BDA Sports Official Website

Ryan Hollins was looking out the window of the Charlotte Bobcats' team plane about 15 months ago, watching the team's interns and equipment managers loading baggage while he waited for takeoff, when he saw something that ... well, let's not overstate it. It wasn't an epiphany, Hollins says, not a eureka moment that pivoted his career toward stardom.

 

But it was a reaffirmation of an NBA truth that gave him surprising confidence about his own still-embryonic pro career. As he watched the team's lowest-paid employees handle the grunt work of a road trip, Hollins noticed a familiar face among the baggage-handlers: Larry Brown, the Bobcats' head coach.

 

"You'd think a Hall of Fame coach, a guy who's accomplished everything he has, would just relax, but he's down there working hard with those guys," Hollins said. "I see that and I think, 'How can I sit back when he's doing stuff like that? How can I work any less?'"

 

That's the power of example, the force that has gradually turned a spindly 7-footer who once was as heralded for his track skills as basketball prowess into a potentially potent NBA center. And it's the force that Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis, coincidentally enough, hopes Hollins can exert on his teammates.

 

"He's showing all of our big guys how effective they can be when they run the floor, how you get easy scoring opportunities," Rambis said after inserting the four-year veteran into the Wolves' starting lineup. "Al [Jefferson] and Kevin [Love], they see that, it'll drive them to get up the floor as well."

That energy has helped Hollins make an impact beyond what Rambis was expecting when he made the move. Hollins responded to his new starting role with two of the top three scoring games of his career, putting up a career-high 19 points against the Clippers last Friday, then following with 16 against the Knicks.

 

"He's got a lot of potential in him, with his athleticism and his length," Rambis said. "He's still just very raw."

 

That lack of refinement is the reason he slipped to 50th in the 2006 draft, where Charlotte grabbed him in the second round. Hollins was a defensive specialist for UCLA's national runner-up, even posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the championship-game loss to Florida (and current teammate Corey Brewer), but scouts wondered if he was too scrawny to fight for NBA rebounds.

 

"He's stronger than people think," said Love. "He's a pretty skinny guy, but his upper body, he's got some size there."

 

Hollins' real big-league talent, however, is athleticism. In high school, he finished third in California's state meet in the triple jump, and as a UCLA freshman, he cleared his own height in the high jump -- 7 feet, ¼ inch.

 

"He's unusual for a big man in how well he runs, how quick he is on his feet," Rambis said. "Those are qualities that can make him difficult to defend."

 

Those are qualities that can be difficult to develop at this level, too. Hollins languished on Charlotte's bench for more than two seasons, never averaging even 10 minutes a game. But it wasn't time wasted, Hollins said, particularly when Brown arrived in the summer of 2008.

"He helped me so much. He's a tough guy, but as much as he gets on you, as much as he fusses, as much as you might hate him one day, his knowledge just rubs off on you," Hollins said. "I looked at those years as a path to growth."

 

Brown, though, traded Hollins to Dallas last January, seeking a better fit in DeSagana Diop for his slow-it-down style. Hollins, chafing after more than two seasons of inactivity, felt unleashed.

"It was a great experience. [Point guard] Jason Kidd was an ideal match for me," Hollins said of his five months in Dallas, which included nine games (and 22 points in 84 minutes) of postseason play. "I got to run with those guys, and I got some playoff experience."

 

He'll return to American Airlines Center tonight for the first time since leaving Dallas as a free agent, and he'll face Brown and the Bobcats for the first time since the trade next week. But reunions aren't what Hollins is looking forward to most.

 

"Just playing this way, running the floor, I'm enjoying it. ... I'm happy if I can give us a spark," Hollins said. "If I can put pressure on the other [team's] big, get into his mind, make him think, 'I've got to get back, this guy's sprinting on me' -- most guys don't want to do that. That's what I can do to help us win."