The greatest feet that a professional
athlete can bring in their career is to be great in their sport and use that
greatness to make a major impact on the lives of those who love seeing them
away from their sport. The best example of this was the latest guest on the
latest edition of NBATV’s “#NBATogether with Ernie Johnson,” who had an amazing
career on the hardwood, which led to him being named a Hall of Famer twice and
gave back to the community where he played his entire NBA career, just like he
gave back to the country he served before coming to the NBA.
Via video chat, NBA on TNT studio host and
lead host of “Inside the NBA” on TNT Ernie Johnson interviewed Hall of Famer,
1995 Kia MVP 10-time All-Star selection, 10-time All-NBA selection and eight
time NBA All-Defensive selection David Robinson, who spent his entire 14-year
career with the San Antonio Spurs, who he helped lead to two of their five NBA
titles in franchise history.
This high level of accomplishment “the Admiral”
had individually and what he did for the Spurs was planted in him from an early
age.
The 1992 Kia Defensive Player of the Year
told Johnson about a story he wrote for “The Player’s Tribune” where he talked
about how his grandfather, who grew up in Little Rock, AK in the segregated
South of the U.S. in the 1950s worked the same job and for the same people for
five decades, without a promotion and how he saved money to purchase a piano.
It was more about just having the funds to
purchase a piano but how the piano brought the family together.
That meaning of family and wanting to be
better than his circumstances at that time was also true for Robinson’s father
Ambrose who was one of nine African American kids asked to attend Central High
School, moving from Horace Mann Magnet High School, which Mr. Robinson, Sr.
said no to.
“To me, growing up, going to Little Rock
and seeing all of my family that was there and seeing the impact it had on my
family made me want to change things,” Robinson said. “It made me want to go get
my education. And you know, when you can’t go to the best high school in town
because your black.”
“There were places where my uncle played and
that my grandfather couldn’t go and watch him play. So, that was all a part of
my growing up. It was a part of kind of how I understand the world. And that’s
why education has been a big focus for me because I know it can change your
life. I know it can change your family’s life because it has changed our family’s
in just two generations.”
It is something that Robinson and former
Goldman Sachs employee Daniel Bassichis has been trying to convince families of
what a great education can do for their kids as the founders of the Carver
Academy, founded in 2001.
The Carver Academy named for George
Washington Carver is a non-profit private school that has provided opportunities
for the inner-city kids of the “Alamo City.” The school in 2012 became a public
charter school and changed its name to IDEA Carver.
Robinson and Bassichis, a board member of
The Carver Academy also partnered to form Admiral Capital Group, a private
equity firm where the mission is to make investments in opportunities to
provide both financial and social returns. Robinson said that his primary
motivation in starting Admiral Capital was to create a way to provide
additional financial support for The Caver Academy.
That importance of understanding what a
great education meant is what drove Robinson to have success during his academic
life graduating from Osbourne Park High School in Manassas, VA in 1983, where
he scored an astonishing 1,320 on the Scholastic Assessment Test.
Robinson continued his educational journey
attending the U.S. Naval Academy, where he majored in mathematics and played
basketball for the Midshipmen, where he chose the jersey No. 50 after his idol
Ralph Sampson.
In his collegiate career at Navy, Robinson’s
resume consisted of him being named the USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year
in 1986. A three-time Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Men’s Basketball
Player of the Year recipient from 1985-87. Being named the National College
Player of the Year and getting selected as a Consensus First-Team All-American
in 1987, which follows earning Consensus Second-Team All-American honors in
1986.
In the 1987 NBA Draft, Robinson was
selected No. 1 overall by the Spurs after graduating from the Naval Academy, but
did not join the Spurs until the 1989-90 NBA season because he had to finish
his service commitment where he was a civil engineering officer at the Naval
Submarine Base Kings Bay in southeastern Georgia.
Robinson was not present at the then Felt
Forum, now the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York, NY for the draft,
which was broadcasted on TBS Superstation 33 years ago, hosted by then
play-by-play commentator for Turner Sports Bob Neal. There was a piece ran in
which a 21-year-old Robinson reflected on how basketball had not taken an
immediate hold on his life.
“I’m to the point where I really enjoy it
a lot,” Robinson, who was dawning a white dress shirt and black tie, and a
sweater with Navy symbol, a capital N said then about the game of basketball. “I
spend a lot of my free time doing it. That’s because I’m starting to love the game.
But I think I did approach it in the right way. I mean, I wasn’t swamped with
basketball right away. So, I gradually learned to like it a little bit more, a
little bit more. And now, I’m pretty much consumed with it.”
A big part of Robinson’s success with the
Spurs is that he experience with the Navy helped him see the world how current head
coach of the now five-time NBA champions Gregg Popovich, a 1970 graduate of the
Air Force Falcons sees it.
Robinson said that he and Popovich, who
served as an assistant for the Spurs on Hall of Famer Larry Brown’s staff from
1988-92 worked great together from “Day One” because how their backgrounds in
going to service academies as collegians shaped in how they approached
basketball. The way they handled their individual duties with the Spurs and how
they saw their roles in the San Antonio community.
“I like ‘Pop’ like, you know, my commanding
general,” Robinson said with a laugh to Johnson about the Spurs former General
Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations. “I respect the job he does.
He’s amazing. And I love ‘Pop’ for many different reasons but I see him and Tim
[Duncan] and it’s much more of a familial type of relationship, which is a lot
of fun to see and you see the different sides of ‘Pop.’”
The dynamic at the start between Robinson
and Tim Duncan, the Spurs No. 1 overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft was he said was
a “cooperative” one.
Robinson also said that Duncan when he
began with the Spurs was a “humble” guy, who made him feel like he was loud
because how quiet of an approach that Duncan had not just as a rookie but for
most of his 19-year career in the NBA all with the Spurs.
When it came to his work on the court,
Duncan in the words of Robinson at the start of the Wake Forest products career
was “incredible” and that playing with him was going to be “fun.”
“I didn’t think he was going to be better
than me,” Robinson said with a chuckle about how great Duncan became. “But I
certainly thought he was going to be really good.”
“So, I know, it was great. I just wanted
to help him. I wanted to teach him as much as I could. I wanted him to find his
strength and boy did he. I mean, he came in and within those first two or three
years, everybody knew he was going to be a Hall of Fame type player.”
This partnership as teammates was
beneficial for both Robinson and Duncan, and the Spurs because in the first
seven years of Robinson’s career, the Spurs reached the Western Conference Finals
once, which they lost in six games to the eventual back-to-back NBA champion Houston
Rockets and fellow Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, who thoroughly
outplayed Robinson in that series.
That season was the tail end of a two-year
period in which one of Robinson’s teammates was Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman,
who he said to Johnson that he “loved” having as a teammate.
“Truthfully, you know, Dennis, he’s off
the wall. I mean, there’s no question,” Robinson said. “Dennis is an unusual character.
But a freakish athlete. He loves to play basketball.”
“I mean, he does bring a lot of distractions
to the table. There’s no question. And part of that really hurt our team. We
weren’t a team that could deal with those type of distractions. The Bulls fortunately
were.”
Robinson gave credit to the Bulls and
Jordan and Pippen, and head coach Phil Jackson during their second three-peat
on how they had the kind of structure to handle the off court and sometimes on
court distractions that Rodman brought during his time with the Bulls and the
Spurs prior.
