Below is the third excerpt of the series Guy Ramsey and I are
doing for CoachCal.com. We are
profiling the Kentucky men’s basketball team’s five newcomers in an
exclusive series for CoachCal.com. Because it’s an exclusive, we can
only post a portion of the story below. You’ll have to head over to CoachCal.com to read the full story.
Kyle Wiltjer is somewhat of a movie buff.
Living just a few minutes away from a video store at his old house in
Portland, Ore., Wiltjer used to run up the street and rent films at least once a
week. Wiltjer would pop in the movies, sit back and marvel at art as its put
into action.
At that stage in Wiltjer’s life, Steven Speilberg, Martin Scorsese and
Quentin Tarantino were at the top of their games mastering their craft. It seems
only natural that a movie buff like Wiltjer would be into at least one of
them.
Turns out he’s into a different kind of film. Growing up, Wiltjer was much
more interested in watching Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan
recreate classics.
Born after the prime of Bird and Johnson’s career, and with only a few
memories of Jordan’s historic run in the late 1990s, Wiltjer didn’t let time
affect his chance at seeing some of basketball’s legends. Instead, he rented
film after film, watching, learning and studying the game’s greatest
players.
When Wiltjer talks about them and some of the players he used to watch
growing up, his eyes widen and his voice perks up. Just about every basketball
player has a player they looked up to or emulated, but Wiltjer has quite the
list.
In addition to Bird, Johnson and Jordan, there’s Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash,
Kevin Love and even Arvydas Sabonis (Wiltjer admits his admiration of Sabonis
derives from his unabashed love for the Portland Trailblazers).
As much as you can call an 18-year-old a historian of the game, that’s
exactly what Wiltjer is. He’s an astute follower. When Wiltjer discovered
YouTube, he ditched the films for highlights and amateur mix tapes. It’s not
uncommon for Wiltjer to watch YouTube highlights seven nights a week.
Wiltjer has used the mental reels of film to his advantage in his rise to one
of the top incoming freshmen in the country. While the average fan watches a
basketball highlight in awe, Wiltjer studies it and applies it to his game like
a sponge soaking up water.
“I try to pick up and practice moves I get from those tapes,” Wiltjer said.
“I loved how skilled Larry Bird was. He just didn’t miss in his highlight tapes.
My favorite clip is when he scores like 40 points all with his left hand. I
thought it was pretty unbelievable that he could play with competition like that
and do something like that.”
