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Michael Kidd-Gilchrist grew up just outside Philadelphia. It is not surprising, then, that words like “home” and “family” rolled off his tongue as he talked with reporters in the Visitors’ locker room before last weekend’s Bobcats-Sixers game.
Some may have been surprised, though, that Kidd-Gilchrist was using those terms while talking about Lexington, Kentucky. “The fan base is the best there is, and the coaching staff there, I mean, is like my family,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. He talked warmly about his teammates as part of that family, too. He even described senior teammate Darius Miller as “our big brother” — the teammate who was so respected that “we always listened to him.”
Kidd-Gilchrist is the youngest player in the NBA, but he says his time at Kentucky prepared him well for the League. When asked what specific aspect of his game was most improved by the coaches at Kentucky, Kidd-Gilchrist did not hesitate to answer — his passing ability. Outside of the team practices, he voluntarily devoted additional time to improving his shooting. On an average day, he said that he put up 300-400 extra shots outside of UK’s regular practices.
Some of those extra practice hours occurred before his morning classes. He explained that the origin of the famed “Breakfast Club” was quite simple: After losing at Indiana, “I didn’t want to lose any more, so we started Breakfast Club, and then we got to work.” After that loss, he said that he and his teammates pushed each other relentlessly — on their own time — with “a lot of one-on-one competition between us and a lot of weights.”
Those early-morning workouts only strengthened the team’s sense of unity that was forged over the preceding summer. During those months, several professional players waited out portions of the NBA Lockout by training in Lexington, including most of the Oklahoma City Thunder. That training often included pick-up games against the assembled high-level talent. Kidd-Gilchrist recalls that the Kentucky players participated in these pick-up games “as a unit,” and even managed to win a couple of games against teams of NBA players.
It was quite a unit — a team for the ages. In addition to the work ethic described above, that group will be remembered by many for Kidd-Gilchrist’s joyous smile, which he flashed often while recalling his days in Lexington. It is clear that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist remembers Kentucky as fondly as Big Blue Nation remembers him.
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Kentucky Sports Report thanks Stephen Miller, aka "Philly Cat" on the KSR message boards, for the interview and article. In Part 2, coming tomorrow, Miller visits with Kidd-Gilchrist about pick-up games, including a whimsical look at the two choosing their own among Kentucky players.
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