"The King with the crown..."
Rev Run - Down with the King
Last weekend I covered the Sacramento Kings for HOOP Magazine...Friday night in Philadelphia, and Saturday in the nation's capital.
Home Team
I arrived at the Wachovia Center around 5:40PM...so I could be early enough to introduce myself to Jason Thompson. Instead of hanging my coat in the press room, I decided to go straight to the court. Thompson, Tyreke Evans, and Francisco Garcia were warming up, while Paul Westphal sat quietly in a court side seat.
As the fans began to file in, and fill the lower level, you could feel the joy and admiration for the two local guys Thompson and Evans, as I saw a lot of purple jerseys mixed within the Sixers red, white, and blue. After JT finished his pre game shoot around...he spoke with his parents, a few well wishers, and then I approached him as he walked towards the locker room.
Most athletes don't enjoy talking to the media, so I simply asked him if he had to a little time to chat, to which he did, giving me some great insight. After the the 98-86 loss I knew that he wouldn't have too many minutes for follow up questions so I told him and 'Reke that I'd see them the following day in DC.
On Monday I finished my story, and below is what I didn't include...here is the score on our conversation:
AXG: What's it like to come back here and play in front of your family and friends?
JT: I grew up in this area...it's my high school area, and everyone comes out to see me play, and it means a lot...it shows where I come from and how I came up, and now all the hard work is paying off.
AXG: What does it mean to have another guy from this area on the team?
JT: Aw man it's good, I mean it kind of feels comfortable because we're home. We've played out here, we've played against guys in this area a lot, so we're kind of used to it.
AXG: What was your biggest adjustment coming from college into the pros?
JT: I'm from a small school and I had worked out with a lot of NBA guys in the summer and then going to Tim Grover's in Chicago helped me out a lot. There's obviously a difference going from the east coast to the west coast...it's a little bit slower out west, but Sacramento is a nice small city, not too many distractions, so things are going well.
AXG: When did you realize you could turn pro?
JT: Late in my junior year I started getting scouts at my games looking at me and they liked how I progressed since my freshman year, and then I had a really good senior year against a lot of guys who were supposed to be lottery picks, and here I am now.
AXG: Can you talk about Draft night '08?
JT: It's one of the best feelings I had other than graduation, and it was great...it was a dream come true.
AXG: Who did you watch growing up?
JT: Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, I just followed a lot of guys especially Julius Erving you know growing up a Sixers fan.
AXG: If it wasn't for basketball, what would you do?
JT: I have my [communications] degree, so hopefully after 10+ years in the league I want to be a TV analyst...broadcaster, so I hope to work for ESPN or NBA TV.
AXG: Your family was at the game last night, how did your parents prepare you for the NBA?
JT: They put the ball in my hands from day one. I played a lot of sports...baseball, football, soccer, all those types of sports and then once I was in 6th/7th grade I just focused on basketball, and started doing AAU with travel teams, and they provided the money and support with camps and all that stuff, and it helped me with the skills that I have used in my career.
AXG: How tall were you in the 7th grade?
JT: I was about 5'7". Growing up, in grade school I was a big man, and then my peers started getting taller than me, so I was a guard...shooting guard, and then I had an 8 or 9-inch growth spurt in high school, and I became a center.
Photo: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
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