Who is the next great NBA head coach that nobody's heard of?Nick Nurse was once that guy before winning the NBA championship in his first year leading the Raptors. The same goes for Chris Finch, who turned around the Timberwolves in Year 2 and already has the second-most postseason wins in franchise history.Both men came from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets' G League affiliate that has quietly become a breeding ground for top NBA coaches, and another is set to join them next season. , Mahmoud Abdelfattah will be joining the Rockets' staff as a first-time NBA a sistant coach.Finch and Nurse were drilled on the importance of innovation, and they've taken that into their coaching philosophies in the NBA. Finch has employed one of the more aggre sive defenses in the league. Nurse has been willing to try anything, like rolling out a box-and-one defense on Stephen Curry in the 2019 NBA Finals without practicing it first.Abdelfattah is like those two on steroids.He encourages transition 3-pointers Jordan Bell Jersey and will let his guys fire heavily contested triples with reckle s abandon. He will change defensive coverages in the middle of po se sions if he sees his opponent walking the ball up the floor. He'll send four or five guys to the offensive gla s."I've done similar things to what Nurse has done," Abdelfattah told The Sporting News. "I've drawn up a 1-3-1 zone in a timeout, and I've drawn up a 2-2-1, and we'd never practiced it."Those ideas don't always work and when they don't, he takes the blame. But there have been way more strokes of brilliance than steps backwards. Last season underAbdelfattah, the Vipers led the G League in offensive rating on their way to the 2022 championship."I tell the guys, 'I'm going to try some things out,'"Abdelfattah said."Just like you guys want to try out some moves in the game, I will try one or two different schemes or ATOs after timeout plays . Let's roll with it. ... You can't tell me that we have to play a certain way . And that's why I think I will be succe sful."I'm very respectful, but I'm not going to be a yes man. There's got to be value, and there's got to be reasoning on why we're doing it, and you've got to be able to back it up with film and numbers."For many Kostas Antetokounmpo Jersey coaches, basketball is everything. Abdelfattah is a grinder like the rest of them, but he thinks the game a little bit differently and sees the bigger picture.He's the first Muslim and Palestinian-American head coach in the G League or NBA. He's trying to teach beyond the game and learn more than X's and O's. He believes that one of the biggest problems in the world is that people judge before they know."One thing I like to do with my players, staff, before we start, I leave an open floor,"Abdelfattah said."I always ask my guys, 'How are you doing health-wise?' And then the next question is Magic Johnson Jersey , 'Has anybody learned anything in the last 24 hours?'"Some guys will talk about anything music, sports, family, travel, politics. And some guys may be sarcastic and joke. But it brings out things from others. And I'll talk about myself, like when the month of Ramadan started."Abdelfattah is devout in his faith. He was fasting throughout the team's G League Playoff run for Ramadan. That drew the curiosity of some of his players."I asked the guys if anyone knew anything about the month of Ramadan," Abdelfattah said. "A handful of guys put their hands up, and I talked to them about it. I gave them some insight. I like to talk about everything, from holidays, to birthdays, to ethnicities, to religion, to anything."Abdelfattah's faith and friendships have guided him throughout a tumultuous coaching journey.Coming out of Taft High School in Chicago,Abdelfattah turned himself into a JUCO All-American by putting up 500 to 700 shots per day, rebounding every make and mi s for himself. That allowed him to transfer to a Division II program in St. Cloud State, where he coached as an a sistant after his playing days were over.But an unheralded playing career meant that he had to start from the very bottom, and that meant dealing with a lot of rejection."I probably got pa sed up on 25 to 30 Division I jobs," Abdelfattah said. "Trying to go speak to these big, high-major head coaches, and you're a part-time Division II a sistant, who's going to look at you?"It took 11 long years of putting himself out there before Abdelfattah got a full-time coaching position. Family members told him that he should get a real job. Helearned how to be comfortable with being told no, and he stopped fearing being vulnerable. One of his mantras is to be comfortable with being uncomfortable."When I got the Vipers a sistant coach offer, I drove from St. Cloud Tuesday morning. It's a 24-hour drive," Abdelfattah said. "I got down there in about 26 and a half hours. I slept in a truck stop in Oklahoma City . It was about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. I knew it was going to be hard. I knew I didn't know everything. I needed to learn a new film system. And the first month, I told myself when I was getting flustered, 'This is what being Elgin Baylor Jersey uncomfortable is. It's going to be for a few more weeks. Keep working.'"You have to have willingne s and acceptance that things aren't going to go right. People can look at you sideways because everyone else is comfortable in their role. I'm a different type of work ethic. I'm a different type of energy. So I've got to be able to adapt, and it's going to be uncomfortable. I'm totally fine with that."That internal belief finally paid off when Abdelfattah got an a sistant coaching opportunity with the Vipers. Twenty-two months later, he beat out 24 other candidates that former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey interviewed for the head coaching job. In his third season as head coach, he won a ring and was named the G League Coach of the Year. Now, he's an a sistant coach in the NBA and one step closer to getting one the 30 heralded top jobs.And while Abdelfattah has been around great coaches, he doesn't try to copy them."Your coaching style has to be yours. I can't be former Vipers head coach and current Wizards a sistant Joseph Blair. I can't be Rockets head coach Stephen Silas. I can't be Nick Nurse. I can't be Chris Finch," Abdelfattah said. "When I was in my first year, I was trying to learn, 'What would they do?' But at the end of the day, I'm different."I wake up at 4:30 in the morning with a smile on my face. I'm very happy fasting throughout the day and being as energetic as anybody else. I'm totally fine with yelling out defenses on the fly."As he moves up the coaching ladder, there is one thing that motivates Abdelfattah to keep going. It's not fame. It's not money. It's his faith and Dennis Schroder Jersey his community."I want to be a role model for the younger Muslims and Palestinians that don't have an avenue, don't have a role model, don't have somebody that they can reach out to and get input on how they can achieve their dreams,"Abdelfattah said."I'm doing it