What is basketable nets without duo? They were once 20 points ahead by the 11th wizard in the east. But in this game, the young people stepped forward-the 21-year-old Cam-Thomas played a substitute. He scored 16 points in 23 shots in 29 minutes 8 seconds, slashing 44 points and leading the team to stage plot twist. 44 points not only set a new record for Thomas’s career, but also the highest score of the replacements in NBA this season.
In history, this score was also earned: only 15 people could score higher on the bench, but their playing time exceeded 30 minutes, that is to say, Thomas’s game, efficient + reverse, quality and quantity guaranteed.
He said after the game that Owen would always be my brother, but basketable nets there were not only two people, so we would not be looked down.
This is enough to say, and now I am confident. After all, Owen’s highest score this season is only 48 points.
The lone hero made a crazy move and turned the game by himself. He came from a shooting guard wearing the 24th. Is he familiar with it? This is not a coincidence. Thomas is a die-hard Kobe fan. Everything from numbers to sneakers to moves and offensive choices is paying tribute to idols. Thomas said that Kobe’s spirit inspired him to come to the present, making him an NBA player who is not afraid of the world.
And another one to thank sincerely is his mother.
Perhaps many fans have noticed Thomas’s special message: He was born in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. No SAKULAKI and Liuchuan were born here, but an NBA player was actually produced. Sam Thomas’s mother Leslie Thomas once served in the US Army and was sent to South Korea before. After she retired, she gave birth to a daughter. Ten years later, she gave birth to her son Cam in Japan.
As a single mother, Leslie devoted all her efforts to the two children. She once played basketball matches in high school and passed on the genes of basketball to the children. Cam fell in love with basketball when he was 2 years old, and began to accept mother’s training when he was 5 years old. After returning to the United States, Leslie set up a rim in the backyard. She began to teach her son to shoot, first the middle distance, then the three-pointer.
A year later, Cam could hit dozens of free throws in a row. At the age of 7, he took part in a match and scored 33 goals in a row, winning the championship. Later, he was invited to participate in the AAU competition, competing with 9-year-old and 10-year-old children, and always winning these older children.
In the process of growing up, Kobe was most fascinated by Cam. He asked his mother to make the bedroom a Kobe world: sheets, blankets and stalls. The whole room was full of Kobe elements, and even Leslie painted the walls purple and gold. When playing games, Cam always wears a pair of bright green sneakers. His mother said that this was a gift for him, Kobe 6 generation.
Before going to school, Cam would play ball with his mother in the entertainment center of the community. At that time, all the children hired personal coaches or followed basketball teachers to practice ball. Only Cam played ball with his mother.
“The only mother on the I am court, they all felt strange,” Leslie said, “but when practicing, those children would also come and watch us practice. Cam never felt embarrassed, when basketball was there, he was always very focused.”
“Those children usually don’t have much words with their mothers, but we are different. We are mother and son, and we are even better friends.”
But it is not that simple.
Leslie comes from the line of business and lives alone. In fact, he doesn’t pay much attention to methods when educating children. He often criticizes severely and seldom praises.
This kind of stress-based education often has a negative impact on children, but Cam is an exception. Looking at Kobe playing, he does not resist this kind of “extremely challenging” education. On the one hand, he knows that high standards and strict requirements will help him improve his strength; On the other hand, he also enjoyed Kobe’s life philosophy of “making enemies with the world and making critics shut up.
Leslie cooks for Cam, takes care of his daily life, and helps him polish his skills at other times. They will go online together to watch the highlights of Kobe and harden, and then go outside to practice over and over again, before getting systematic training in middle school, all the skills of Cam were practiced at home with his mother.
In the first high school, Cam and his mother chose to drop out because they did not agree with the coach. In the whole year of high school, Cam and his mother went back to the community court and trained six days a week. Leslie stood by the court and picked up the balls for his son one by one.
“He is not depressed, but more hungry for the game,” Leslie said. “I can see his passion. He is fighting against his imaginary opponent, which may be useless to others, but it works for Cam.”
