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Blair says his promotion from head coach of the G League champion Rio Grande Valley Vipers is also a lot about ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, and not just the basketball part of it.

Sure, Blair played four seasons for Lute Olson at UA and became a second-round pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in 1996, then returned to spend two seasons on Sean Miller’s staff while finishing an undergraduate degree and pursuing a master’s.

But it was the years after Blair finished a 13-year overseas playing career, when he returned to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and worked in the community, that he said made him the coach he is now.

“A lot of my success comes from my work in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥,â€� Blair said on a phone interview last week from Philadelphia, where he was named an assistant coach on Wednesday. “The part that’s most difficult to learn as a coach is relating to people, having empathy and the ability to build relationships. It’s the same thing with sports. I was learning how to coach and I didn’t even know itâ€�

Blair’s belief in what he gained from those years parallels the way he looks at his entire life path so far. That includes how he left UA in 1996 academically ineligible for his final semester and somewhat bitter, but found a wake-up call when he was cut by the Sonics and landed overseas.

It was tough at the time, but ultimately led to better things.

“Had I played in the NBA, I don’t believe I’d be here where I am in my life,� Blair said. “I don’t think I’d have the same world view of the human condition. If I didn’t work in the community, I wouldn’t be an effective coach. If I wasn’t ineligible, I wouldn’t have realized I had this love for the game. It’s all connected.

“If you start looking at every negative and thinking ‘It’s holding me back,’ you’re missing the point. It’s all intertwined. Every good and bad thing has propelled me to being here.�

As a player, Blair gained life experience living in countries such as Spain, Italy, Turkey and Russia, becoming a fluent speaker of Italian along the way, while also spending part of 2001 with the Harlem Globetrotters.

He finished playing in 2009 and eventually joined the boards of several Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ organizations, while also establishing his Blair Charity Group, which provides free camps and clinics for underserved youths.

In 2013, Blair returned to UA to finish his degree and coach Sean Miller offered him a role as an undergraduate assistant coach in 2013-14.

That experience also helped Blair erase some unpleasant memories.

“The way I left, I carried a lot of guilt for years,� Blair said in 2013, after he was announced as a part of the UA basketball staff. “I left (UA) basketball with a pretty bad taste in my mouth.�

Blair worked a second season as a UA graduate manager in 2014-15. While that job was not renewable, and Blair said he was not offered another job on the 2015-16 staff, he left to join the Vipers as an assistant to former UA player and staffer Matt Brase.

A grandson of Olson who is now a Rockets assistant coach, Brase worked with Blair for three seasons in Rio Grande Valley, giving Blair another step in his evolution as a coach.

Together, Brase and Blair managed the constant merry-go-round that is the G League, sometimes having to pick players up at the airport just a few hours before a game, taking them to the gym for a crash course on the team’s system, then to the arena to put on a Vipers jersey.

They also had to delicately manage egos and teamwork. Regular players might suddenly find their minutes chopped as Houston would send down a player and mandate him to play often.

“When another person gets thrown in the mix, you need to find a way to mix them in while still maintaining a sense of teamwork and chemistry throughout the process,� Blair said. “It’s definitely a challenge but I can give Matt a lot of praise. I learned a lot from watching him and last year we were put in a situation where everyone came in and knew how to benefit the team.�

Another challenge was that winning in the G League, to players, doesn’t necessarily mean championships. Winning, to the individual, can simply mean capitalizing on playing time in order to get a call-up to the NBA.

Blair wasn’t blind to that, either.

“Sure, it can be difficult,� he said. “The G League is a league no one wants to stay in, and that includes us as coaches and staff. But one thing I learned from coach Miller is what he always said: With team success comes individual accolades. I quote that all the time with my players. The longer they play (in the playoffs) the more looks they get� from the NBA.

In all, Blair managed a total of 27 different players in his first season as head coach while RGV won the league championship. And not only did the Vipers earn the trophy but five guys earned call-ups, either to 10-day NBA contracts or two-way deals, both of which can financially surpass what a G League player otherwise earns in an entire season.

Then Blair got his own call-up last week. Some 23 years after the Sonics drafted but ultimately did not keep him, Blair was offered a chance to stick in the NBA, on Brett Brown’s staff in Philadelphia.

He’s making the same step forward into the league made by Brase and by Nick Nurse, who led RGV to the 2013 D-League title — and the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title.

“We have a pretty good track record,� RGV general manager Rene Borrego told The Monitor of McAllen, Texas, of his team’s coaches, adding of Blair that “he knew how to treat the players and everyone in the organization. He was respected and loved and we will miss him, but we are also very happy for him.�

A native of Ohio who played high school basketball in Houston, Blair leaves coaching roots in the Rio Grande Valley and, where he’ll also never forget them, in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

“I’m moving to Phillly but I’ll always be a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥an,â€� Blair said. “Whenever I have the opportunity, I’ll be back. I love the community and the environment, literally and figuratively. Nothing is going to keep me away from that.â€