In the final seven seasons of Robinson’s
career with Duncan alongside him, the Spurs reached the Conference Finals three
times, breaking through and winning as mentioned two of the franchise’s five
Larry O’Brien trophies in 1999 over the New York Knicks and the then New
Jersey, now Brooklyn Nets in 2003 in five and six games respectably.
When Robinson retired after the Spurs
second title, the team was now in the hands of Duncan and with the help of
future Hall of Famers in Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and Coach Popovich lead
the Spurs to three more titles in 2005 over the Detroit Pistons in seven games;
in an four-game sweep over now Los Angeles Lakers four-time Kia MVP LeBron
James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007 and the James led Miami Heat in the
2014 Finals in five games.
Along the way, Duncan achieved great
individual success that was even better than Robinson being named 1998 Kia
Rookie of the Year; Kia MVP in 2002 and
2003; earning Finals MVP three times; 15 All-Star selections; 15-time All-NBA
selection, with 10 of those as an First-Team selection; and a 15-time NBA All-Defensive
selection.
“When you first come into the league, you
want to establish yourself. That’s what you spend your first couple of years doing,”
Robinson said. “Once you find out that, ‘Hey, I belong here, and I’m in a pretty
good place,’ winning is the only thing that matters.”
“I think for me, seeing Tim come in and
knowing that I had real help, which would give us a real chance to win a
championship, that was life changing right there.”
Robinson specifically remembers being a
part of the 1992 Dream Team that captured Gold in the Summer Olympics in
Barcelona that his teammates then in Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Scottie
Pippen, Larry Bird, and Earvin “Magic” Johnson and head coach in the late Chuck
Daly had won titles, and they made fun of the fact that fellow Hall of Famers Patrick
Ewing, Chris Mullin, Karl Malone, and Clyde Drexler for not reaching that NBA
mountain top.
Thanks to Duncan, Robinson became a part
of that elite group at the tail end of his career in 1999 and 2003.
During his time with the Dream Team 28
years ago this summer, while the likes of Jordan, Barkley, “Magic” Johnson and
Bird where having late night cigar and card games, Robinson said he would take
out his saxophone or keyboard that he brought with him and practicing playing
those instruments as he tried to better his all around himself.
The fondest memory of that experience
Robinson said was standing being on the medal podium and having their Gold
medals placed around their necks and thinking at that moment that it will go
down as one of the best moments in the history of the Summer Olympics because
this group of NBA players changed game of basketball on an international level.
Getting the chance to play with individuals and a coaching staff in Daly and
assistant in fellow Hall of Famers Duke University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Mike
Krzyzewski and Lenny Wilkens and former NBA head coach P.J. Carlesimo.
This moment Robinson also mentioned that
this moment will be one that his kids, which he and his wife of now 29 years Valerie
eventually had in sons David Jr., Corey and Justin and their entire family will
remember forever.
He did say though that winning a
championship does not make you a “better person” or “validate” you. What Robinson
did say what winning a title does is “codifies” all the work that you put in.
“You set a goal and it’s an amazing
achievement,” Robinson said about winning two NBA titles with the Spurs. “It’s
not an easy goal. It’s one of those big hairy audacious goals, right? So, you
set that goal, and there’s no guarantee that you’re to get there. But when you
do, when you do, there’s only a handful of teams. There’s a handful of individuals
that get to stand on that stage when that confetti’s going. It validates that
you have worked hard.”
What makes the moment of winning a championship
even sweeter is when it is your last moment of your NBA career, which was the
case for Robinson back in 2003.
Robinson said before the start of that
2002-03 title season, he had a talk with God about if this was going to be his
final NBA season. The end of that conversation had Robinson deciding that this
would be his swan song and move on to the second stage of his life.
“I felt like that was a confirmation from
the Lord just that it’s, you know, it’s the right thing. It’s the right way to
do it,” Robinson said about retiring after the 2002-03 season.
What really made Robinson one of the best
big men to ever play on the NBA hardwood was he knew what he was great at. He
was a tremendous scorer in the low post. A great rebounder, shot blocker, free
throw shooter and jumper shooter from 15 to 20 feet.
In his 14-year NBA career where he played
987 career regular season games and 123 career playoff games, Robinson made a
combined 26 of his 110 attempts from three-point range.
When asked by Johnson if he was playing in
today’s three-point happy era would he have to rectify his game to adapt to the
NBA era of this moment, he said “no” and feels that any player that is 6-foot-10
or taller that is trying to become more of a three-point shooter instead of focusing
on being a dominant low post scorer is minimizing how effective they could
become.
“If you’re 6-foot-10, 6-foot-11, 7-foot,
you’re going to play a longtime and you’re going to make most of your money
down there in that post,” Robinson said. “And you’re going to make it
rebounding. You’re going to make it defending. And it’s hard to do all that
stuff when you’re 25 feet away from the basket.”
Robinson also said that he feels today
that teams are more offensively focused as opposed to really being defensively
focused compared to the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Spurs teams led by Robinson and even
today under Coach Popovich have always believed that their success begins with their
focus on the defensive, and that at the offensive end having their wings be the
ones that shoot from three-point range most of the time and have the likes of perennial
All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge do their scoring from the mid-range and in
the paint.
“You got to start on the defensive end and
then on the offensive end make those guys work man. Punish them” Robinson said.
“If you’re bigger and stronger, go punish them down low.”
Going back to the 1988-89 season, the San
Antonio Spurs have only missed the playoffs twice. In both of those instances,
they managed to get the No. 1 overall pick selecting big man David Robinson
first in 1987 and then Tim Duncan a decade later. Those two were the
foundational pieces that helped the Spurs be a playoff perennial and then an
NBA champion with the arrival of Duncan.
In this era of teams tanking to get better,
the Spurs when they had their opportunity to turn things around in the NBA
Draft, they struck gold with not just getting the best basketball player but
they got the right person with the right frame of mind to build their team
around. They brought a level of skill that made the team better on the court
and brought an engagement to San Antonians where they became especially iconic
off the court.
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 5/30/2020 8 p.m. edition “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson:
David Robinson and Pascal Siakam;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_San_Antonio_Spurs_seasons;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Athletic_Association_Men%27s_Basketball_Player_of_the_Year;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_NBA_draft;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Submarine_Base_Kings_Bay;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Arts_and_Science_Magnet_Middle_School;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Popovich;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_men%27s_Olympic_basketball_team;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Duncan;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Robinson.
One of the biggest disappointments about
the NBA being put on pause because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic is
the not knowing how far the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors were going
to go. They were one of the league’s biggest surprises this season, particularly
after seeing their best player depart in free agency this past summer to head
home to California. One major reason for the Raptors being in position to
contend for supremacy in the Eastern Conference again is because of the play of
the latest guest on NBATV’s “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson.”
Via video Chat, Ernie Johnson, NBA on TNT
studio host and the lead host of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” interviewed Toronto
Raptors starting forward Pascal Siakam, who in just four seasons went from being
a G-Leaguer to being named the 2019 Kia Most Improved Player and a key player on
an NBA champion, and back in February earned his first All-Star selection.
That first All-Star selection for the No.
27 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft came as a result of increasing his production
from averages of 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 2018-19 to 23.6
points (leads Raptors), 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists so far this season before
the league shut down play on Mar. 11 because of the pandemic.
One thing specifically that helped Siakam’s
game go to the next level was becoming a more efficient three-point shooter,
where he went from barely attempting shots from that distance to taking them
consistently and then this season taking shots from three-point range and
knocking them down at a high clip.
