.5 || 5.5 |- | align="left" | 1985–86 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 14 || 0 || 7.2 || .519 || .000 || .667 || 1.7 || 0.6 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 2.4 |- | align="left" | 1986–87 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 12 || 0 || 8.9 || .364 || .000 || .800 || 2.4 || 0.2 || 0.3 || 0.2 || 2.3 |- | align="left" | 1987–88 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 4 || 0 || 10.0 || .357 || .000 || .667 || 2.3 || 0.0 || 0.8|| 0.5|| 3.5 |- | align="left" | 1988–89 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 5||0||12.2|| .571|| 1.000|| .750||3.4||0.6||0.0||0.0||4.6 |- | align="left" | 1989–90 | align="left" | Cleveland |3||0||3.3|| .500|| .000|| 1.000||0.7||0.0||0.3||0.3||1.3 |- | align="left" | 1990–91 | align="left" | Golden State |3||0||2.7||1.000|| .000|| .000||0.7||0.3||0.3||0.0||0.7 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career |69||0||11.8|| .486|| .250|| .742||3.0||0.5||0.4||0.3||3.6 |}

College

|- | align="left" | 1975–76 | align="left" | Kansas |18||-||26.3|| .482|| -|| .730||6.4||-||-||-||10.6 |- | align="left" | 1976–77 | align="left" | Kansas |14||-||17.9|| .396|| -|| .625||6.1||-||-||-||6.1 |- | align="left" | 1977–78 | align="left" |1977-78 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team |28|||23.3|||'.518||| -|||8.5||| -||| -||| -|||9.3 |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- class="sortbottom" |- style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 Career |-89 |-26,4 |-.488 |- - |-.683 |-7,6 |- - |- - |- - |-10,6 |-

Coaching career

Mokeski held an assistant coaching role with the Fort Worth Flyers in the NBA Development League. In June of 2007, he became an assistant coach for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats under head coach Sam Vincent, but his tenure ended following the conclusion of the 2007–08 campaign after Vincent's dismissal.

Subsequently, Mokeski resumed duties as an assistant coach in the D-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. By September 2011, he was promoted to head coach of the Reno Bighorns, a position he maintained until March of 2013. After returning for another season with the Vipers, he shifted to the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada), taking on the head coaching responsibilities for the league-operated Moncton Miracles in 2016.

Following the folding of the Miracles in 2017 to facilitate the launch of the Moncton Magic, and with NBL Canada commissioner David Magley departing to lead a new organization, the North American Premier Basketball, Mokeski was announced as one of its first coaches for the inaugural 2018 season.

On August 16, 2018, Mokeski was named commissioner of The Basketball League (TBL) ahead of its upcoming 2019 competition year.

Personal life

Mokeski serves as a co-host alongside Derrick Gervin on the weekly basketball podcast titled The D.Gerv and Big Mo Show.

External links

• Complete career statistics
• Professional and collegiate statistics