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Devin booker kentucky3/19/2023 ![]() “I wasn’t even a shooter back then, I just loved the way he played,” he said following the workout, a patch of peach fuzz on his chin. Living up to his early idol in Rip Hamilton makes for some lofty ambitions. “We doing that again?” he asks no one in particular. Booker’s natural shooter’s stroke, no doubt the product of untold hours of practice, is apparent, but his accuracy is just off during this round of shots and he flashes a grin at the final buzzer. “There it is,” he announces, and moves along the arc. Then another shot, one that touches only twine. After catching a pass, he repeats the process. The overhead buzzer sounds and his highlighter yellow Nikes propel his lean torso to the air, his arms and wrists extending at his crest of elevation to release the ball. “I feel like UK was one of the best things that has happened for me, because it prepared me for this level.”ĭonning a powder blue practice jersey with the unfamiliar No 34 – he wore single digits in both high school and college – “Book” sets up in the corner for a timed three-point shooting drill during a May pre-draft workout in Denver. “My mom still lives there, so that would be nice,” he said, “but at the end of the day I want the best situation for myself.” Devin made a similar choice for college, choosing John Calipari’s Wildcats over hometown programs Michigan State and Michigan that recruited him. More recent forecasts suggest Charlotte at No 9, or maybe even Detroit, with his childhood favorite Pistons, a pick earlier. Devin’s stock has only continued to rise, however, with him slowly working his way into the top 10 of many mock drafts as the proof. Early predictions indicated the middle of the first round for the 6ft 5in, 205lb knockdown wing, and at that point it’s really anyone’s guess. Which leads to the obvious question of figuring out where exactly Devin might end up. I feel like I’m cultured enough to fit into any environment.”ĭevin Booker: ‘I feel like I’m cultured enough to fit into any environment.’ Photograph: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images It was a big difference for me, but I adjusted well. “I went all the way from the suburbs in Michigan … to inner-city Mississippi. And the move was very important in his transition into the player he is today.” It was a chance of catching up on the times that we missed together and working on his mental makeup of basketball – how to be not just on the court, off the court – to be a young man. “It wasn’t just about his game it was about being a father. “I had my time in Europe, and missed a lot in Devin’s life,” said Melvin, explaining Devin’s eventual move from Grand Rapids to Moss Point after his freshman year of high school to live with his dad. It was during his time playing for the CBA’s team in Grand Rapids, Michigan, just before he headed abroad, that Melvin met Veronica Gutierrez, and not long thereafter Devin was born. That led to a cuppa coffee – 32 games with three franchises over two seasons – in the NBA, then an 11-year career overseas, the majority of which spent in Italy. Still, it turned out not to be enough for a NBA team to take a risk on him, and the high-scoring, 6ft 1in point guard went the way of the alternate American league, the now-defunct Continental Basketball Association. At Missouri, he was named a First-Team All-American and Big Eight Player of the Year as a senior while leading the Tigers to an Elite Eight berth in the 1994 NCAA Tournament. “That might be the best Father’s Day gift I will ever receive, to hear my son’s name called.” “I wasn’t as locked in as a prospect as Devin is, but it’s just been great to go through this with my son and all the hard work that he’s put in is paying off right now,” Melvin told the Guardian by phone this past Monday.
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