A rather unique take on Tristan Thompson, printed in the Toronto Star and written by....his Mom. I'm sure Tristan is going to get some serious grief from all his friends. :chuckles:
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How did GTA star Tristan Thompson get to the NBA? Ask Mom
It’s 19 hours after the dream came true and I’m still numb.
That was my son, Tristan Thompson, putting on the cap of the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team Thursday night, shaking the hand of commissioner David Stern,
doing just what he told me he would when he was just 10 years old.
He had made it to the NBA. A first-round pick. Chosen No. 4 overall — drafted higher than any other Canadian-born player since 1953, and selected to play in the world’s greatest professional basketball league.
And that was me, his mom, on television in the background at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., in the Green Room with the golden locks and the smile as bright as the sun.
Didn’t my boy look handsome, man? I tell you. . .
I used to tell him, “Academics come first. Without the books, you can’t get to the ball.” He’s an A student. He left University of Texas after his freshman year to pursue his hoop dream. When the door of the NBA opens, you have to walk in.
Tristan is the type of kid where, he only needs the door to open a crack and he’s in. When he was young, people kept telling me, ‘Your son is special. He’s a basketball player. He’s coachable. He’s a leader.’ So I just support my son. He always tells me he just needs me to be his mom, so I’m just there to give him a pillow to lay his head on.
You can’t have doubt. I believed in Tristan.
He is the kind of kid that knows what he wants and will fight to get it. So when he told me he wanted to go south to play with tough competition and get more exposure, I said, “Go for it.”
Sacrifices I had to make?
It was fun, really. We went all over the place to watch him play. I would take off work three days at a time, losing money I didn’t have, but you have to support your kids.
Trevor and I took the kids all over the U.S. for AAU tournaments and many times we were the only parents. You can’t leave your kids to other people. Coach Ro Russell was great. He had good contacts. But we had to be there, too.
Where does Tristan get his drive from?
I guess he watched his mom and dad.
Trevor is a truck driver. I drive a school bus. We work hard. In life you have to work hard to receive your blessing, everybody knows that. I never had it easy as a child. I didn’t have to tell Tristan anything to empower him. Tristan saw us always working hard, and he wanted to get ahead.
Setbacks? A few. But many comebacks.
When he had a falling out with the coach at St. Benedict’s Prep school, immediately God opened another scholarship at Findlay Prep in Nevada and look how it worked out — for the better.
What do dream-seekers need to know, especially that basketball kid in the projects, watching TT reach his goal at age 20?
Keep going. Don’t look back. Keep fighting. If that means you have to walk to the gym, walk.
We are at the press conference introducing Tristan to the people of Cleveland and I have one message.
It’s June 24 and Tristan Thompson is coming to Cleveland to change the fortunes of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was chosen for this time. You guys will see it and read about it.
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