Sometimes, during one of his high school or AAU games, Siyani Chambers would take a quick glance up at the bleachers, see Harvard basketball coach Tommy Amaker, and wonder whether Amaker had anything better to do.

“He would come to the games that didn’t really matter,” Chambers said. “Like at 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock in the morning. He was there, the only one there, just sitting there reading his newspaper and watching the games.