If Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley's office walls could talk ...

The small entry way to coach Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State office doubles as an entry way to his basketball past. On one side hangs Hurley’s framed No. 11 Duke jersey. On the other, his No. 7 Sacramento Kings jersey. Both are there for one reason: to grab attention.

“It’s mainly to get that initial pop with the NBA, and then all I accomplished at Duke, winning the championships,” Hurley says. “I want to highlight that.”

A coach’s office is not just a place to evaluate video or conduct staff meetings. It’s also a place to host recruits and impress parents. Some coaches can showcase championship nets or trophies, but ASU doesn’t have such a luxury. What it does have is a coach who has experienced basketball at the highest level. A two-time national champion. College basketball’s career assists leader. An NBA first-round draft pick.

It’s effective all the same.

Nearly everything Hurley hangs or displays has a story behind it. Some photos have sentimental value. Most showcase the best moments of his basketball career. He’s got so much stuff that three items — two protected in plastic — lean against a wall. Putting them up means something has to come down, and Hurley still hasn’t made a decision. What misses the cut returns to his home in Scottsdale.

During a recent conversation, Hurley explained the significance of everything he’s displayed. The jerseys, the photos, the illustrations. At times, it was as if the walls could talk.

In the corner, near a private bathroom, hangs the last jersey Hurley wore during a five-year NBA career that was cut short by a car accident that nearly ended his life. Hurley played in only 27 games for the Vancouver Grizzlies, who later relocated to Memphis, but he enjoyed his time there. The city was cool, the people appreciated basketball, and he liked his coach, Brian Hill.

Eleven always has been Hurley’s number, but when he got to the NBA he had no luck with it. In Sacramento, the jersey number — worn by Hall of Famer Bobby Davies — was retired. Hurley instead shifted to No. 7 since he was the seventh pick of the 1993 draft. “I thought the luck I had with 11 would transfer to 7, but it didn’t work out,” Hurley says. In Vancouver, former Arkansas guard Lee Mayberry already had 11, so Hurley took 12 without trying to negotiate, as some pros do.

To the right of the jersey, on the other side of the bathroom, hangs a photo from Hurley’s Duke days.

“Wait,” he says, “let’s go over here first.”

Hurley, 47, walks behind his desk to a photo displayed beside his office phone. It’s from the 1992 NCAA Tournament. A regional semifinal contest from Philadelphia. Duke vs. Seton Hall. Hurley is pictured defending a familiar person — his brother Dan.

“We struggled to get through it, but obviously, we’re really close,” Hurley says. “I kind of like reflecting back on that, a reminder of the playing days, he and I growing up.”

Across the country, Dan Hurley — in his first season as coach at Connecticut — has the same photo on his desk. Looking back, both Hurley brothers said the contest was difficult. For Bobby, he always had tried to find an edge or grudge to use against his opponent, something that could drive him. He couldn’t do that against his brother.

For Dan, who was just trying to find his way at Seton Hall, it was just the experience of going against his popular brother, the engine of the defending national champions. He had wanted to talk with Bobby more leading up to the game, but this was before cellphones and social media, and it just wasn’t easy to do.

“I probably was averaging like 11 minutes per game, freshman year, and I got thrust into this matchup against Bobby, Grant Hill and Christian Laettner?” Dan Hurley said by phone. “I was like the eighth or ninth man on the team, and all of a sudden I got Lesley Visser (wanting to talk to me) and I’m like one of the top two storylines of the game. And I’m playing against maybe the greatest college point guard of all time, who’s my older brother. Just to be out there, it was nerve-wracking as shit.”

Next to the photo, Hurley has the basketball from last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance, his first with the ASU program. His family pictures also are here, one taken with his son April 9, 2015, the day he was hired. There’s another of the whole family from the day Hurley was inducted into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame.

There’s also a book — Bob Knight’s “The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results.” Hurley read it years ago. He has highlighted certain parts and returns to it from time to time. It’s one of just a few books on the shelf.

