Knowing my affinity for big white scrubs (Luke Schenscher and Les Jepsen among them), my biggest accomplishment is probably meeting Paul Mokeski. This Summer, upon learning I was getting the chance to intern for the Vegas Summer League, I called former Wizards coach Dean Martin to see if he could find a good cheap hotel for me close to UNLV, as I didn't really want to pay too much to go down and watch a bunch of D-Leaguers play basketball. After finding out that there wasn't too much available that was cheap and nice, I told him I'd just stay at the Candlewood, which wasn't very close and didn't have a very good rating. The plus side, I could stay there for $29 a night, since I was a manager at the Holiday Inn Express and were under the same brand. Fortunately, I found out that we wouldn't have to pay for our hotel rooms and would be staying at the Wyndham with a couple roommates.
Fast forward a couple weeks, to my first day in Vegas, and I get a text from Martin asking if I could still get a good deal on an employee room down in Vegas. Assuming I could, but not having the employee card with me, I told him I'd have to call him back. Since the Candlewood was certifiably ghetto, they were fine with me not checking in, not having my employee card or anything else. This was helpful, so I booked a room for the week under my name and called Martin back the next morning to let him know we were set. Later that day, when Martin texted me and let me know he was at the gym, I went over to meet him. He was with Dean Murray, former assistant for the Anaheim Arsenal, and Paul Mokeski, former journeyman 7-footer who played 12 seasons in the NBA with six different teams, averaging 4 points and 3.4 boards a game.
The guys I had locked up the hotel room for were Murray and Mokeski. I knew who Murray was due to my vast knowledge of the D-League, but didn't know too much about Mokeski other than that the name sounded familiar. Upon going home and Googling him to find out why I would have heard of him, I found the above photoshopped picture that summed up everything. I also learned that he's had numerous run-in's with the law. First in 1987 with the late great Dennis Johnson and fellow BSWG (Big Stiff White Guy) Jack Sikma where they were questioned about giving gambling tips to people as well as using cocaine. Though they were never charged, Mokeski gave us reason to believe recently that the rumors were true.
In 2000 he was set to coach the Kansas City Knights in the ABA, but two months after being hired, he was fired after being charged with cocaine possession in Milwaukee. He later pleaded no contest. The Dallas Mavericks then hired him as a scout as well as working in player development. For the 2006-2007 season, he was the assistant coach for the Fort Worth Flyers, where he coached Luke Schenscher, among others. Last season, he was an assistant of Sam Vincent's, though when Vincent was fired and Larry Brown brought in, Mokeski was apparently let go. I hope he gets on with a team now though, as I'd attest to him no longer using, as well as for my personal benefits: I'm looking for a job, and having contacts are always helpful. Really though, both he and Murray seem to be good guys that'd be fun to hang out with.
Anyway, to finish my Mokeski in Vegas story. A few days after I had hooked M&M up at the Candlewood, I texted Murray to see what they were up to one night, wanting to show my buddy JRose how cool I was, hooking up a former NBA legend (kind of). Murray told us to meet them at Terrible's. I had never heard of Terrible's, but upon asking around, we learned that they had $5 blackjack. Five-dollar Blackjack in Vegas, Wow!
We met up with them after spending about $30 dollars getting from one end of the strip over to Terribles, which, as you may have guessed, isn't on the strip. Upon arriving, we couldn't find them, though I'm not sure how, as Terrible's gaming area isn't much larger than the Bismarck Comfort Inn's gaming area. We did however, find a lot of other cool people, mostly probably homeless, and one guy at the craps table with a grill in and wearing a Darius Miles Cav's jersey (Assume it actually was D-Miles, but not sure).
Once we found them, we played $5 blackjack with the scariest dealer I've ever played with. I think I lost about 50, JRose won about 50, but it was fun. Plus, everytime I got blackjack, they paid in 50-cent pieces, so I did have about 8 dollars of them in my pocket at the end of the night. Not sure how Mokeski and Murray did, I think left early that night, but I'm not 100% sure, as free Corona's and my first night out in Vegas didn't really help my memory.
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