To put this into context, Siakam has made
115 triples so far this season, at a solid 35.9 percent clip, compared to
making a combined 110 three-pointers in his first three seasons at clips of
14.3, 22.0 and 36.9 percent respectably those first three years.
How did Siakam improve his marksmanship
from distance? He told Johnson that one day after his exit meeting following
the Raptors getting swept in the postseason for the second straight year by the
then LeBron James led Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the Eastern Conference
Semifinals that he wanted to become a better shooter.
So, he got together with now Raptors head
coach Nick Nurse and Siakam did all types of form shooting while also putting
tape on the rim as something to focus on while Siakam attempted shots from distance.
Siakam also said that he took many three-point shots from the corners of the
half court in the summer of 2018.
“It was corner threes and form shooting,
and we did thousands of them,” Siakam said about how he became a better
three-point shooter. “I can’t really to how many.”
Siakam also said that he worked with that
summer with DaRico “Rico” Hines, who is now the player development coach for
the Sacramento Kings, where they shot perimeter shots every single morning
starting at either 6:30 or 7 a.m. for about two hours and played pickup in the
afternoon.
Like most of the league, Siakam is hoping
to have a chance to get back on the court and have the season resume as most of
the 30 teams in “The Association” have been able to return to their facilities,
on a restricted basis in the hopes of finishing the season in some fashion.
The man dubbed “Spicy P” told Johnson that
he has been working out at the Raptors’ practice facility, the OVO Athletic
Centre and has been pleased in how the team has done everything necessary to keep
the players and the limited number of staff who are there as safe as possible.
“I’ve been going to the gym now working
out and finding ways to just stay in shape,” Siakam said.
As far as when the 2019-20 NBA season will
resume, the NBA’s Board of Governors had their meeting at the start of this
weekend, and while there has not been a set date of when things will resume,
the idea is when there is a set date is reached, the respective teams and the
support staff would convene at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando,
FL.
The number of teams that will be in Orlando
also still has to be worked, with one scenario has the Top 8 teams from the
Eastern Conference and Western Conference coming and the season immediately
goes straight to the playoffs.
Two other competition scenarios being
kicked according to NBATV include bringing 20 teams to Orlando for group/stage
play or having 22 teams come to the home of Walt Disney World to have the close
the regular season consisting of games to determine seeding in the Eastern and
Western Conference. That would be followed by a play-in-tournament for final
seeding.
The other option would be all 30 teams
coming to Orlando and having the season conclude at 72 games and having a play
in tourney.
That decision, which will ultimately be
made by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will effect on whether teams within striking
distance of the No. 8 spot and final playoff spot in the respective conferences
like the Washington Wizards (24-40), who are 5.5 games behind the Orlando Magic
(30-35) for the last spot in the East and the Portland Trail Blazers (29-37),
New Orleans Pelicans (28-36), and the Sacramento Kings (28-36), who are each
3.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies (32-33) for the No. 8 and final playoff
spot in the West have a chance to compete to continue play this season.
No matter what decision is made, the
Raptors (46-18), who are currently the No. 2 Seed in East will be there and all
the playoffs teams currently say they want to get back to action and play this
season out to crown a champion.
The question remains though what
assurances will be made to make the players comfortable enough to return to play?
“At this point right now, everybody wants
to play. I mean, I think most people want to play. I don’t know if everyone
want to play. But most people want to play” Siakam said. “But at the same time,
everyone’s kind of like—it’s about safety. I don’t think it’s gonna be, you
know, 100 percent safe. I feel like there’s always going to be risk. But you
know, the lowest rates possible.”
Risk and taking a chance on yourself is
nothing new for Siakam, particularly when it comes to his journey to the NBA.
Siakam’s three older brothers Boris,
Christian, and James all played Division I collegiate basketball respectably with
Boris doing it at Western Kentucky University, Christian at Indiana University-Purdue
University (IUPUI) and James at Vanderbilt University. But it was Pascal who managed
to go on to the NBA getting drafted as mentioned No. 27 overall by the Raptors
after playing two years at New Mexico State from 2014-16.
What is so ironic about Pascal making it
to the league is that he did not like basketball as much as his older siblings
did.
“I ask myself that question all the time
because its like I don’t know how it’s possible,” Siakam said. “They kind of
put more time in earlier than I did. So, you kind of would expect them to be at
a much higher level. But I don’t know. It just happened.”
“I felt like it was destiny. It was
something that supposed to happen. And now matter how, you know, I fought it,
it was always like this is destiny. This is what you’re going to end up doing
and at some point, you know, you can’t keep fighting destiny.”
A big part of that destiny was being discovered
at a local basketball camp of fellow Cameroonian and former NBA forward Luc
Mbah a Moute in 2011, and returned to the camp the following year after being
selected to attend the NBA’s instructional camp in conjunction with FIBA Basketball
Without Borders.
It was here he met his future teammate
with the Raptors in another Cameroonian Serge Ibaka, who he won a title with
last season and Raptors President Masai Ujiri, who called after seeing the
athletic prowess and very-high energy level Siakam played with was “memorable.”
Siakam said to Johnson about a picture he
and Ibaka took at that camp, which he posted on his Instagram @pskills43 that
he did not know who Ibaka was and the only reason he took a photo with him
because that was what everyone else was doing, which irks Ibaka at times when
Siakam brings the story up.
When asked about by Johnson about his
friendship with another Cameroonian in two-time All-Star center Joel Embiid of
the Philadelphia 76ers, Siakam said it was a “good” one that is also one of “pride”
when they play each other.
“We never imagined this man,” Siakam said
about him and Embiid making it to the NBA. “I don’t think we ever thought none
of this would be possible. Two people from Cameroon, you know, being one of the
best for their teams and being in the best league in the world. That’s something
we never thought could happen. But at the same time, I’m so happy and proud, you
know, that we are both are out of Cameroon and that we are where we are.”
There was certainly a lot of pride felt
for Siakam in last season’s Eastern Conference Semifinals when the Raptors took
down the 76ers in seven games, thanks to the four-bounce game-winning right
baseline shot at the buzzer in Game 7 on May 12, 2019 by now Los Angeles
Clippers forward and reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard that brought the Raptors
nation in Scotiabank Arena and those watching outside in Jurassic Park to their
feet.
Siakam said that when the shot was in the
air and bouncing on the rim it seemed like forever, Ibaka was under the basket
to go for an offensive rebound and Siakam was looking at him saying in his mind
to not interfere with the ball on the rim and have offensive goaltending be
called by the officials.
“It was an incredible moment, man. I will
always remember that moment,” Siakam said about that game-winner by Leonard in
the East Semis.
What topped that moment for Siakam and the
Raptors was becoming the first team in NBA history to win a championship
outside the U.S. when they beat the two-time defending champion Golden State
Warriors in Game 6 on 114-110 on June 13, 2019.
One of the first things that Siakam said
he did once the Raptors won their first title was put the flag from his home
country of Cameroon, of the colors of green, red and yellow, with a yellow star
in the middle of the flag to show a sense of pride of where he came from and where
he got to and how much more he is growing both as a basketball player and as a
person. He especially wanted to show love and respect to his father Tchamo, who
worked for a local transit company in Cameroon as well as the Mayor of
Makenene. Siakam’s dad also enrolled him in St. Andrew’s Seminary in Bafia when
he was 11 years old.
