The path to NBA stardom is oftentimes unoriginal — high school standout goes to college blue blood before being drafted into the NBA a year or two later.
And there’s no knocking a player for following a path so rewarding, but with the red carpet treatment sometimes comes some bad habits. Habits like entitlement and not being coachable, which can ultimately set up players for failure.
Lucky for those, Damian Lillard is around to keep it real. At his basketball camp, Formula Zero, the once little-known amateur tuned NBA superstar dropped plenty of gems to the youth.
Peep what he says:
Damian Lillard had a lot to say today regarding the current culture around young basketball players and yes men.
He says his Formula Zero Camp is about teaching kids how to have the characteristics beyond talent in order to survive and stick in the NBA. pic.twitter.com/8WfiacLqwg
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) August 5, 2022
“It puts them in position to where those things let them down when they get in a professional environment and their talent can’t get them through.”
Whew. Talk about words of wisdom.
As Lillard sounds off, I imagine his words could be beneficial to anyone, not just to athletes.
Nevertheless, the campers in attendance are getting some profound words from one of the toughest the NBA has to offer. Hopefully, they benefit from this in the long run.