Cassius Stanley has known this day was coming, and he’s long dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player. He just never expected it to happen in a year unlike any other. None of his fellow rookies foresaw it playing out like this.
Stanley, selected by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 2020 NBA draft, was a standout high school basketball player at the powerhouse Sierra Canyon in Los Angeles before playing a one-and-done season at Duke University. His path hasn’t always been clear, but he’s reached the place he wanted to be.
It’s just that, thanks to COVID-19, nothing feels normal. At all.
Yet Stanley, 21, said he’s feeling mostly settled as his pro career begins. He was still moving into a new apartment when he recently spoke with For The Win, but credited his teammates and the NBA’s virtual rookie transition program for helping him navigate a process that is inherently chaotic during a year in which every normal rhythm has been knocked off beat.
The rookie program put him at ease as he reconnected with old friends, teammates and opponents.
“Everyone is going through the same thing,” said Stanley. “It was pretty cool to scroll and see who was on and everyone was active. We were all turning on our mics and asking questions and it was really good to see some of the guys that I knew in high school and in AAU and college. Now, seeing all of us together in the same program and going through the same thing as rookies, I think that calmed a lot of nerves.”
The rookie program is important every year, but making sure its lessons carried through virtually was of vital importance as the NBA worked toward starting a new season today. Greg Taylor, the NBA’s Senior Vice President for Player Development, leads a team responsible for helping players navigate life in the NBA — and professional basketball in general — off the court. Taylor knows that maintaining an elite basketball career, even without the strange circumstances of an ongoing global pandemic, is a stressful job.
He told For The Win that his department exists to give players the tool kit to help navigate this in a healthy manner, both mentally and physically.
“Our goal is to prepare them for what to expect as they enter the league and to just let them understand that we are here both to support them and also to provide them with resources,” explained Taylor. “There is no question or experience or challenge that they will have that we haven’t had a chance to understand and see over the years.”
The rookie transition program, which has existed in an official capacity since 1986, is the main event for Taylor’s team. What previously occurred over four August days in New Jersey was abridged this year via Zoom over two days at the beginning of December.
Taylor recognized that the program missed the fraternal bonding aspects that come with the in-person setting of previous years. But he said the league was able to open invitations to a wider group of rookies and, for the first time, include several undrafted free agents that have signed two-way deals in the programming as well.
During the sessions, incoming rookies heard from the NBPA’s Dr. Bill Parham and NBA Mind Health’s Dr. Kensa Gunter. The NBA and NBPA also had medical experts on hand to discuss COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Rookies also joined various peer-to-peer panels hosted by three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade and current players in the league including Karl-Anthony Towns, Tobias Harris, Danillo Gallinari and Pat Connaughton.
“With someone like Karl-Anthony Towns, he did a great job of relating because he was in our shoes just a few years ago. He went through some of the exact same things like EYBL, AAU, college,” said Stanley. “He made sure that we knew he was one of our guys, that he is definitely someone we should reach out to if we have any questions.”
Stanley, who averaged 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 14.3 minutes over three preseason games, has also been able to forge strong relationships with Pacers teammates. He specifically mentioned Victor Oladipo, Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb, TJ McConnell, Doug McDermott, Aaron Holiday and Justin Holiday as players who’ve guided him. That’s part of the rookie program: Young players are taught how to befriend veterans and lean on them for mentoring and insight.
Taylor described the engagement on the Zoom sessions as “phenomenal” and enjoyed listening to the rookies talk to the current players about topics including what to expect on and off the floor, how to take care of their bodies, the value of sleep and hydration and nutrition, how to navigate the rookie wall, how to get in good graces with coaches and how to reach out for help.
He highlighted Tyrese Haliburton, James Wiseman, Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and Cole Anthony as those who took the time to ask very thoughtful questions.
Meanwhile, as these individuals receive significantly large paychecks for the first time in their lives and suddenly have to account for managing life-changing money, one of the primary goals of the rookie transition program is to help with financial literacy.
Purvis Short was selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft and enjoyed twelve seasons in the league. He now serves as the NBPA’s Chief of Player Programming and told For The Win that players from his era struggled without the sort of programs the league now provides.
“We didn’t have financial education programs. We didn’t have a career development program,” said Short. “So a lot of us made a lot of mistakes, man.”
These days, Short says that one of the reasons he still works with the players’ labor union is because he wishes that he had a better understanding of the expectations that an NBA player carries when he comes into the league.
He emphasized that he personally wants to help rookies learn how to conduct and carry themselves so as to best represent themselves as an individual and as a member of an NBA organization.
Short can pull from his firsthand experience to tell you that that success on the court has a lot to do with athletic talent, of course. But it is also about how well someone is able to adjust to a new environment, teammates, coaches and work habits.
Nothing will be able to fully prepare a rookie as they turn the page to this massive new chapter in their lives. The rookie transition program, however, will make it a little bit easier for players like Stanley who are up for the challenge.
“This year was particularly difficult,” Short said. “They’re literally being placed right in the middle of the fire. That learning curve is going to be very steep. But that’s why we’re here, to try to help them in whatever way we can and hopefully ease that transition.”
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