“I don’t think even think that when he
wanted me to play in the NBA that he had NBA championships in mind,” Siakam
said about what dream his dad had for him. “For him it was just like being at
that stage I already did it. He never knew or talked about winning and doing
all these things. He was just like ‘Man, get there.’ Like that’s the only thing.”
“And now for me to get there and then win
a championship after my third year, like I mean, I was just so happy man.”
Four years ago, Pascal Siakam was an
unknown. After his dad invested time in him to get his education and to use
basketball as a springboard, with the example he saw from his three older
brothers, Siakam used his strong work ethic along with what he learned in Basketball
Without Borders to help him earn to get him into New Mexico State University
and when he got drafted by the Toronto Raptors in June 2016 put in the work first
in the G-League, then with the Raptors as a reserve, became a starter, an NBA
champion and an All-Star to where the sky is the limit for how good he can
become.
Siakam is giving back to his country of
Cameroon joining Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri as a part of his
initiative that he has had since the summer of 2003 called “Giants of Africa”
where the continent of Africa conducts camps for boys and girls between the
ages of 15 and 19 to educate and enrich their lives by providing quality facilities,
gear and coaches with the goal of growing the game of basketball within the
country.
Someone took the time to invest in Siakam
and he wants to pay the opportunity he got forward to show the next generation
that if you work hard and are diligent in what you want to be, you can achieve
anything you want to in this world no matter if you start off not having as
much as someone else.
“I just want to tell them to believe in themselves
because that’s what I did,” Siakam said on how he got to where he is in the
NBA. “I had to believe in myself. I had to work really hard every single day to
get to where I am today.”
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 5/30/2020 NBATV’s “#NBATogether With Ernie Johnson: David
Robinson and Pascal Siakam;” https://www.espn.com/nba/standings;
https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3149673/pascal-siakam;
https://www.giantsofafrica.org/about/;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OVO_Athletic_Centre;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rico_Hines;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_NBA_playoffs#Conference_Semifinals;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_NBA_Finals;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Toronto_Raptors_seasons;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_Siakam.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic has
had a major impact on not just the United States of America but the entire
globe. It especially has had a major impact on the African American community. The
question now is what are the lessons that we can learn from this pandemic to
make the African American community better from this? Those lessons from this
and how we can make the lives for African Americans as well as all communities
of color better once the COVID-19 Pandemic subsides were discussed on the
latest edition of “#NBATogether.”
Via video chat, Caron Butler who played 13
years in the NBA with the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers,
Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder,
Detroit Pistons and Sacramento Kings in partnership with the National Urban League
led a virtual roundtable discussion on how the COVID-19 Pandemic has impacted
the African American community with Hall of Famer and colleague at NBATV/TNT
Grant Hill; former White House Senior Adviser under former President Barak Obama
Valerie Jarrett, now the senior adviser to the Obama Foundation; and Marc
Morial, The President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League.
As the panel discussion began, Butler, a
two-time All-Star during his NBA career brought the point that even before the
Coronavirus, African Americans have had to deal with segregation and
discrimination, and the people in power underinvesting in them. That has led to
those minority owned businesses like the barbershop or your local convenient
story being closed or struggling to survive because of a lack of access to
emergency funding and other necessities that are significant to how they can
continue to function.
As Mr. Morial put it, Black owned
businesses are the “heartbeat” of many communities, that reflect the “hopes;
the dreams; the aspirations” of individuals and families as well as the fabric
of Black America.
“Today, Black owned businesses like many small
businesses are facing tremendous odds, tremendous challenges,” Mr. Morial, the
former Democratic Mayor of New Orleans, LA said.
Morial also said that of the 2.5 million
Black owned businesses in the U.S. and about 90 percent of them have an average
of just one employee, proprietor, shareholder, and stockholder. In comparison,
the remaining 250,000 Black owned businesses have an average of nine employees
each.
This problem for minority owned businesses
was supposed to be rectified by the $484 billon in additional federal funding
for coronavirus, which also included $310 billion that was supposed to be for
small businesses as part of the Paycheck Protection Program passed in late
April.
Unfortunately, the initial fund of $349
billion that was earmarked by Congress ran out in just 13 days according to “Forbes,”
which was a big blow to Black owned businesses that were unable to take
advantage of getting that funding in the First-Round and has made it critical
that they are able to get that funding in the Second-Round.
Mr. Morial said that he his hopeful that
changes were made in that Second-Round of funding that will include a carving
out for community lending institutions in minority owned banks to give those business
a better chance of access for banks to give the opportunity for minority owned
business access to that Congressional funding.
He did say that many members of Legislative
body in Washington, D.C. are “aligned” with the National Urban League in
pushing “hard” for more opportunities to get at the $100 billion available.
“My message to Black owned businesses, small
non-profits and churches is, ‘There’s still money available.’ Take advantage of
it if you’re a minority owned bank. The community development lending
institution to participate in this program.”
Beyond how this pandemic has impacted the
minority business community, it has also put a strain on African American women
from maintaining their household; making sure their kids are taking care of
their schoolwork through social learning through their electronic devices and
being able to work if they can from home.
Jarrett, who was the chairperson of the
White House Council for Women/Girls during the Obama Administration said that
even before COVID-19 came into our lives African American women were likely the
main financial provider for their family, with that percentage being at 67
percent.
If you happen to be one of the women who
is now unemployed because of the pandemic and have no way to provide food for
their children and funding to pay their expenses like their home, and the light
bill.
On top of that, it is women that are the “essential”
workers during this pandemic from those that are working in the grocery store,
restaurant, or meat packing plant. The doctors and nurses working in the
hospital. The Emergency Medical Technicians going out on calls to assists those
sicken by COVID-19 or are working in a nursing home who are often paid the
lowest wage.
“Since some of the benefits of the
packages that went through Congress don’t provide important benefits to those essential
workers, they’re left out in the cold,” Jarrett, Distinguished Senior Fellow at
the University of Chicago Law School said. “Often these low wage jobs that do
not have benefits fall disproportionately on African American women, women of
color. And so, the stresses that we were already experiencing are greatly exacerbated
by the current situation.”
The solution to this according to
Professor Jarrett is for all of us putting the heat from a figurative sense on
our legislative leaders in D.C. to be more thoughtful and responsible in how
they appropriate the next round of funding so it can reach those that need it
the most like, communities of color and the businesses that exist in those
communities.
One business that has been greatly
affected by the pandemic has been the hospitality industry, which includes restaurants
and hotels, where the employees mostly consists of women of color.
Then there is the many health issues that has
been a part of the lives of minorities for generations. So much so that there
is the expression that when our nation gets a cold, the Black community gets pneumonia.
According to a CNN.com story from May 6 the
U.S. Census Bureau reported that Black Americans make up 13.4 percent of the
American population but their study found that they make up over 50 percent of
the COVID-19 cases and nearly 60 percent of deaths.
It is one of the reasons when Obama
Administration constructed the Affordable Care Act, which has become known as “Obama
Care,” it included research on the health disparities of diseases between minorities
and other Americans in the U.S. from heart disease, high blood pressure,
hypertension. Those diseases are also the reason why minorities, particularly
African Americans have died at a higher rate from the pandemic.
“So, as we emerge from this, it’s
important that we start thinking through how we close those gaps that we know
exist for women and girls of color,” Professor Jarrett said. “And how do we
make sure that we come out of this not going back to where we were but actually
stronger.”
The other thing that this pandemic has
brought to light is the fact that the median White family has roughly ten times
the wealth the median Black family has. This pandemic has seemed to widen that
gap where many black and brown families are as mentioned in a struggle to have
the basic necessities of life like a roof over their head, health care, technology
like a computer and even childcare.
