Tribune reporter Ross Siler and I spent some time with Utah Flash assistant coach Mark Madsen the other week during the NBA D-League Showcase in Boise, Idaho. A member of two Los Angeles Lakers championship teams in 2001 and 2002, Madsen was willing to start climbing the coaching ranks from one of the lowest rungs imaginable, a league in which top players make $25,500 and assistant coaches about the same.

You can read Siler’s story HERE.