Murdock starts at bottom

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Eric Murdock knows plenty about cockiness, the type of brashness that had him offering a throat-slitting gesture during the height of the Miami Heat-New York Knicks playoff rivalry in the late ‘90s.

But he also appreciates the necessity of humility.

That is why he is here, at the NBA’s predraft scouting camp, the lowest possible step of the pro coaching ladder.

Murdock is the former Heat backup point guard who matched the cut-throat gesture of the Knicks’ Chris Childs during the 1998 playoffs.

He was a Tim Hardaway backup with a Hardaway feistiness. But he was gone after one year. First seduced by the free-agent market, then felled by a knee injury. By 2000, he was out of the NBA at 32.

“I had a severe knee injury with the Clippers and I tried to play with it all year, and it didn’t get better,” he said. “And after that, I was trying to chase, chase, chase.”

He landed a coaching job at The Pingry School, a small college preparatory school in Elizabeth, N.J.

Realizing he wanted more, Murdock, 38, sent a letter to the Heat’s Pat Riley.

“The only letter I wrote was to Coach Riley, because, by far, he was the greatest coach I ever played for,” said Murdock, who also was coached by Jerry Sloan, Mike Dunleavy and Dick Motta. “I just knew he was the one guy I really wanted to learn from and get some advice as far as going through the coaching ranks.”

The two visited after the Heat’s Feb. 28 game in Washington.

“He’s shown great enthusiasm,” Riley said.

Murdock applied for one of six coaching positions reserved for aspiring former players at this week’s camp.

What followed was a coaching summit run by former NBA coaches Doug Collins and Kevin O’Neill.

“He was one of the best there,” NBA vice president Stu Jackson said.

Part of the tryout required Murdock to design a transition play he would teach at this week’s camp. He also had to submit a drill he would run.

He derived both from the Heat playbook.

“My NBA days,” he said, “I relate them to the Heat season, that one season.”

While appreciative of Riley’s support, he said he was not surprised, even though he ditched the Heat in 1998 in favor of a free-agent contract with his home-state New Jersey Nets, in order to be closer to an ailing grandmother.

“There’s this misconception that he doesn’t care about the little people,” Murdock said. “He took the time to contact me. He also wrote a letter to let everybody know I’m around.”

Riley, who is making a similar effort on behalf of former Heat forward Mark Strickland, said he appreciates Murdock’s humility.

“He knows there’s only one way in, starting at the bottom with hard work and determination,” Riley said.