“I love this book,” Hurley says. “He’s a West Point guy so there’s a lot of references to the military. Everyone wants to think positive (and hope) the best thing is going to happen, but you should probably prepare for the worst thing. That’s the way he looked at this.”

Hurley doesn’t know Knight well, but he talked with him while shooting “Blue Chips” shortly after his college career. (In the film, Knight actually coached Hurley on a fictional Indiana team that lost to Western University.)

“I had a couple good conversations with him there,” Hurley says. “Very impressive guy, very intimidating guy. He kind of reminded me of my dad, just with the presence he had.”

OK, back to the Duke photo. Hurley has just released a textbook jumper against Michigan in the 1992 national title game in Minneapolis. Wolverines guard Jalen Rose is lazily contesting. Teammate Rob Pelinka is looking for someone to block out and Michigan coach Steve Fisher stands in the background, hands on his waist.

(Funny story: Before he became general manager of the Lakers, Pelinka represented former ASU star James Harden. During Hurley’s first year, Pelinka accompanied Harden to Tempe for an ESPN shoot. While there, he went upstairs to Hurley’s office to say hello and was surprised to see himself on the ASU coach’s wall.)

“This is just more for our players and recruits, playing in those types of games,” Hurley says. “They come in here and they might peek at it and hope to get there at some point.”

There’s something else.

“I always joke with the guys about my jumping ability,” Hurley says, “so this is kind of proof that I could jump.”

That begs the question: Could the 6-foot Hurley ever dunk?

“I’ve dunked in like lay-up lines and pick-up games, but I would never try it in a game because it was going to be like 75-25 I’d miss,” he says.

Told this a few days later, Zylan Cheatham wasn’t buying it — “That sounds like BS,” the senior forward said — but Dan Hurley has his brother’s back.

“I think — and I’m not 110 percent sure — but in the bingo hall where we used to practice (in high school) he used to dunk all the time but everyone could dunk in there because the one rim across the stage was like 9-foot-9,” Dan said. “I know he used to dunk in there. I think he probably dunked in like a two-line lay-up, but definitely never in a game. No way.”

To the right of a flat-screen television, two large frames and an illustration lean against the wall. They’re among the most eye-catching pieces in the office, but Hurley has not yet found a place for them.

The first is a painting of Mike Krzyzewski, who is huddled with the Blue Devils during a timeout. The players around him all have had their jersey numbers retired — Danny Ferry, Shane Battier, Jay Williams, J.J. Redick, Johnny Dawkins, Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Shelden Williams and Bobby Hurley.

“I just got this framed recently,” Hurley says. “I had it in a tube. My wife was going through a lot of bins, figuring stuff out and that’s where this one circulated. It’s really cool. The details are very good.”

The piece — titled “903 & Kounting” — was created by a Texas-based sports artist named Jason Robichau. Not only does it feature the Duke legends, but in the background is the team photo of every team Krzyzewski has coached, dating to his days at West Point. From start to finish, Robichau completed the project in about six months, half spent on research, half spent on painting. Coach K has the original. Robichau presented this one to Hurley two years ago when the Sun Devils played in The Pros Invitational near Orlando.

“It’s one of the favorite paintings I’ve done just because of how complicated it was to try and create,” Robichau said by phone. “And Bobby has prime position in it, too.”

Although Robichau was a Hurley fan, that part is a coincidence.

“Actually, Bobby Hurley’s teams was a reason I became a Duke fan,” Robichau said. “Bobby was kind of undersized, not the most athletic, but, man, he played hard. And he was just a winner. That shot he hit against UNLV to get them into the (1991 national championship) after being blown out the year before, that was pretty clutch.”

Beside the Duke illustration is Hurley’s McDonald’s All-America jersey. For years, Hurley thought this was lost, gone forever. But like the Duke illustration, his wife recently found it. Because of its recruiting appeal — “that’s something all high school guys want to be a part of” — Hurley had it framed and brought it to his office. It was a significant moment in his career.

