The Run Overtime: Kevin Huerter’s Journey to the NBA

The Run Overtime: Kevin Huerter’s Journey to the NBA

I think we’re looking at the best of Kevin herder to come in the future he’s a two-way player 67 a guy that’s long can defend on the perimeter and as a knockdown shooter this guy is poised to have a breakout season missed the first foul shot and he

Went over and spoke to him so this might actually ended up working better in their favor the deficit is two Box’s going to bring it across the midcourt line got a good screen from sabonis from the elbow tipped up back out the box BL game short loose again her from [Applause] the son

[Applause] Harrison Barnes just has to get it in bounds and there it is ball game the Kings win it their 19th win of the Season cool Kevin Herder when Kevin first got into sports he was I think four years old and we would go to the YMCA on Saturday mornings um and he would play with kids who were five and older but he would watch his older brother and he always wanted to be doing

What his older brother was doing and they often were just full of energy and they learned a lot from their father who played basketball in high school and College himself so very early they had a ball in their hands and whatever Thomas was doing Kevin always wanted to do you

Know the same or and the competitive side of him he would often try to do it better we played one-on-one a bunch it usually ended um either in a fist fight or close to a fist fight so uh Mom and Dad sort of outlawed that at some point

But we honestly we would play a lot of just like shooting games just you know I can make more than you in this spot or this spot or whatever I always remember the boys when they were literally toddlers we had a living room that became a playroom with

A Little Tikes basketball hoop but when they weren’t playing basketball they had this car collection because we had a rug that had that looked like a city and they would play with their Matchbox cars and his were all always organized perfectly so he always had kind of like

A a focus to him even at a young age I think 3 2 1 I started working out Kev when he was in 8th grade uh part of my local training was I work with high schools in our area and his high school shenendoa um had hired me years before

To do their summer offseason training first impression of Kevin as an eighth good shooter understood the game was high IQ and then each year right he just kept getting better and better to the point where you’re like man this kid’s got a chance to be really Special so this is like the front entrance if you’re coming to a game you’d walk in here yeah this was uh the high school G won a lot of games in this G it great I mean my Junior and Senior year we used to obviously get a lot of

Students would come out uh it’s fun we had a great environment again it’s a big school we had a lot of parents a lot of support from the community which was always great uh Tuesday Friday nights those are always the game nights so again won a lot of games in this Gym oh yeah Kevin’s most talented basketball player that I ever coached which sounds like well no kidding Kevin’s very Sur with basketball he understands the game he is an extraordinarily uh Team first player he easily could have averaged 35 40 points uh playing for me his senior

Year instead he’s he just got everybody involved he put the team first his attitude was always great I always say this the more accolades and awards and accomplishments that that he achieved his senior year the easier he became the coach Kevin was always a pleasure to coach but as these these accolades came

It was actually more enjoyable it almost like he he didn’t even want the the those he just wanted the team to have success and that that was it this is kind of like our our high school wall so this is a jersey frame that we won we we won a state

Championship in that my brother’s Senior Year my junior year so this is that jersey with that team you see Dad that’s his we always like to make fun of him for the stash he’s rocking in this picture this was one of the papers this was at this point like sold out crowd

And our gym was like a big deal still got the Rings so this is baseball so this is 2016 got to show our high school rings come on now so this stays here so I don’t lose him this one was basketball so we got both of these but

They got your name on so let me get one of these for the Kings out you purple would look a little better than Green at this point in my life she got on godam when he was in high school we didn’t have high major D1 in you know

The back of our minds and I know he didn’t it was just we want to be as good as we can for our high school season and we knew that we had confidence that he would go in and and do well at Maryland but again the NBA and the next step was

Never on our minds or I’m sure it wasn’t on his mind and then sort of after his freshman year and he had a you know a good year I forget what he averaged but that was the year where we kind of you know took a step back that that spring

And summer and kind of looked at each other said he might not be there all four years where is Melo he’s on the right wing Cowan drops it down low the block to Damonte D whips the pass right side herder wide open From yeah it up On the breakway and one [Applause] [Applause] handed under the basket reverse with a left hand acrobatic shot by Kevin herder is good into a cutting hder with a onehanded slam and the crowd erupts what a play by Kevin her I think in college seeing him play there and Thrive I was like oh he’s

Actually like pretty good at this I never thought growing up that he would be where he is now like I just thought that he was like a good basketball player like never could play in the NBA with the 19th pick in the 2018 NBA draft the Atlanta Hawks select Kevin

Herder from the University of Maryland It truly was a surreal moment I think we always knew that he had the ability to play at the highest level because parents have confidence in their children but then to see that there were teams and coaches and and team owners that also had the same confidence in

Kevin it was such a proud proud moment there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t get one to two texts um every single day even in the offseason you know asking about Kevin how he’s doing so we were here I actually got the

Phone call from his agent and as soon as I saw the number come up I just said oh my God I think he got Traded we had goals going in about what we wanted to accomplish uh certainly adding shooting size versatility defense depth you know Kevin starting the playoffs can score a variety of ways playmake shoot defend rebound give us a lot of those things that we were looking for points Hawks lead by two at first

