If you’re the kind of professional basketball enthusiast that I am, then I imagine that you go through the length of the regular season of the NBA without watching many games but then intently tune in when the Playoffs start up. It sounds terrible, but that’s my experience each year. I simply don’t have the time to watch the many games that are played throughout the year. I believe it’s 82 of them (per team) for the regular season. That’s a lot of games to miss! Nevertheless, I can manage to get in a few games from a best out of seven series for a few Playoff rounds. The two competing teams that I looked forward to watching the most were the Golden State Warriors (GSW) and the LA Clippers (LAC); and for those of you who missed the action, let me just assure you that the series drama didn’t disappoint. All you have to do is peruse Google, YouTube, or the various social media outlets to recap the newsworthy particulars. But, I’m not going to use this blog post to rehash the play-by-play of the GSW – LAC series. I am, however, going to draw today’s wise saying from one of its participants.
There is a notable rookie player on the LA Clippers by the name of Landry Shamet that first caught my attention during his collegiate basketball career and I’ve followed his progress ever since. (If you have no idea who I’m talking about, just go to YouTube and check out the highlights of the work he put in this season). I don’t know him personally; but over the years, I’ve been impressed not only by his basketball talent but more so by his demeanor and the way in which he publicly conducts himself. The various media outlets have no shortage of positive information to put out there about him. And speaking of media outlets, I recently viewed his “Exit Video” after finishing his last game for the season. This video further confirmed some favorable things I previously came to know about Mr. Shamet. When asked questions by the media, he mentioned a few things that I could easily label as “Wise Sayings”. It was actually quite difficult to narrow them down to just one, so let’s just assign the group of quotes (below) to “Wise Saying #8”. Landry can speak for himself, so here are some of the words of wisdom he shared with his interviewing audience and the world-at-large:
“I can honestly say I didn’t ever take anything for granted this year, which is one thing I’m proud of.”
“I don’t ever want to be like not be present for anything; that’s my biggest fear. I want to experience everything, appreciate it, acknowledge it.”
When talking about the changes he had to face his first NBA year as a rookie with being traded, having to move his life to a new city, and holding down a new role on a new team, Landry said…
“If you have that mindset like gratitude and you don’t take things for granted, you know you find yourself complaining a whole lot less. Or, if you do complain, it’s easier you know to kind of correct yourself.”
“That’s kind of my mindset… never try to complain.”
When asked about his slogan, regarding the #NeverCheated clothing line, Landry said…
“Yeah, I feel like I do things the right way. I always work hard. I don’t cut corners. Good things come to people who do things the right way.”
“That’s why I keep it as my screensaver. Just seeing ‘you’ve never cheated’. It’s kind of reassuring like you know you’re doing things the right way. You’re where you’re supposed to be. There’s ups and downs. You’re going to go through ruts. You’re going to go through highs. You just can never, can never waver. That’s kind of what it means to me.”
He’s right, you know. Good things truly come to those who do the right thing. I’m a firm believer of this perspective. And, I see how such a statement has been played out in Landry’s own life. During the interview, he indicated that, if someone would have told him that he would be a starter for a Playoff team that took the Golden State Warriors to Game 6 in the series and that his job would involve guarding Stephen Curry, it would have sounded crazy. But, guess what? All those good things came to fruition for Landry Shamet in his first year in the NBA. Could doing things the right way be the reason he is successfully living out his dream today? This 22-year old’s responses to the interview questions seemed so spot on to me (not to mention they showed maturity). I can totally relate to what he was saying. Like Landry and many others, I’ve had to work hard for the positive goals I’ve managed to achieve. I’ve never operated by cheating my way through a system but seek to put forth the required effort to perform well within it. I’ve learned to embrace life processes and glean what I can from the learning opportunities that present themselves to me. And, I have truly been blessed by doing so. It never pays to do dirty; wrong doing will always (and I mean always) catch up to you. Therefore, my household and I are striving to be all about the right way everyday and hoping for good things to come our way. So far, so good.
In closing, I couldn’t help but to acknowledge one last but highly important observation I’ve made about Landry. It’s that he appears to wholeheartedly love, honor, and respect his mother. Furthermore, he seems to appreciate the sacrifices she’s made for him throughout his life. I believe I even read somewhere that one of Landry’s reasons, for wanting to be successful in the NBA, is to be a financial blessing to his mom. I can’t help but to give kudos to Landry’s mom; because as someone who holds that same motherly role, you can easily recognize the workings of a strong maternal force in a youngster’s life. Well done, Momma Shamet. Well done.
degreesofmaternity.com 