Hurley played in the 1989 McDonald’s game, held in Kansas City. Slowed with a hamstring issue, he came off the bench and dished 10 assists, sharing game MVP honors with his roommate for the week, Shaquille O’Neal.

“We had a good time, Shaq’s got a lot of jokes,” says Hurley, adding that Shaq spent much of the week studying for the SAT. “He’s a fun-loving guy. I took a charge on him in that game, though. He had a full-head of steam. That was a questionable decision on my part.”

The third item waiting for placement is an adidas illustration of James Harden. The reason with this is fairly obvious, Hurley says. At ASU, you can never have enough Harden on display.

The last section of wall is the most popular, and for obvious reasons. First, there’s a photo of Hurley shaking hands with then-NBA Commissioner David Stern on the night he was drafted.

“This is a key one when you’re talking to recruits,” Hurley says. “You could let them know,  I’ve kind of walked down their path and that’s where we hope it leads you some day. A lot of work goes into it, but I kind of know how to get there.”

There also are photos of Hurley from his days on the USA developmental squad that practiced against the original Dream Team near San Diego. In one, he sits with his arm around Michael Jordan. In another, he stands beside Magic Johnson. (Truth be told, Hurley preferred Larry Bird’s Celtics over Magic’s Lakers.)

“That was an unbelievable week with the Dream Team,” Hurley says. “I have great stories just about that week with the practices and scrimmage. Maybe not always the recruit, but a coach or a dad likes hearing about that. They did a documentary about that Dream Team and some of our footage was in there. We played a role.”

But the black-and-white photo below Magic might have more meaning. It’s Hurley on his Senior Day at Duke, hugging Coach K as he walks off the court for the final time at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Behind the bench, fans are delivering a standing ovation.

“Coach K meant so much to me,” Hurley says. “I couldn’t have made a better decision. And the whole staff, too.”

He points at an assistant sitting just behind Coach K, elbows on knees, looking out onto the court.

“Here’s Pete Gaudet,” Hurley says. “He’d be the guy after practice, I’d hear him yell, ‘Hey, Hurley, come on, let’s go!’ And maybe I didn’t want to work anymore that day or I wouldn’t do it and he’d tell me to.”

Today, Gaudet brushes aside Hurley’s praise. In a phone interview, the retired coach says he was just doing his job. He pushed Hill and Laettner just as hard. Some, of course, were easier to push than others.

“Coach K used to have a huddle after each practice, and this was before Bobby but it was the kind of thing that continued with him,” Gaudet said. “Coach K’s (saying) get your hands in here, ‘1-2-3 — WIN!’ And all of a sudden this kid’s head pops out, and he looks at me and says, ‘We got that basket, right?’ You get rewarded in coaching in a number of different ways, and that’s kind of a reward.”

The one thing this office lacks: A major ASU historical presence, and that bothers Hurley. Behind his desk, he has a photo of departed seniors Tra Holder, Shannon Evans and Kodi Justice. All three sit on the bench near the end of last season’s win over Xavier, the first of two major non-conference wins that elevated the program.

“These three, they have a special place with me,” Hurley says.

Closer to the door, just under the Jordan photo, last season’s team poses on a tractor outside the Weatherup Center. In addition, on a table across the room, next to a signed basketball from college rival Kenny Anderson, sits the trophy from last season’s Continental Tire Invitational championship.

Those were good times, but Hurley, entering his fourth season in Tempe, wants more. And as they come, his office will change.

“It’s kind of a history of what I’ve done and a reminder to both our players and recruits of what you’re capable of doing,” Hurley says of his space. “But it’s my goal to eliminate most of this stuff in the very near future and replace it with the best moments of what my players are doing in the NCAA Tournament. I want this stuff to be gone soon. That’s what I hope.”

(Top photo of Hurley’s office by Doug Haller / The Athletic; other photos courtesy Bobby Hurley)