Smokin Aces talks about his team and his clothing line
Brian Kortovich, more popularly known as Smokin Aces, is not so used to being on the sideline. In fact, in recent summers, you would not have to look too far to find him — you just had to keep your eyes behind the 3-point arc.
In his first time playing in New York City at Rucker Park in 2011, the 3-point shooting specialist went for 40 points one night. After that, EJ the Mayor and Hannibal were forced to change his nickname
“It went from Nick Lachey to Smokin Aces over night,” he said with a laugh.
Kortovich is on the other side of the ball this year. He is a first year coach of Team Hillsong, sidelined by a leg injury. The leg is fine now, but Kortovich said he has basketball tryouts coming up, so he did not want to risk anything. As rookie coach, Smokin Aces has seen his team have its ups and down, and more up as of late. The squad lost its first three games, two by a slim margin to Primetime and Madoff, and the other in a blowout to TNP. They put together a win over “Each One, Teach One,” the only winless team in the league, on July 16th to finally tick a 1 in the win column. After losing a very close game to Team Montana last week, Hillsong came out in Thursday night’s contest with energy. It paid off as they beat the Bingo Allstars, a team Kortovich said brought more skill to the table, by a slim three points in overtime.
“I told them hard work beats talent when talent is not working,” Aces said.
One thing that has been different with the Hillsong squad than most EBC teams is consistency. Aside from a few players, Kortovich has suited up a whole new squad in each of the games his team has played. He admitted that a lot of his players have been at summer league or NBA camps, which pevented them from having a set core of guys on the floor each night, and evidently from winning a lot of games.
“Guys need to play with each other,” he said. “You look at Bingo and Sean Bell, all of the guys have the same people.”
Off of the basketball court, Kortovich is a philanthropist. He started his own clothing line in 2013 named “Aces in Action,” a spin off of the nickname he received at Rucker. This is not just any brand of clothes. A majority of the proceeds from each purchase (of the hats, shirts, socks, etc) go to the Jimmy V. Foundation for cancer research.
“I lost a lot of people in my family to cancer,” Kortovich admitted.
You can find Aces all over Rucker, as Kortovich promotes his brand by giving out hats to popular figures at the park like EJ and Hannibal. He also always wears an item or two from his brand while coaching Hillsong. Yet fans who watched Smokin Aces in action would probably rather see him in uniform. The 2012 scoring champion promised he’ll be playing soon.
“Next summer I’ll be back ready to go again,” he said.
[…] Brian Kortovich, more popularly known as Smokin Aces, is not so used to being on the sideline. In fact, in recent summers, you would not have to look too far to find him — you just had to keep your eyes behind the 3-point arc. […]