Gopher Basketball
It was a festive evening at Market BBQ. Everyone in the crowd was in good spirits and was having a good time. The biggest sports fans in the house were of course trying to catch as much of the draft as they could on the TVs scattered throughout, but for the most part the first 10 selections came and went without many people even blinking an eye.
Then the atmosphere changed a little. When NBA Commissioner David Stern stepped up to the podium for Golden State’s pick at #11, an eerie silence suddenly overcame the room. The whole crowd somehow came to realize simultaneously that we were now in potential Kris Humphries territory. The same eerieness came back 5 minutes later for pick #12 and another 5 minutes after that for #13.
Then the phone call came. It was about 90 seconds before Utah’s selection at #14, and if you didn’t happen to be looking in the direction of Kris and his father, you might have missed it. But their smiles gave it away and made the next few seconds just a smidgen less anticlimactic than they otherwise might have been.
But that didn’t matter. When Kris’ name was called, the place still erupted with one of the loudest ovations I’ve heard in quite some time. Kris was happy, his family was happy, his friends were happy, his former teammates and coaches (from both college and high school) were happy, and so was everybody else in attendance (myself included). It’s hard not to be happy when somebody has achieved the dream they worked so hard for. And the fact that Kris went a little bit higher than many expected only added to the feelings.
Kris going at #14 also made something pretty clear to me…..he made the right decision. When you’re coming off an impressive season and have a good chance of being drafted that high, you should go. Especially when the NBA is your dream. If you dreamed more about college basketball and the NCAA tournament when you were learning how to play the game, then there’s certainly nothing wrong with staying in school. But for Kris, this was the right move.
There wouldn’t have been much for him to gain by coming back for his sophomore season. Sure, his play could have improved (and the team’s results definitely could have), but it would have been hard for him to be any more impressive than he was as a freshman. A great 2nd season might have bumped him up a few spots (and dollars) in the 2005 draft, but his position would primarily have been dictated by the other players in the draft rather than by anything he could control.
So Kris and his support group made the right call. And they played the game the right way. They showcased his physical abilities and polished fundamentals in settings where they were confident he would excel, and he obviously did. Kris has probably spent more time working on fundamentals and other facets of the game besides simply “playing basketball” than any player I’ve ever seen, so it came as no surprise to me that most other players couldn’t hold a candle to him in these events.
It will also come as no surprise to me if Kris is someday playing in the NBA All-Star Game. He has a ways to go, but he has the work ethic to get there. His development has been rapid and steady for years and years, and I don’t think it’s about to plateau anytime soon. His ball-handling will get a little sharper, his shooting will get a little smoother, his passing will get more natural, and his defense will get more consistent. He’s going to become one of the better forwards in the NBA, and he could very well become a household name someday.
I’m pretty confident about this, just like I was pretty confident 3-1/2 years ago (when I first watched him play as a sophomore in high school) that Kris was going to be a big-time college player. He even managed to surpass my lofty expectations from back then, and he may very well surpass them again in a few years.
It’s always good to see a former Gopher have success.
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