A year later, he transferred to Oak Hill and worked with Cole Anthony in the back court. Coach Smith said that he had never seen an attacking player like Thomas-he was able to retreat three points with one hand completely covered his face, he can make a breakthrough in double team, and he can throw a three-pointer from 30 feet away, and he can also carry the big man on the backbasket.
“Unimaginable level of attack,” Smith said, “super long range, extremely tough layup.”
But for Cam and Leslie, it is nothing to get the appreciation of high school coaches. They only have one goal to enter the NBA.
Leslie will appear at the edge of every high school competition. She will always point out the details of the problem in a loud voice, sometimes even coach Smith can’t watch it any more.
“I would say that he really played perfectly some nights, but she didn’t agree with me. She was Cam’s biggest critic.”
Often after a game, after his teammates celebrated with Cam, Leslie came over and stressed to him that some rounds were not good enough.
Coach Smith said, “she shouted in the stands, ‘Hurry up! Hit the basket! ‘”
Thomas and Anthony (now works for Magic)
Leslie’s criticism is sometimes very harsh and full of shouting, but Cam always listens carefully and then responds politely. He has become accustomed to the mode of getting along with his mother. In her heart, there will always be a “a fine example”, which is better than him in all aspects, and he can’t get rid of it. But he also knew clearly that the fine example was the perfect self in his mother’s heart.
Cam also remembered a NCAA elimination match. He resisted the pressure in the case of the first 7 shots 1. In the next 11, 6 scored the highest 27 points and led the team to the next round. When LSU fans were celebrating the victory, Leslie shouted at the end of the phone, “Do you know what you did wrong?!”
13 penalty 11 in the card is very clear how to reply, “I know, lost two free throws!”
Cam and his mother are people who keep improving. They understand that if they want to enter NBA, they must make sure that there are as few mistakes as possible. Cam does not have a huge network of relatives and friends, nor does he have outstanding physical qualities. He relies too much on the individual play of singles and is even not favored in this era. With a height of only 1.93 meters, he can’t transition to No. 1, which will obviously suffer a lot in NBA. In his draft report, the template gave CJ-mccolum. The NBA scout commented that he was a super scorer, with a range of half-time coverage and strong self-confidence, dare to attack with the ball at any time. But in the same way, besides scoring, he can do too few things, lack of height, lack of defense, too many mistakes, and shooting is not so stable.
These shortcomings were reflected little by little in the process of trial training. Cam’s draft expectations also fell out of the top 20 from the end of the original lottery, the team that still expects him most appreciates his self-confidence. These teams believe that in time, the upper limit of Cam is a qualified sixth person.
But Cam didn’t think so. He called himself “the strongest scorer in level 2021”. Facing the camera, he was full of confidence, “I am already excellent in attack. In other aspects, I just have room to grow.”
In the 2021draft conference, the 27th was in line. He was chosen basketable nets. The suit carefully prepared by Cam came in handy. He basked out the lining of the suit, which was his idol of his life, Kobe.
Overconfidence may not be an advantage. It can be seen from Cam’s disdain for Nash, but basketable nets seems to be a good choice. Durant and Owen are both historical scorers, cam said that by their side, he found that his attack could be improved. Now he could see the gap at a glance without his mother’s supervision.
In this frequently turbulent basketable Nets team, Cam was matched by other teams several times, but the general manager Max insisted on letting go. Max said that this boy can pick the big beam in the future. What I hope is, what he can present is not only score. Less dry and more time on defense.
This time, he listened. On the training ground basketable nets, Cam humbly asked the assistant coach for advice. In his words, “it’s like a sponge, learning new knowledge every day.”
But he knew exactly what he was good–
“When the team needs it, I can take over all the rights.”
“Basketball is always won by teams with many scores.”
It is hard to say whether Owen was thrown off by the basketable nets by the 44 points of Cam, but Max must hope Cam will become the future of the team and play the important role of scoring. It seems that this boy can do it.
Because someone already asked that day: Let’s talk about the surprising outbreak today.
He said — I can always do all the things you see today.
Your time is coming.