Little man, big inspiration

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues, the smallest man to ever play in the NBA, was coming to town for the National Junior NBA Training Camp, which is now ongoing at UP Diliman, and which will culminate on Sunday, 28 April 2013, at the SM Mall of Asia.

Yesterday, 25 April 2013, I had the chance to meet the NBA veteran and to speak with him one-on-one. Two things immediately caught my attention when I walked up to Muggsy to introduce myself. First, he is smaller than I thought he would be. He has lost the muscle he had when he was playing in the NBA, and has slimmed down considerably. Second, he is a gracious, humble fellow, who accommodated not just me, but so many others who, perhaps, asked the same or similar questions over and over again, jetlagged and all, after arriving the night before.

Given a very strict time limit, I had to rattle off my questions quickly, and choose among my full page of queries which of them I thought would interest Muggsy the most.

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First off, I asked him why he stuck to basketball despite his obvious lack of height. His answer was simple. “I just wanted to play. I loved that round ball, how it moved and what it did.” Bogues said that he was not concerned about people saying he was too small. For him, he was “just out there having fun.”

I recalled for him his having played at Dunbar High in Maryland with three other future NBA players, David Wingate (Sixers, Spurs, Bullets, Hornets, Knicks, and Sonics), Reggie Williams (Clippers, Cavaliers, Spurs, Nuggets, Pacers, Nets), and the late Reggie Lewis (Celtics). I asked him if they ever talked about making it to the NBA together, to play together or face each other there one day. Muggsy said, “Believe it or not, we never spoke about that. It’s just something that naturally happened.”

According to Bogues, their concern at the time was making it to a good college, one with a good basketball program. He related that Wingate, who was a year ahead of the other three, chose Georgetown. Williams followed suit a year later, but Bogues (Wake Forest) and Lewis (Northeastern) felt that Georgetown “didn’t fit” for them. Influencing Bogues’ decision was the fact that Georgetown already had an established point guard, Michael Jackson, who was just a sophomore. He ended up at Wake Forest and his career blossomed even further.

With reference to some neighboring schools like the University of North Carolina and Duke, which are known to have great basketball traditions, such as former players coming back in the summer to play pick-up games or to talk to the current players, I asked Muggsy if Wake had a similar practice. He quickly said, “We need more of it! We gotta’ get back that tradition!” He admits it has “dropped off somewhat” at Wake and especially nowadays, when recruitment is so tough with UNC, Duke and NC State in the area, as well as other schools like Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Connecticut, trying to out-recruit each other, Wake needs to “track them down, and get them back to our school.” He said that lately, not many from the Demon Deacons make it to the NBA, but that two of them in the league now are Jeff Teague (Hawks) and James Johnson (Kings).

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We talked about his NBA life, how difficult his first season with the Washington Bullets was, and his move to the Charlotte Hornets, where his career really took off. Muggsy said he wondered why the Bullets drafted him because the players they had at the time did not seem to complement him. He describes his move to the Hornets as “refreshing” and “a match made in Heaven.” In Charlotte, he loved the atmosphere, the city, and the team. He was familiar with the area, having studied at Wake, which is in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, not far from Charlotte, and the opportunity to “come home” and play there again was “overwhelming”, and he had the chance for his career to blossom and showcase his talent.

I mentioned one of his longtime teammates and good friend, Dell Curry, with whom he played eleven seasons, nine in Charlotte and two more in Toronto, and asked if he is following the career of Dell’s son, Stephen Curry, the amazing guard of the Golden State Warriors. Muggsy suddenly smiled, beaming with pride. “I’m loving Steph!” he proclaimed. “I’ve been watching him since he was in Pampers! I’m so proud of him.” He mentioned that Stephen is playing at a “remarkable level”, and has such great skills. Most of all, according to Bogues, Stephen is “such a great kid” who “will surely have no issues in the NBA.”

The organizers already flashed me the “time’s up” signal at this point, so I threw one more question out to Muggsy, asking him what his message would be for the many Filipinos who, like him, are “vertically-challenged”, but still aspire to play basketball and, perhaps, make it to the professional leagues, maybe even the NBA. His answer was simple. “Keep believing!” That’s where it starts. You gotta’ believe.” He reminded all the dreamers to understand themselves, their skills, and their game. While believing you can play the game is a start, you have to make sure to work on your skills and understand what you can and cannot do. Those whose size is similar to his, which he calls “funsize”, should realize that they will probably be point guards or combo guards. They must understand what their strengths are and explore them to the fullest.

I ended our short chat by telling him to expect to see some of the most passionate basketball players and fans in the next few days. He said he was looking forward to it.

After having some pictures with Muggsy, I thanked him for coming to share his experiences with our young ballers. I left feeling blessed to have had the opportunity to meet him, to talk to him and learn more about him. It is hard to fathom that this little man, whom I towered over, was able to make it to the NBA and stay there for fourteen seasons. He was not just a contributor, but a legitimate starter, a star in his own right, and surely a fan favorite. His humility and candidness were invigorating. He has been an inspiration to many, and I expect him to touch the lives of all the players he gets to work with, in the Junior NBA camp. For sure, he touched mine.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @Charlie C.

(My deepest sympathies go out to my good friend, Boyet Sison, whose brother, Kenneth, passed away on 24 April 2013. RIP.)

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.