Hill and his wife, Grammy nominated singer
Tamia recently launched an effort to provide millions of meals to those
struggling families of need in Central Florida.
The seven-time All-Star who played for the
Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and Clippers in his 18-year NBA
career said that the world is in the midst of a “fire” because of this
pandemic, which has “burned” severely many in its way, including putting 36
million U.S. citizens on the unemployment line. Prevented four million people
from paying their rent in April. It also has brought the number to one out of
every five kids do not have access to food.
“The most pressing need is food and
shelter,” Hill, a three-time NBA Sportsmanship Award recipient said. “It’s
disturbing and it’s alarming that, you know, our federal government has not
been there to step up and provide for all of America.”
“And let’s be honest. There’s a segment of
those who are suffering who are White Middle America. People who have supported
this a [Trump] administration, even prior to COVID-19. They had unemployment
and Opioid addiction, and a high suicide rate. Had a feeling of no hope. And so,
the very administration that they’re supporting is not truly supporting them in
a time of need.”
Besides dealing with COVID-19, the African
American community has to deal with the ongoing injustice, trauma, and violence
in our nation with the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
Arbery, 25 was killed in broad daylight on
the open road near Brunswick, GA a little over 10 weeks ago by a white man, who
was a retired ex-policeman and his son.
Taylor, 26 died on Mar. 14 after three Louisville
Kentucky Police officers fired shots into her home as they were serving a
search warrant.
Butler said after seeing a video of the
shooting of Arbery from his 20-year-old son Caron Butler, Jr. that he had “no”
answers for him.
“I was just so hurt and we cried talking
about the situation,” Butler said about the passing of Arbery.
Mr. Morial, who also has a son, an
18-year-old named Mason with wife Michelle Miller, national correspondent for
CBS News said those two losses “shocked” his conscience and the conscience of
anyone that cares about fairness and justice in our nation.
“Ahmaud Arbery should not have died. He
should not have died. He was not doing anything wrong. And all of the tapes and
evidence indicate that he was a victim of vigilante justice. A cold-blooded
murder,” Morial said.
More than anything according to Morial,
the killing of Arbery has specifically exposed is the “out-and-out” corruption
in both the County of South Georgia Police Department and Prosecutors Offices. He
also said that it exposed the existence of a “mentality” that a Black person is
supposed to answer to his Caucasian counterpart who he has no association with as
if we were back in the year 1850.
Professor Jarrett is all to familiar with
this kind of injustice in the eight years she worked for President Obama when
he had to speak out when there has been a shooting at a school or when a
minority is killed unnecessarily and having to answer for the misguided fears
of Black men, especially young Black men to White Americans.
Jarrett mentioned how President Obama, the
father to two daughters Malia and Sasha with his wife Michelle saying with tears
in his eyes that if he had a son he would like Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old Floridian
who life was taken in Sanford, FL by George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012.
“It was designed to try to elicit some
empathy so that people can imagine what it is like to raise your children in
this environment of trauma,” she said of the divide of our nation’s cultures. “I
now have a 10-month old black and brown grandson, and I look at the world
through his lens.”
Jarrett added that a young African
American can be out with their Caucasian counterparts but will always have to
carry their self with a levelheaded focus of respecting the police at all
times. Never speaking back when they feel they have been wronged, even though
their Caucasian counterparts might and not be punished, possibly killed.
This kind of trauma has also played a
major role in the poor mental health that minorities have faced for a long time
in our country, especially when the perpetrators involved in these senseless
acts are not brought to justice.
Even for someone like Hill, who is well
known and has lived a very productive 47 years on this Earth.
The father of two daughters Myla Grace and
Lael Rose, ages 18 and 12 respectably says that not a single days passes that
he is reminded that he is an African American from meeting the driver in the cul-de-sac
to get the food he order for his family and will they be threaten. Jogging down
the street to get exercise, like Arbery was doing before he was killed and
approaching a Caucasian woman wondering if she him as a threat.
“So, these are daily stressors that I think
we all go through, even if you have success. And even if you achieved the American
dream so to speak,” Hill, the son of former NFL running back Calvin Hill and
his wife Janet said. “In our impoverished, this is everyday part of life. And
yes, these stressors are real, and I think part of what will help is having
some justice. Knowing that our government system works. And when there’s a
crime, those who commit it will be punished.”
The National Urban League led by Morial
said that they have acknowledged at their 90 affiliate sites across the nation
importance of Mental Health to African American communities setting a program
called Project Wellness, which was set up to aid in the destigmatize this issue
in the Black community and getting help and assistance is something they should
be hesitant or afraid to go to a psychiatrist or psychologist to get their mind
healthy.
That will be especially necessary when it
comes to Black and Brown communities in getting through the COVID-19 Pandemic and
the fears of what might happen if they get it and what can happen to that
person.
The fear of possibly getting sick to the
point you could die or someone close to you like a friend or family member catching
it elsewhere or possibly from you and they die.
Then there is the individual economic
impact to where you could no longer go to work, which could lead to you getting
fired and losing your income.
The stress on our children not being in school
learning and being away from their classmates/friends and teachers.
Not being able if you are a high school or
college senior, or being in your last year of middle or elementary school and
have those crowning moment in that last year of prom, that last class trip,
yearbook signings or being able to graduate with your friends alongside of you
and your family in the stands cheering your greatest accomplishments.
As Jarrett said that until the minority
community as a whole is comfortable coming forward saying that “we need help,”
it will not happen.
“Democracies are based on the rule of law.
The equal application of that rule of law.” she added. “And if we feel that we
are not going to get justice and what happens to us people are not going to
held accountable, that adds to the trauma and stress as well. And I think we
have to tell our stories, and we have to share what’s going on because
otherwise how does anybody know.”
“We’ve all known that there were health
disparities in the Black community. But most of America didn’t until we started
looking at the data with the COVID-19.”
Morial echoed that same sentiment by saying
our nation needs to be “bold” and “imaginative,” coupled with the right
leadership is how real change will take place.
That change will not take place though
unless we all take individual and collective responsibility of bridging this
divide in not just our nation but the world.
We all have to understand that we each
play a role in how we come out on the better side of this pandemic and how we
put in the necessary work to become better moving forward.
A big part of that is the Caucasian community
having those uncomfortable conversations about racism and sexism that has been prevalent
in our nation for many years.
How many years ago in the South when
African American were peacefully protesting and how they were attacked by the police
and protesters in favor of keeping things divided.
It takes the media and those that want things
to change showing via the news, social media, the internet, and every possible
platform to make people aware of the injustice that is happening, especially during
this pandemic.
What is also important to understand is
that not all of White America might think with the same mindset. That they do
care about the injustice that minority communities face because they can have
conversations with their opposite counterparts. Thoughtful and responsible
conversations.
“We can’t be afraid to build the right
alliances but also to stand up to those who would bully the conversation because
they want to suppress it,” Morial said about breaching the great American
divide. “Because the suppression of the conversation for years never made it
better. Only made it worse. And that’s why these conversations have to take
place.”
Breaching this divide seems to always
begin and end at the ballot box meaning, it is important to vote not just at
the federal level like now when it comes to the Presidential and Congress. It
matters who you choose to vote for at the state level and at the local level.
It also means getting involved in a
campaign whether it is stuffing envelopes that contain information on a certain
candidate. Volunteering to knock on doors to let people know about who a certain
candidate is and what their plan is to make your community and state better.
