Young hoopers need to hear Andre Drummond’s cautionary tale

In at present’s sports activities media panorama, it’s uncommon to seek out lively gamers conserving it one hundred pc actual. Even after they converse the reality, it looks like they’re holding again only a bit. Nonetheless, Andre Drummond stored it realer than most just lately when talking to a bunch of younger hoopers. He talked about basketball and the significance of being teammate and never making all the pieces about oneself. He admitted he was the man on the sideline pouting when issues didn’t go his method.

“I’ma let you know one thing. Drummond continued… Fellas, I used to be that man. I used to be a 100-million-dollar man. I used to be pouting, I used to be upset after I wasn’t enjoying. And I had a foul angle. I went from 100 million {dollars} to a (expletive) league minimal. This can be a private story I’m sharing with you guys proper now. … They don’t care what number of rebounds you get, what number of 3s you make. They care about you being as an individual, are you teammate, are you locker room man? Are you somebody they will rely on every single evening? I speak about consistency…”

This can be a message each younger baller across the nation from the age of 12 and up wants to listen to. Drummond is dropping information on these children in attendance. It’s not at all times about you, and for those who can’t be blissful in your teammates after they succeed, it’ll come again to hang-out you. Having the boo-boo face on the sideline as a result of the coach took you out does nothing to assist the staff. That’s the message Drummond makes an attempt to convey to those younger athletes.

Even when none of those children make it to the NBA, that nugget of knowledge will assist them the remainder of their lives ought to they select to pay attention. It was just a few years in the past that Drummond was one of many extra coveted big men within the recreation, and now you not often hear his identify within the NBA information cycle. A few younger guys who’ve performed for Golden State the previous couple of years may also need to take a look at Drummond’s message. One was just lately traded away from the bay space, and the opposite allegedly wants out.

In fact, there’ll at all times be those that need to buck the system or select to not pay attention when the OG’s inform ‘em what might occur in the event that they enterprise down a sure path. That’s actually who this sort of message is for: those that don’t need to act proper. Those that need to do what they need to do then find yourself studying the arduous method. Drummond tells us precisely what he did and now realizes he might’ve dealt with issues otherwise.

The four-time rebound champ and two-time All-Star now performs for the Chicago Bulls on that league-minimum contract he talked about. He’s nonetheless within the NBA and incomes a test, however when you’ve reached that $100 million threshold, something lower than that’s like hustling backward.