He has been the second set of eyes for the coach. The voice of reason when the situations have got, well, emotional.
He has been the perfect No 2 for more than a decade and wants to stay on the bench for a little longer.
The 51-year-old Dunedin senior sergeant has just returned from a Basketball Without Boarders camp in Melbourne and is fizzing with new ideas.
The camp brought together the top 45 boys from the Asian region, including six from New Zealand, to compete against their peers and train under NBA players and coaches.
Briggs was invited to attend in his capacity as the Junior Tall Blacks' assistant coach, a role he has held for two years, and said the experience was thoroughly worthwhile and very inspiring.
Among the impressive cast attending the camp was 10-time NBA All Star David Robinson and former San Antonio Spurs small forward Bruce Bowen.
"It was very much a case of rubbing shoulders with some of the greats of the NBA, listening and watching and being able to talk to them and everything else,'' Briggs said.
"I was actually able to see coaching at the highest possible level with the NBA coaches you had there. It just provided a great opportunity and a wonderful learning experience. Seeing NBA players was just unbelievable.''
Briggs served a long apprenticeship in the National Basketball League. He manned the sidelines for the Otago Nuggets as the assistant coach for a whopping nine seasons.
He got his start under Bernd Kupka in 2005 and continued in the role when Australian Rick Castle and American Don Sims led the team.
The Nuggets pulled out of the league in 2009 but returned in 2010 under coach Alf Arlidge.
Briggs returned as well and remained the assistant until the team folded following the 2014 season, when Basketball Otago got into financial difficulty. Including Mark Dickel, who led the team in 2014, Briggs worked under five coaches at the franchise.
His contribution was not limited to his efforts courtside. He has been on the board of Basketball Otago and was instrumental in helping the Nuggets get back into the league when the franchise pulled out in 2009.
He has been a tireless servant and happy to take the back seat. But Briggs has had success in the top job as well. He guided the Otago under-17 team to a national title in 2013 and the following season led Otago Boys' High School to victory at the national secondary school championships.
"Basketball has always been the second part of my life because I'm in paid employment and everything else,'' Briggs said when asked if he was ambitious about his coaching.
"I love it and I am ambitious and want to coach at the highest level, it is just the practicalities [holding me back]. But if I can continue with the Junior Tall Blacks for the next couple or three years then that would be fantastic.''
The 2014 national secondary school final was memorable for a powerhouse performance from Sam Timmins. He drained 26 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in the 74-69 win over the defending champion, Westlake Boys' High School.
Timmins has since accepted a scholarship with the University of Washington and is playing for the Huskies.
Briggs said it was nice to have had a small hand in Timmins' career.
"I think he will go far, but that first year in college is important because there are so many other talented kids out there.''