For a household, filling out the U.S.
Census, which will allow how many people can represent your state at the
federal level in Congress. The funding that can be allocated to help fix the
roads in your communities. Provide funding to make your local schools and
colleges more up to date in terms of books and technology.
Throughout history, it has taken people
whether meeting in a room or virtually via Zoom now to have discussions to
formulate a plan to take on some of the greatest challenges we have had in our
history like racism.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic has
forced our nation because of the disproportionate impact it has had particularly
on minority communities to find a way to come together to face this pandemic
and all the underlying issues and problems that for a long time have been swept
under the rug to be brought into the light.
It does not matter if you are wealthy or
hanging on by a thread, this pandemic has had an impact on all of us. The only
way we will have a better future across the board following this and beyond is
coming together, having some real unapologetic, uncomfortable conversations
about the great racial divide in our country and come up with tangible, logical
and powerful solutions that will breach this divide.
It is one thing to have this kind of discussion
like Caron Butler, Marc Morial, Grant Hill, and Valerie Jarrett had. Those discussions
have to be backed up by actions from the leaders we have in Washington to our
state and at the local level, to us as individuals.
Information and quotations are courtesy of
4/22/2020 www.forbes.com story, “Congress
Approved More Funding for The Paycheck Protection Program. Here’s What You Need
to Know,” by Kelly Anne Smith; 5/6/2020 www.cnn.com
story “Black Communities Account For Disproportionate Number of COVID-19 Deaths
In The US, Study Finds,” by Shelby Lin Erdman; 5/6/2020 www.binginews.com story “Part 2 *Leaked*:
Ahmaud Arbery Shooting Death Photos; 5/14/2020 www.wlky.com
story, “LMPD Says Its Investigation Surrounding Breonna Taylor’s Death Is
Nearly Complete;” 5/21/2020 8:30 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “#NBATogether: Virtual
Roundtable;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki_Grant_Hill;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Morial;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caron_Butler.
The career of an NBA player consists of some
ups and some downs. You can up in terms of your individual success but down in
terms of the success of your team. Then you can be down in terms of your own individual
production but up in the case of your team doing well which can result in your
squad winning it all. Through those highs and lows, you can learn a lot about
yourself as an individual and how you fit in the grand scheme of things with
the team you are a part of. All of this and then some occurred for the latest
guest on NBATV’s “#NBATogether with Ernie Johnson.”
Via video chat, Ernie Johnson, NBA on TNT’s
studio host and host of “Inside the NBA” caught up with 12-year veteran big man
of the Cleveland Cavaliers Kevin Love, whose a five-time All-Star, NBA champion;
Olympic Gold Medalist from 2012 Summer Games in London; and two-time All-NBA
Second Team selection.
Like the rest of America, and the world in
general these days, a lot of us are working from home and that has been the
case for the players for each of the respective 30 NBA teams.
In the last couple of weeks as all the
states in the U.S. have eased restrictions, those cities with NBA teams have begun
to open their facilities, with some restrictions in place of how many people
can be in the building.
Love told Johnson that he had just come
back from working out where those that attended were spread out, maintaining
social distancing with the players being on two courts with four baskets. The
coaching staff had mask and gloves on, and every area was disinfected.
“We’re gonna look back on and say, ‘This was
a surreal and different time,” Love said about what he will remember about this
moment in our country’s history. “So, taking all the necessary precautions, but
at the same time when you’re shooting, when you’re going through your workout
you almost have to put it out of your mind that, you know, that coach is literally
wearing these latex gloves and has the mask on. It just really odd and
different, and something I’ve never experienced before.”
With talk of the possible restart of the
2019-20 NBA season later this summer, Love said that he is “excited” about it
if it comes to fruition saying that there can be so much good that can come
from it like providing people with that necessary “escape.”
The former No. 5 overall pick in 2008 by
the Minnesota Timberwolves also said that coming back would also be good for
the NBA players themselves because they want to get back to doing what they “love
most” and do so for the fans.
“We obviously have our concerns. But as
far as getting back and playing, I know that at least from the playoff teams as
well, I mean, we want to crown a champ,” Love said. “As a fan, I would love to
see who comes out at the top at the end of the year, just being a fan and
always being a fan of this game.”
If the NBA does resume play, it is being
talked about that they would have all the 30 teams and their respective staffs
be placed in either Las Vegas, NV where the NBA holds Summer League play in the
offseason month of July or in Orlando, FL at the Walt Disney Wide World of Sports
Complex.
But if the NBA would resume, whether it be
in Las Vegas or Orlando, the arena the teams would play in would not have any
fans, which has never happened in league history.
On top of that, with no fans in attendance
would mean that viewers that would see the game on television would hear and
see things that you were never aware of took place during before because of the
plethora of fans in attendance, which Love said is going to be “really odd.”
“I was actually trying to put it through
my mind what even a playoff game would be like,” he said. “You walk into an
arena and it’s the quarterfinals, Eastern Conference/Western Conference Quarterfinals
it’s electric… As soon as you walk into the arena, there’s that energy that the
fans bring, which make it so special.”
“That’s something that’s not lost on us.
And at the same time, it’s something that’s in the back of our minds too that’s
going to be really, really odd when we do get back to play.”
As difficult as this has been for the fans
that the NBA and NHL have had to put the pause button on their season’s, along
with the fact that MLB and the WNBA have had to postpone the start of their respective
seasons, Love said this has been just as tough on the roughly 450 players in
the NBA.
Love referenced his teammate in rookie
guard Darius Garland, who played just four games at the University of Vanderbilt
his lone year a season ago because of a knee injury and plays only 59 games his
first season so far in the NBA.
Garland with this stoppage in the season Love
said does not get the experience of hitting that famed “rookie wall” of playing
an 82-game season for the first time in his career and being able to push
through it. He also is denied the opportunity to measure himself against the
top players in the league at his position like two-time Kia MVP Stephen Curry,
Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, and Ben Simmons.
Love really brought of what this stoppage
has meant by saying how NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in an interview with
Rachel Nichols, host of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump” in the first week of the NBA’s
hiatus that you are “losing” a year of your NBA career is the equivalent of
losing “10 years” relative to someone else in a different line of work because
the average career for an NBA player is right around four years.
To take this a step further, someone like four-time
Kia MVP LeBron James, whose in year No. 17 at age 36 had the Lakers (49-14)
rolling despite their 104-102 loss versus the Brooklyn Nets on Mar. 10. They
had gone 11-2 their last 13 games and achieving a 25-7 mark their last 32 games,
sitting atop the loaded Western Conference before the league shut down on Mar.
11.
The prospects for James and his new
teammate in fellow perennial All-Star Anthony Davis were looking good for them
to possibly win the franchise’s 17 Larry O’Brien trophy around this time if the
league had not been suspended because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Which led Love to ask, “How’s that gonna
look when we do come back to play? Are they still going to be, you know, the
next breed of ‘Showtime?’ Is A.D. going to be playing, you know, at a very high
level?”
“Are they going to be clicking? Because
that continuity and that feeling of just having a rhythm as a team is very
different.”
If there is anyone who understands what is
likely on the horizon for the league, especially for the eight respective
playoff teams currently in the Eastern and Western Conference is Love because
in the four previous seasons prior the these last two, the James led Cavaliers
represented the East in The Finals four straight seasons, winning the franchise’s
first NBA title in 2016 and the first pro sports title for the Cleveland since
1960 when the Browns of the NFL led by Hall of Famer Jim Brown won it all.