I’m not going to lie I was a little bit upset about Kev moving away from Atlanta but when he made the move it was just great to see how much love he was getting there and and to see the way that he fit in so fast and filled the

Role that he filled was awesome we started looking around and I remember even Texon like you guys are going to be good this year like you have a really good strong core of young guys that plays the right way and plays unselfishly and when he went out and met

All those guys for the first time he sort of was able to you know confirm some of the beliefs we had Dame got knocked off balance no whistle herder over to W filling the lane for the layup just said you know these guys are all really good guys they’re all in this for

The right reasons they’re all you know professionals and in more ways than one we were very optimistic going into the season just excited for him to be in a new situation basketball wise and to be around you know some of the great teames that he has in

Sacramento feel good first mid day with sack let’s get it some new digs new colors rocking the purple black I was flying across the country to a new place a place I’d never lived before only visited a handful of times similarly I didn’t really know what to expect and

Our team is great the fans are great the city’s great and so everything that could go well has gone well People really I think underestimated and slept on his ability to put it on the deck and get to the basket put it on the deck off the catch or the dribble and not just a catch and shoot spot up in the corner type of guy red B got a

Little springs in his step everything happens for a reason and boy it’s been absolutely a terrific terrific time for Kevin it was [Applause] Unbelievable fingers [Applause] [Applause] I Sacramento has been great for Kevin you know Kevin’s the type of player that tries to have a good relationship with everyone he plays with whether they’re the 12th man or the or the best player so he’s forged a lot of great relationships with the Kings um both on

The court and off the court but what that has done for his career has been great and I think he’s hungry for more wonderful ball movement the jumper short herder well the ball finds energy and Kevin herder has enough energy to light up this Sacramento night and with two

Blocks three deflections and seven defensive rebounds especially one late in the game come on I love Kevin that’s my guy um that’s my guy I mean what what’s there not to love about him I think he’s he’s one of my my good friend um

He’s guy I golf with a lot so we have a lot of clashing going on there zoom in right here zoom in right here look at that look at that look at that bin that’s all this guy all he does is this BR Kevin herder um I don’t know we

We always pick on him we pick on him uh he’s he’s our guy we love him but yeah he’s the one who always gets picked on what’s one word I would give Kev I would say gravity just his gravity of being on the court even when kev’s not

Making shots they guard him regardless of how he’s shooting if he’s shooting 50% from three or if he’s shooting 20% from three he still has a presence on the court when he’s there and we’re just like to finger point what are we doing yes go please support I know what you can

Do obviously this guy’s a special guy and a special a special dude in in our lives you know I’ve definitely gotten numb to the feeling of of him playing against all these Superstars and and playing on the big big stage but you know I think what’s great about

Kevin is that you know none of that has changed who he is as a person and especially as a friend you know I think the biggest thing that everybody locally in the community still believe is that Kevin’s still Kevin I thought that was you guys you how you doing

Good I know you to see you guys how’s everything going when you got drafted there was never so many Atlanta Hawks fans up here but even now so right with Sacramento being far away you know people wearing purple black and and white all the time and you know wearing

Sacramento can’s jerseys and you know it’s a testament to him too because you know I’ve been with him and he’ll stop and he’ll talk to somebody for 20 minutes you know we’ll be working out in here you see this beautiful facility six courts and there’s people playing in

Here all the time and they’ll ask for a picture and he always says yes and so you know the community is naturally going to you know rally around somebody who’s playing at the professional level but even more so like he guides that so it’s it’s meant a lot and you know it’s

Helped other young players that we have realized like hey Kev did it like I can do it too and he’s such a good person to follow his blueprint because he’s done it the right way what is one message that you would want to deliver to Kevin oh Boy I love the young man you’ve become uh and I know you’re going to continue developing I will always be that guy who just wants to be there for you and that’s all I want is just to to see you do your best keep beinga yourself keep grinding and you know everything else

Will take care of themselves you know it’s a long journey we still have a lot of accomplishments to come but you know taking a day at a time you know keep accomplishing those goals and and we’ll be we’ll be set for for whatever you want to do just know that your family is

Proud of you at the end of the day and we are very happy of who You’ become and what you do and the people that you reach and just the message that you leave to people and how big of a ro model you are for everyone that you talk

To Kev I hope you know that your boys were always going to support you no matter where you’re at we’re always going to be your biggest fans no matter what man a message I would want to say to Kevin uh I’m proud of him because of

Who he is not what he is um it’s not about what his paycheck is it’s not about what the people in the rest of the world see him as he’s true to himself he’s true to his family so I I know he’ll continue to work hard and I know

He’ll continue to do the right thing because he always Has I think one message that I would want to make sure that Kevin knows and I and I hope in my heart that he does is how very proud he makes his family and his community and his friends and the grace that he has and how he carries

Himself we would want Kevin to know that he’s loved we would want him to know how proud We Are of Kevin we would want Kevin to know how much he’s missed and how we look forward to the next time that we see him even as we’re saying

Goodbye from a visit that we’re always looking forward to the next time

Just a kid from Clifton Park, New York with a dream.   

Follow along with Kevin Huerter, family and close friends to track his humble beginnings as a local basketball star to an NBA first-round pick 👑🏀  

The Run Overtime presented by @ARCO   

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