Ross McMains
# Ross McMains

Fraser Ross McMains is an American-born New Zealand basketball coach. He is currently a player development coach with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

## Early life and career

McMains was born in New Hampshire in the United States before growing up in New Zealand on Waiheke Island. He attended Kadimah College in Auckland, having to take the boat to school every day. He returned to the U.S. at age 11 when his family moved to Santa Barbara. There he went to Santa Barbara High School. After high school, he returned to New Zealand and got a job working with the New Zealand Breakers organisation in 2007. A year or so later, he returned to the U.S. and started in player development, working with a mix of pro players in Los Angeles. That led to an opportunity to work with players in Latvia, France, and China. He also ran NBA Pre-Draft Preparation for two years in Santa Barbara, while also running off-season workouts for a selection of NBA and international players. During this time, he studied at Santa Monica College (2008–10) and John Cabot University (2011) in Rome, Italy. He was exposed to European basketball while in Rome.

## Coaching career

McMains' coaching career began as a special assistant – a role that saw him focus on player development – with the Sacramento Kings for the 2012–13 NBA season, before spending the next two seasons with Sacramento's D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns. He returned to New Zealand in 2015 and was named assistant coach for the New Zealand Tall Blacks. He went on to win the NZNBL Coach of the Year as head coach of the Taranaki Mountainairs in 2016. From there, he returned to the United States and spent two seasons in the NBA G League as an assistant coach with the Santa Cruz Warriors and Westchester Knicks, before joining the New York Knicks for the 2018–19 season as head video coordinator.

In August 2019, McMains was appointed an assistant coach with Melbourne United of the Australian NBL. He parted ways with Melbourne in August 2020.

In May 2021, McMains was appointed an assistant coach with the Louisville Cardinals men's college basketball team.

For the 2022–23 season, McMains served as the associate head coach of the Maine Red Claws of the NBA G League.

For the 2023–24 season, McMains joined the Boston Celtics in a player development role.

As of July 2023, McMains was still an assistant coach for the New Zealand Tall Blacks.

