"You've come out of the war, is there anything else that can defeat you?"When he wanted to give up, the coach always used that phrase to motivate him, and now he's standing on the NBA court and appearing as a starter, an inspirational man named Dupp Reese.
The 27-year-old Reece chose to wear the number 26 jersey, knowing that it was because of the precipitation of the past 26 years that the dream of the 27-year-old became a reality, and he cherished this opportunity immensely. Born in 1996 in war-torn South Sudan, he watched several uncles and uncles die in the war.
Luckily, one of his cousins fled to Australia and settled down to sponsor the Reese family to qualify as refugees. The family walked barefoot for more than two hours to reach the station, where they took a bus to a UN refugee camp in Kenya and the gears of fate began to turn.
After living in a refugee camp for half a year, they were assigned to Perth, Australia, where Rees was given the opportunity to be educated. When he was a freshman in high school, his height had reached 1.96 meters, and his physical coordination was particularly good, which soon attracted the attention of the basketball coach, even if he had never touched basketball before, he couldn't attack at all, and he would only foul on the defensive end, but in the coach's opinion, he was an unpolished piece of jade, allowing him to stay in the team and slowly learn how to play basketball Xi.
In 2014, Reece attended a basketball camp in South Sudan, Australia, and although his basketball skills were not outstanding, he had grown to 2.08 meters tall, and he had excellent movement speed and good coordination, which also led him to be noticed by an assistant coach at a college in Texas, and he was taken to the United States to play.
As a big man who only started to play basketball at the age of fifteen, he arrived in the United States and found that he was nothing compared to other people, which made him extremely frustrated, he felt that he could not get ahead in basketball in the United States, and when he wanted to give up, the coach who brought him to the United States kept motivating him: "You have come out of the war, is there anything else that can beat you?"“
With the encouragement of his coach, the fire in Reese's heart was rekindled, he got up at half past five every day to train, he knew that he had to fight like a warrior, the court was like a battlefield, and he had to fight hard to survive, and two years of perseverance paid off - he waited for an invitation from Louisiana State University, and after two years of playing in the NCAA, he decided to participate in the draft.
Unfortunately, he was defeated. In order to make a living, he went to play in the Serbian league, and later returned to Australia to play in the NBL league, after which he came to the CBA to play for the Qingdao team, averaging 182 points 78 rebounds and 2 blocks, after the season, he went to Israel to play for a living, he ran all over the world, while making a living, while precipitating, the fire in his heart has never been extinguished: he wants to stand on the NBA court.
This summer, he represented the Trail Blazers in the summer league, good defensive footwork, a certain three-point shooting ability, such an interior player is exactly what the NBA needs, he got a two-way contract with excellent performance, at first he barely played time, and then seized the opportunity to gain the trust of the coach, playing time slowly increased, after the team's starting center Ayton was injured, he became the Trail Blazers' starting center, what an inspirational story.
Reece has played 14 games so far, averaging 15 per game9 minutes, an average of 77 points 25 rebounds 14 assists, 06 steals 0With three blocks, he scored in double figures in four of the five games he was a starter, with his best performance coming against the Cavaliers at the beginning of the season, where he shot 4-of-5, including 3-of-4 three-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws, and finished with 13 points, two rebounds, two assists and one block.
His three-point range plays an important role in the Trail Blazers' playbook, and even after Ayton's return, he will still get consistent playing time, and as long as he takes the opportunity to show himself, he can get a good contract, and no matter what the outcome is, he has been a great success to come out of a war-torn country and make it to the NBA after being on the spot.