In Deep with Brock Gillespie: Stories from around the World, trying to make the NBA

Jaime Martínez Lafargue - May 26, 2009 at 12:10 - 2574 views - Post your comment


Playing along with LeBron James, being with the Bobcats under Jordan's ownership. Playing abroad in New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland. The NBDL and the NBA Summer leagues. All the way to the NBA in this intimate interview with this Rice player

How you define yourself as player?

I define myself as a winner and let my numbers speak for themselves. People can lie, but numbers don’t lie and everywhere I’ve been, I have had good numbers and my teams have won, so I would say I’m known as a winner. In specific terms, I would say every time I step on the court I am the quickest player out there and can shoot the ball from as deep as any player.

Brock Gillespie at the NBDL with Austin Toros
What differences on the skills of your favorite athlete Pete Maravich and you?

Like Pete, I played for my father at the university level in college, so we probably have more similarities than differences. The one difference I can think of is that he is obviously right-handed and I’m left-handed. We both share a flair to excite the fans and entertain using basketball a form of art showing the fans something they may have never seen before with different moves within the game.

Your father, Marty, was a player for the Iowa State Cyclones in the 1970's and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball. He is a long-time NCAA Division One college basketball coach (He coached Hersey Hawkins) and coached you at Rice. What can you tell us about him? What you learn about basketball from him?

My father was so serious on my career for my whole life, and had so much discipline and influence on me. I was lucky to remember being a young child and learning from him and his teams, I was raised with a professional attitude from a young age. I think my father being a great baseball player helped him coaching basketball and made him different than most basketball coaches, because while most coaches are very stressed and too hyperactive (many times in a negative manner), my father was always more relaxed and calm and was a true ‘players’ coach’. My father coached so many professional players and they all loved him like a father, even more than I did at times, ha-ha...

In High School you played ball at Clarksville High School in Tennessee. How was the experience?

My time at Clarksville was extremely enjoyable. I was fortunate enough to have a great career there and win championships for a school known for its basketball tradition. I am still #2 all time for scoring in a career at Clarksville, Trenton Hassell of the New Jersey Nets is #1 and behind me at #3 is Shawn Marion of the Toronto Raptors. The famous women’s coach Pat Summitt is from Clarksville also. You were named named All-American by McDonalds and USA Today and the year before you got invited to three camps with players like Emeka Okafor, Maurice Williams, TJ Ford, Josh Childress, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Chris Paul, Ben Gordon, Carmelo Anthony… (to this camps assists 100 of the best players at high school age).

Gillespie passing the ball in Australia
There you knew Lebron James. How is the MVP of the NBA? I think you won a camp (Five Star) on his team…

Yes I had a wonderful time at the camps and I was lucky to be chosen for the high honor of being selected, I will always remember the good times I had with so many of those players when we were younger, and I am happy to see so many of them doing well now in the NBA. LeBron was actually very shy and quiet when I played with him then. He was a year younger than me and I remember the Five-Star Camp director Howard Garfinkel tell me “Brock, you are a great point guard, but this week you will be even better because I am putting on your team the best player this camp has ever seen”, I thought this was a crazy statement because I knew Garfinkel had run the camp for many years and had helped begin the careers of so many legendary players at that camp such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Patrick Ewing, Moses Malone, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Kobe Bryant among others… but the statement became true and LeBron and I won the championship there and were both selected to the All-Star game, that was a special moment I will be able to tell my children about someday.

What Universities wanted to ink you?

Coming out of high school, I had many good universities wanting to sign me, such as Stanford, UNLV, University of Tennessee, University of Minnesota, LSU, Fresno State, Hawaii and many other great schools… I also was recruited by many great coaches such as the great Jerry Tarkanian.

Why did you decide to play at Rice University?

I chose to sign with Rice very early in high school and the reason was because academics were very important to me and Rice is one of the top academic schools with basketball in the USA, especially for my major study of politics. We also had great players there such as Mike Wilks, Mike Harris, and Morris Almond, all of whom I played with at Rice and all of whom have been in the NBA. Playing for my father was also a special experience for me and playing in the great Western Athletic Conference was fun also, a conference filled with beautiful cities and big arenas. (Spanish fans will probably remember one of Rice’s older great players, Brent Scott)

Brock Gillespie with Spanish LEB\'s Lleida jersey
How was your first professional experience in NBL (Australia/New Zealand) competition? You won the regular season championship (24-1) and 2nd in playoff. Also averaged 15,2 points and 4,6 assists with a leading 3 pointer with 46 %...

I had a wonderful time in New Zealand for my rookie season, I was lucky to play on a great team featuring three members of the New Zealand National Team that were older and taught me a lot. We ran the triangle offense to perfection and I had a lot of fun with those guys and living in that part of the world.