Things have not been easy for the Cavaliers
and Love since the departure of James for the second time as he left in free
agency in the summer of 2018 to join the Lakers.
Their mark when the NBA as mentioned halted
play on Mar. 11 was 19-46 following a 108-103 loss at the Chicago Bulls (22-43)
on Mar. 10, which snapped a two-game winning streak.
There was speculation that Love would be dealt
to a title contender or playoff contender back in February because it was clear
that the Cavaliers were in rebuild mode and especially how things were going
between the team and first-year head coach John Beilein, who was relieved of his
duties in the middle of February right before the conclusion of the All-Star
break. He was replaced by associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, whose mark
since taking over has been. 5-6.
Love has learned since he was acquired by
the Cavs from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the summer of 2014 that his name
will always come up at the trade deadline or during the offseason because they
want to go young, which is the safe way of saying rebuild. That has for sure
been the case for the Cavaliers in the two separate times James has departed in
free agency first to the Heat in the summer of 2010 and to the Lakers as
mentioned two summers back.
This especially came to Love’s mind two
weeks into this season’s training camp back in October 2019 when he was getting
treatment in the Cavs’ training room and he was looking at the training camp
roster that at age 34 he is the oldest player on the team.
Knowing that the NBA is a business and
also knowing that teams in the Cavs position want to give their youngsters the
most time on the court, Love sees himself as the voice for the likes of the
previously mentioned Garland, Colin Sexton and Kevin Porter, Jr. and showing
them the ropes on how to have a long and productive career in the NBA.
“That’s been great to see those guys grow,”
Love said adding, “by every deadline or every free agency or even the draft my
name has always come up but I’m just full speed ahead.”
Love became this vet who has plenty of
game left from the work he put in as a youngster growing up in Lake Oswego, OR
as the second of three children to Karen and Stan, who played for the then
Baltimore Bullets, now Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, and San Antonio
Spurs from 1971-75.
Everything Love is now from being a great
rebounder and all-around scorer who can produce points from down low and with a
solid perimeter jump shot, especially from three-point range he learned from his
dad, who displayed those skills during his time in “The Association,” even
though there was no three-point line during that time.
Mr. Love had his son really pay close
attention to when he watched games to future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki, who
retired last season after 20 years in “Big-D.”
“He was somebody that was tough to model
my game after being 7-foot, shooting that fadeaway,” Love said about pattering
his game after Nowitzki. “But somebody I really looked to be a big and he’s one
of the people I really tip my hat to and pay tribute to.”
After finishing as the all-time leading
scorer in the history of the Lake Oswego High Lakers in 2007, Love went on to
attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), who he committed to
verbally in July 2006.
When he got to the Bruins, Love had a
chance to talk to legends of that program in legendary head coach John Wooden
and Hall of Famer Bill Walton.
Love said that he asked the then 97-year-old
Wooden, who died on June 4, 2010 asked questions that ranged from how he came
to love the game of basketball? How he came to UCLA after growing up in the Indiana.
How can he add to the winning tradition that began under Coach Wooden from
being a great teammate to how he can get the best out of himself on the collegiate
hardwood?
Love said that he really learned about the
legend of Wooden when he visited his house in Encino, CA that had a picketed porch
that had three to four of the pillars taken out because he had so much mail
coming to him every day.
“He was just so sharp, his mind,” Love
said of when he conversed with Mr. Wooden.
When Love talked with Walton, that
conversation that would last for 30 minutes, 25 of those minutes would be of
Walton speaking.
After averaging 17.5 points and 10.6
rebounds in his lone season with the Bruins, producing 23 double-doubles on his
way to winning then Pac-10 Player of the Year, First-Team All-Pac-10 and
Consensus First-Team All-American, Love entered his name into the 2008 NBA Draft
and was chosen by the Memphis Grizzlies. He was traded following the draft
along with now University of Memphis assistant coach Mike Miller, Brian
Cardinal, and Jason Collins for the No. 3 overall pick O.J. Mayo, Antoine
Walker, Marko Jaric and Greg Buckner.
The Timberwolves that season started Love’s
rookie season 4-15, which prompted the dismissal of head coach Randy Wittman
and then General Manager in Kevin McHale took over and the Hall of Famer Love
said developed a close relationship.
“I was ecstatic,” Love said of the call he
got from his agent when he got dealt to the T’Wolves on that draft night. “Just
having somebody that I looked up to, and somebody that in some ways I tried to
model some of my post game after. Those moves and being around him and just listening
to his stories, and really getting with him, even when the cameras weren’t around,
everybody was out of the practice facility. Just getting with him and going through
the moves.”
Love said that he remembered those great
Celtics teams of the 1980s with McHale, who is now a studio analyst for NBATV, fellow
Hall of Famer Larry Bird, Robert Parish, the late Dennis Johnson, Walton, and
current Celtics lead executive Danny Ainge.
The best piece of advice Love said that he
got from McHale, which was as much about life as it was basketball was to “chase
the game” and everything else you want will “chase you right back” McHale also
said to Love to “chase what you love” and “love will chase you right back.”
He also said that he remembers from that era
of the 1980s and the 1990s that included the “Bad Boys” era of the Detroit
Pistons; the “Showtime” Lakers. The 1992-93 Phoenix Suns led by then Kia MVP,
now NBATV/NBA on TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley; the Michael Jordan era of the
Chicago Bulls winning six titles in eight seasons; and the 1992 Dream Team that
won Gold in Barcelona, Spain.
Love also talked about as a kid going over
to the home of two-time champion from those “Showtime” Lakers Mychal Thompson,
father of three-time champion with Golden State Warriors Klay Thompson working on
post moves in the backyard that McHale used on many defender back in his playing
days.
Along with getting a basketball education
from Mr. Thompson, Love became good friends with not just Klay, but his older
sibling Mychel and his younger brother Trayce, who he played basketball and baseball
with all the time.
“Those Kevin McHale moves, I would be in
that backyard playing on the hoop with Mychal Thompson, he’d be saying, ‘Alright,
this is how he scored on me’ because he had a counter and so many moves for the
things that he did.”
While Love had individual success in his
first six season with the Timberwolves averaging 19.2 points and 11.1 rebounds
on 36.2 percent from three-point range, there was no trips to the postseason
each of those springs.
That all changed on August 23, 2014 when
Love was dealt to the Cavaliers in a three-team deal involving the T’Wolves and
Philadelphia 76ers, where No. 1 overall pick in that year’s draft by the Cavs
Andrew Wiggins, now with the Warriors was dealt to the T’Wolves along with the
No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 draft Anthony Bennett and current Chicago Bulls’
forward Thaddeus Young. The 76ers received Luc Mbah a Moute, Alexy Shved and the
Cavs 2015 First-Round pick.
The “Big Three” of James, Love and now
All-Star lead guard for the Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers to
three of their four straight trips to The Finals from 2015-2018, winning it all
as mentioned in 2016.
While the production was not equal to what
he did with the Timberwolves, with a lot of that having to do with injuries he
had to battle through, Love played a major part in the Cavaliers’ dominance in
the East during that four-year period despite the fact that he averaged 16.4,
16.0, 19.0, and 17.6 points respectably. He did provide consistent production on
the glass with averages of 9.7, 9.9, 11.1, and 9.3 rebounds respectably during
those consecutive seasons.
