NBA Draft Day Magic (Repost 2020)

I sat on the couch at our apartment in Lynchburg, Virginia with my roommate Erik, watching the 2007 NBA Draft, and while I was watching the cameras go in to the Portland Trail Blazers War Room before they drafted Greg Oden, I said to myself, “I would do anything to be in that room, even if just to bring in drinks for them.”

Hopefully it wasn’t a devil’s bargain because one year later, I was in that exact same War Room.

The NBA Draft is a magical time of year for me, ever since I was a kid. Some kids dream of playing (well, most of us), some dream of coaching, and some dream of being the person who puts together a team. That last one was me.

I would line up my basketball cards across the living room floor and build rosters, making trades, and having my own drafts.

I would set up mock drafts with my best friends and watch intently wondering how I could have John Wallace at #5 on my Big Board and he would slip to #18. A young John (Ross) had a lot to learn about how dominating at the college level did not mean the same thing at the NBA level.

Before I was even 10, for some reason, I was obsessed with the NBA Draft. I would set up my mini-hoop in the hallway and play tournaments with the Draft Picks against one another. It would be local hero #1 pick Glenn Robinson vs #24 Monty Williams (who I ended up working for as a Video Intern my first years in the League). It would be #5 pick Juwan Howard vs #26 pick, Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward. These battles would go on all night long until I could go back outside and play at the hoop on the garage.

It was in high school, when I realized my basketball abilities would tap out at low-level collegiate despite my dreams to play further. But my dreams to work in an NBA Front Office still had plenty of time.

After college, as many of you know, shit gets real. Like you graduate… and you have no idea what you’re doing next. Wait, where am I sleeping tonight? Where am I going to live? To work? To eat? … everything is up in the air. And everything is your choice / no choice at all.

For me, I moved in with my sister and her husband, my other sister, and their two roommates. I took the couch in the living room, found a temp job in Washington DC (thanks to one of the roommates) and started applying for real life jobs. Eventually, I made my way back to the University I had graduated from and had a full-time job as an Admissions Counselor. It wasn’t glamorous by any means, but it was a job, it had benefits, and it helped me ease into the real world.

After a year of answering phone calls and going through financial aid with prospective students, I broke. What was I doing with my life? Because this surely ain’t it.

I wanted to work in the NBA.

So I sat on that couch at my apartment and dreamed that it might happen.

I’ve already written several other articles so I’ll skip the part of putting your dreams into action (working, volunteering, praying, making calls, doing everything I could to put myself into position).

I had grown up in Indiana in proximity to Greg Oden. So I’d known who he was since he was in high school. I’d watched clips of him dominating smaller opponents. I was a few years older, but I knew the feeling of being a 6’4, 150 lb center in rural Indiana going up against guys in Indianapolis who were soon to be competing at a much higher level than I ever was.

I watched as the cameras panned to the Trail Blazers War Room where they would soon be selecting Greg Oden with the #1 pick. The War Room, it was everything I had dreamed of, everything I wanted to be a part of. I was more intent than ever on finding my way there.

And it was just a couple months later, I got the call from Kaleb Canales and Tim Grass, Video Coordinators for the Portland Trail Blazers about a potential internship opportunity with them in the Video Room.

After moving to Portland, Kaleb quickly rose through the coaching ranks and Tim and I handled the video work. Tim loved coaching and he knew I loved the Draft so we mainly split the duties between him focusing on the coaching aspects through the season and me focusing on the video work for the Draft.

At the end of my first season with the Trail Blazers, it was time for the Draft. The Trail Blazers had graciously allowed me to continue my internship through the Draft so I could have that experience.

I sat in the Video Room at our Practice Facility while Kaleb and Tim handled the War Room duties. I had all of my personal mocks, and rankings, and everything I had done in prior years… except, this time, it was real.

Kaleb came out of the War Room and down the hallway to let me know we had made a trade and who we would be drafting.

And then as the first round died down and we moved into the second round, they allowed my dream to become reality.

“John, why don’t you go in the War Room and handle the end of the Second Round.”

I walked in, I’m sure, grinning from ear to ear wondering how this was real life.

It was Magic.