Following season you were drafted by Austin Toros. How is NBDL? (This competition is a bit unknown, the level and the infrastructure)

The NBA Development League was so strong then (before expansion of new teams, there were fewer number of players then), the league was designed to improve and develop top NBA prospects from the USA and European players who had been drafted by NBA teams and needed to learn the different style of play. I was fortunate enough to be drafted high by the Spurs’ team, the Toros and I loved it. The league’s talent was similar to ACB/EuroLeague, all of my teammates had played in the NBA or EuroLeague before, such as Loren Woods, Jay Williams, James White, Troy Bell, Allan Ray and others.

Playing in Slovakia
There your coach was Dennis Johnson, a former NBA star. What did you learn of him? You and Larry Bird were the two people that talked in his funeral…

DJ was like a second father to me and though he so sadly and suddenly passed away during the season, I will always remember and cherish the great times we had together, I learned so much from him in not just basketball, but off the court as well, he taught me how to live my life as a professional and I think about and miss him every day of my life.

Finally, at the end of the season, Charlotte Bobcats called you up to play on NBA. How was this moment?

After a good season in the D-League I was lucky that Charlotte brought me in and gave me my chance in the NBA, the experience was all fun for me, even practices and camp and summer league…the NBA is something every kid dreams about and I am happy that I was able to be there, even if only for a very short time.

There you met the co-owner Michael Jordan. Tell us…

Michael is the greatest athlete ever on Earth and I can see why after being around him, he carries himself through life with an unbelievable arrogance in everything he does, but he’s very professional and works extremely hard. Plus Pujol Lleida called you to make a try-out at the end of this 2007-08 season.

His last experience: Benetton Fribourg
You convinced the team after one week and signed for the next season. What you think about Spanish LEB Gold level?

I absolutely love the LEB Oro level, I had a fabulous time playing there and everything about the league was first class – the coaches, the fans, and the media (of course the great Chema Lucas!) The Spanish leagues are really a great example for the rest of the world in showing how professional basketball is supposed to be played and supported. Spain is terrific.

After Spain you played in Slovakia, where you averaged 31,9 points, 3,9 assists and 3,5 rebounds for Nitra. How is basketball in Slovakia and the country?

The level there is better than I had expected, there are many unknown players from eastern Europe and the league is very physical. I was playing alongside the ex-NCAA All-American and longtime European successful player Dametri Hill, and so we pretty much did all the scoring and production for our team.

This season you began in D-League with Sioux Falls and after that you played for Benetton Fribourg, where the team inked you to get the Swiss Cup (you finally got it). How was the experience?

I began the season in the D-League to get another shot at the NBA again, but when I had the opportunity to play for Benetton, I signed knowing they had been a great club in the ULEB and EuroCup the last two seasons. My experience was wonderful, Benetton was a first-class club and I really enjoyed my time there. Our team was very talented and finally we did win the cup and I played well so I was happy.

What are your expectations for the next season?

My expectations are very high for next season. I am working everyday now to get stronger and improve my game every day and night in the gym. I am now training to prepare for NBA Summer League (I have opportunities possibly with the Dallas Mavericks and Orlando Magic), I will also be training everyday with Houston Rockets’ assistant coach Shawn Respert (former NBA and EuroLeague player as well) who was one of my coaches at Rice before. I also have the opportunity to be a coach at Kobe Bryant’s camp for kids in Los Angeles in July, so I will enjoy that also. My main goal is to sign early with a top club so I can begin to focus on winning a championship again. I hope to come back to Spain if possible, especially now with my British bosman status, I have a great agent there in Spain, and I promised my best friend Elena that I would come back, ha-ha…(she lives in Salamanca)

When you retire of professional basketball player what you like to do?

After I finish playing, I plan on coaching or scouting for an NBA team or European club and after some years retire completely from basketball and enter political office as possibly as a United States Congressman from my home state of Texas.

Your best friend is Emeka Okafor, what can you say us about him?

Emeka has been a great friend to me for many years since we were young and he’s someone that I have a great deal of trust and respect for. I wish the NBA had more examples like him. Emeka and I have a lot of fun together in the summers away from basketball.

Glory Road

How arose the opportunity to participate in the film?

Jerry Bruckheimer, the movie’s producer contacted me in 2005 and said there was a role that was perfect for me to play and I of course accepted. What is the plot of the film?

The film portrays the real-life story of the 1966 NCAA Champions, Texas Western Tell us what is your performance in the film

I play the star player of the opposing team in the first game of the film and shoot all of the shots in those scenes.

How is the life in Hollywood?

Hollywood is amazing, I have a great time there every summer visiting so many friends of mine that live there.

NBA

What are your favorite teams to get the final? How is changing the league?

I follow players, but not teams, so I don’t have an opinion on the final much. The league is definitely changing because of the increased image problem the league is facing now. The league has turned into a streetball-type league with many negative character people, and in result the league has lost so much money the last couple years, skills are down as is fan attendance. I would like to see the league become more like the European style of a higher emphasis on skills, passing and shooting and teamwork… the league was this way in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when it was at its best, hopefully it will return to that form.


Based on Entrevista a Brock Gillespie: de actor profesional a jugador de baloncesto by Chema De Lucas .

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Jaime Martínez Lafargue

Jaime Martínez Lafargue

October 31, 2001
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