When Johnson asked Love in reflection of
the acclaimed 10-part ESPN documentary “The Last Dance,” which took a close
look at Michael Jordan and the Bulls run toward title No. 6 in eight seasons
that are their similarities to what it was like to play with a superstar player
like James, who like Jordan demands greatness through his play and his actions,
which can rub their teammates the wrong way a lot of times.
“I think he’s demanding in all the right
ways for the right reasons,” Love said of James leadership and demeanor during
that time. “He has that ‘Strive for Excellence’ that he always lives by. And he
really won’t accept anything else.”
Love also said that the late great Hall of
Famer to be Koby Bryant was the same way with the Lakers trying to get the most
out of his teammates.
The difference between Jordan and Bryant
from James is that he looked out for his Cavs teammates as he did when he was
with the Miami Heat from 2010-14 and now with the Lakers in which he built up
your confidence whether it was done in private or when he talked with the press
before and after games.
Jordan and Bryant, especially in practice tested
their teammates at times to find out their threshold of mental toughness, which
Jordan definitely did during that 1997-98 season to Scott Burrell.
Love said that James would get on you if
you were not playing hard or giving the game what you should. He also said
though that he never been around someone that was so much about “comradery.”
Each time the Cavs played on the road
during the regular season, the team would gather for a meal together. Every
time that a member of the roster did an event or something of that nature, the
entire team was there to show support.
It is because of that “synergy” Love said
translated to the success those Cavs teams had on the court and led to the ultimate
success of a title four years ago.
One play that will stand out from that
title clinching Game 7 at Oracle Arena in Oakland the Cavs won 93-89 over the
Warriors on June 19, 2016 is when Love got switched on two-time Kia MVP Stephen
Curry.
It was not the chase down block on the
fast break James had on 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala. It was not the eventual
game-winning three-pointer by Irving in the closing minute. It was how Love keeping
two-time Kia MVP in front of him on a defensive possession during the final
minute and forcing him to miss a long three-pointer.
“We had gone over that play I can’t even
tell you how many times preparing,” Love told Johnson. “I switched off and I
kept my feet down, and actually made him give up the ball.”
“But a lot of people don’t realize that
the game plan for us was if we had a 4-5 man switch (power forward/center) off
on to their smalls, we were going to deny back the ball….So thankfully I was
able to contest.”
The other difference between the Jordan era
and the Bryant and James era is that there was no 24/7 news cycle unlike now
where if you say one bad thing or make one false move it is all over cable news,
on Twitter and all social media in the snap of a finger.
“I can’t imagine what life would’ve been
like for those three-peat Bulls teams to have gone, especially in this era
where news cycles are 24/7,” Love said. “There’s so many different storylines.”
As great of a player Love has been in his
NBA career on the hardwood, he has also been a major influence off of it
speaking about mental health.
Back in March 2018, Love in response to San
Antonio Spurs All-Star DeMar DeRozan revealing his struggles with depression
said that he had been getting therapy for several months after he suffered a
panic attack in a game for the Cavs in November 2017.
These panic attacks Love said have always happened
from an early age, and he always had a place to go and “escape,” particularly
as a youngster.
“Like anybody, especially being a young man,
I packed it all away,” Love said about dealing with a panic attack earlier in
his life. “I wasn’t gonna show anybody signs of weakness. I had that playbook
of just do not talk about it.”
Love said that kind of thinking is
tiresome because the numbers say there are a lot of people dealing with issues
pertaining to mental health like anxiety and depression.
He described when he had a panic attack
during that night of 2018 in a Cavs’ game that it felt like he was going into
what he felt like “cardiac arrest.” He added that he could not get any oxygen
to his brain. That his throat was closing up on him. He was unable to find
something that he was looking for and ended up on the floor of the Cavs Head
Athletic Trainer Stephen Spiro’s office.
Love was able to get oxygen and went to
the Cleveland Clinic and was given the all clear after getting checked out.
It was then that Love said he had to “look”
in the mirror and decide if he was going to make a change and finally take this
issue on or continue to live with it in the shadows.
“It just wasn’t a healthy lifestyle that I
was putting forward. And I didn’t want to continue to live in the shadows. Live
in the darkness and just not feel comfortable with these anxiety bouts and
these depression bouts that I’ve had since I can remember.”
In August of that same year, Love
discussed his family history of depression and how he would hide in his room and
not speak to anyone when he had a panic attack.
After Love came forward about his mental
health issues, so many people reached out through e-mail about their own mental
health problems and it got to the point that Love had to open a separate e-mail
account so people could reach him to tell their story.
Love said a week on the dot that he spoke
out, he received 10,000 e-mails of people telling their story, which led to him
starting his own foundation “The Kevin Love Fund,” that focused on mental health,
with the focus especially on young boys.
Love said how back in September 2018 NBA
Commissioner Adam Silver in a discussion with Robin Roberts of ABC’s “Good Morning
America” at that year’s “Time 100” that being able to scale up these messages
and have the reach “The Association” has being such a global game that it has
been a big help to not only people here in the states but across the globe.
There was a girl named Madeline, who also
suffered from panic attacks that got to the point she no longer wanted to live
and her father reached out to Love on Twitter. Love said that he followed them
on social media and even invited them to attend a Cavs game in person. Love
added that he has kept in touch with them.
This moment brought Love back to a time
when Johnson’s colleague in the TNT studio in Hall of Famer and four-time NBA
champion Shaquille O’Neal when he was with the Orlando Magic and when they came
to play at the Portland Trail Blazers at the Memorial Coliseum back in the middle
of the 1990s he took time to talk to him after Love’s dad Stan did a radio
interview and saw the Hall of Famer the night before.
Shaq on his way walked past the area Love
and his father were and Stan said to his son, “Well, at least you got to see
him.” But Love’s father tapped him on the shoulder, turns around and says to
Love, “How you doing young fella? I’m Shaq.”
“That’s what I’ll never forget, and that’s
probably why how I am today and try to be gracious to people. Especially people
dealing with this,” Love said about taking the time to greet fans, especially
those that reach out to talk about their anxiety issues. “It’s allowed me to
have an open ear. Be more empathetic. And at least for those younger years in
my life, that will always stick out to me was how great Shaq was to me when I
was young.”
To show how the NBA has taken the issue of
Mental Health to heart, especially during the COVID-19 Pandemic, they have
provided a way to get confidential support from a trained Crisis Counselor 24/7
from Crisis Text Line by texting “TEAM” to 741741.
There are as mentioned a lot of highs and
lows, ups-and-downs a professional athlete, particularly an NBA player faces in
their career. Kevin Love has faced a lot of ups-and-downs in his 12-year NBA
career. He was a great individual player with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it
did not have any team success. His number were down a little bit with the Cleveland
Cavaliers, but was a big part of the team success with four straight appearances
in The Finals and winning a title in 2016. Today, Love is the veteran voice of
a young Cavs team trying to find its way back to being a playoff perennial but
also has taken charge in his personal life while also showing that it is okay
to speak up when you are having difficulty with something that many people kept
to themselves like their struggles with their mental health.
Kevin Love learned how to be a champion on
the basketball court as a youth and in the NBA and he has become a champion off
the court helping kids, especially boys showing how it is okay to ask for help
when you do not have all the answers.
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 3/10/2020 game scores via www.nba.com;
5/23/2020 8 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “#NBATogether with Ernie Johnson;” https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201606190GSW.html;
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/loveke01.html;
https://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/cle;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mychal_Thompson#Personal_life;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wooden;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Love.
