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When Sean Kilpatrick and Caris LeVert touched down in L.A. last week, Kilpatrick captioned a photo of them two with the quote, “As you reaching your goals, you gon' meet you some foes.”
That’s just a hint of how they spent the last week, training with two of the best in the business.
Kilpatrick and LeVert went through week-long training sessions with Kevin Durant and Steve Nash, who’s now Golden State’s Player Development Consultant.
According to an interview with SLAM, Kilpatrick says Nets Director of Player Development, Adam Harrington, helped set it up. He was with them, too. All it took was a phone call from KD and the two Brooklynnites were on their way to the west coast.
“We’ve been talking about it a lot, especially with our assistant coach, Adam Harrington, who’s a mentor as well,” Kilpatrick told SLAM. “He actually connected us a year ago and ever since then, the sky’s been the limit as for me and Kevin’s relationship. The fact that I’ve been going through this whole process and journey, he can relate to my grind and the effort I put in on the court. He said that if you want to have an impact, make sure you come out to California when I call. The next week after he called, I was out there. For the past couple of days, it’s been crazy. With his work ethic, you can sit there and see why he’s the NBA Finals MVP. ”
Harrington was Durant’s shooting coach in Oklahoma City before he joined Kenny Atkinson’s staff in Brooklyn. He also played a bit in the NBA and for a long time in Europe. The two are VERY close and it all goes to show how important relationships are in all industries — in this case, the NBA.
As for Steve Nash; he’s been the Warriors’ “Player Development Consultant” for over a year now. Nash is one of the main reasons why KD signed with Golden State and he’s praised him several times since the beginning of the season. For Kilpatrick and LeVert, two of the Nets workaholics, the two future Hall of Famers serve as perfect role model to the hard-working culture Brooklyn is trying foster. As Kilpatrick said,
“It’s been great, having Kevin Durant as one of my mentors. It makes the process that much more enjoyable, just being able to pick his and Steve Nash’s brains. For someone who was one of the best point guards in the game, it speaks a lot to the type of culture basketball creates. It also says a lot about Kevin Durant because everyday, he’s making sure he’s working with the greats. You can always figure out ways to help improve your game [when you’re] with him.”
We observed (and smirked a bit) looking through Kilpatrick and LeVert’s social media accounts.
As one NetsDaily fan wrote in retweeting some of the images...
Find someone who looks at you the way KD looks at Caris LeVert pic.twitter.com/rzlyR4g7ms
— TM (@madkidpalmcity) August 12, 2017
This is certainly one of the more impressive development weeks of the offseason. This past week we’ve seen D’Angelo Russell playing in NYC with Isaiah Whitehead and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, along with SK and LeVert in L.A. with Nash and KD.
All positive signs.