Kendall Gill to campers: Hard work wins in basketball, life
Former Chicago Bull Kendall Gill is used to having an audience and talking basketball.
But on Thursday he wasn’t talking to thousands of viewers watching Comcast SportsNet, and he wasn’t exactly talking Bulls basketball.
In front of more than 80 participants in a Bulls/Sox Academy camp in Lisle, Gill spoke mainly about the importance of outworking the competition.
“What I try to stress is hard work and dedication. That’s exactly how you get to where you want to go,” Gill said. “Not just in basketball, but in life.”
Gill, who played small forward for the Bulls during the 2003-04 season, knew he was speaking mostly to kids too young to remember his Chicago basketball days.
“As long as you all have lived, this man played professional basketball,” Larry Stewart, the academy’s general manager of basketball operations, told youngsters about Gill’s 15-year pro career.
Gill wasn’t quite a top-tier player coming out of a south suburban high school in 1986.
“I wasn’t a McDonald’s all-American, I would have been more of a Burger King all-American,” Gill said.
But when he joined the University of Illinois basketball team, he was determined to work harder than all his teammates — especially those regarded as higher recruits.
“I don’t care how good they are, I’m going to outwork everyone,” Gill said, recalling his collegiate mindset.
Responding to Gill’s prompting to work hard, campers promised to spend hours on dribbling, shooting and defense. Then they peppered the former pro with questions that proved their interest in basketball, but also showed their youth.
“Did you get to pick which team you wanted to be on?” asked 7-year-old Cameron Kruep of Naperville.
Not at first, Gill replied, when he was drafted in 1990 by the Charlotte Hornets (now the New Orleans Hornets, as Stewart told the kids). But later, as a free agent, it was Gill’s choice to play with the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves, he said.
Kids also asked if Gill played on the same Bulls teams with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, what it was like to guard Jordan for the first time and who was his favorite teammate.
Gill said he played with Pippen, but got to the Bulls too late to join forces with Jordan. He wasn’t afraid to guard Jordan because great players like the legendary No. 23 thrive on opponents’ fear; and his favorite teammate was fellow Charlotte Hornet Larry Johnson.
“I felt really excited that I actually got to see him in person,” 9-year-old Christian Gambla of Hinsdale said after getting Gill’s autograph.
Gill told the kids he still works hard as a broadcaster, studying the Bulls and the league so he can speak intelligently on-air. This season, he’ll be getting used to different names, like Marco Belinelli, Nazr Mohammed, Vladimir Radmanovic and former Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich, supporting the team’s core players.
“I think actually the bench has gotten better,” Gill said.
But before he goes back to talking Bulls basketball, Gill said he enjoyed the opportunity to fill a role he remembers from his youth: the role of the former athlete offering advice and motivation to younger counterparts.
“When I was young like this, I used to love ex-pros coming to speak to us,” Gill said. “I know what it means to them.”