#Caron butler 2022 series

This is going to be the new wave for athletes. And then from the executive standpoint, the percentages there are increasing now. So now you have 15–16 Black coaches in the league. When you think about the league prior to George Floyd and all the other stuff that was happening in the world, the pillar of the association felt like you had to have more Black and Brown former players at the helm. He thinks it’s kind of corny.īutler: To Justin’s point, people who want to go into coaching, you’re going to have to have a career with some kind of analytical backdrop. But what kid would be satisfied with being a statistician? And that’s how Tony feels initially. You’re breaking down in between quarters and thinking about how the game plan we came in with isn’t working and how can we use this new information that we are getting in real time. You see the game from a way that a player isn’t seeing it. Reynolds: If you think about it, he’s on the assistant coach track. That is interesting in the framework of career longevity or arc because a statistician goes beyond that trope of the star player and may be just as crucial as being a player who can handle the rock. “How about if he’s into numbers?” I thought that was brilliant, like he threw the lob and dunked it to his own self ! I thought that was dope and that was solely Justin’s idea right there.

#Caron butler 2022 series

Just imagine the different lanes we can go down in the future in the series by talking about where the journey of Tony goes. But we wanted to show his other gifts and other niches that you can possess to be a part of something bigger than yourself and how you can impact winning and go down that path. Traditionally, Tony’s role might have been a figure on the team like the water boy. How much of the lead character of Tony is biographical?īutler:Tony was a character that we created between the two of us. We wanted it to be accessible to those who were not familiar with that world. The thing I really appreciate about Caron is he’ll forget more about basketball than I’ll ever know and so talking to him about the finer details, especially in AAU which I am not as immersed in as Caron, ensured we had the expertise to get it right. Reynolds:We were very in lockstep in terms of what we wanted the story to be about and the message we wanted to get across. In a book that emphasizes the importance of teamwork, what is something you think was bolstered by your collaborator on this project? Or was it harmonious throughout? We just moved the needle and went down that path together. I felt his messaging through some of the work he did prior.

I thought that was a dope way to dive into the story collection.Ĭaron Butler: For me, I thought the pick and roll with me and Justin was paramount. He wanted it to be about a kid who makes the team in an unconventional way. He wanted to write a story about community, young people, and something that gave people purpose and meaning. Obviously Caron could write a basketball story all day but he wanted to do more than that. They put us on the phone to see how we would gel and everything that I heard come out of Caron’s mouth was exactly how I felt. So it was my opportunity to get to know Caron.

Justin Reynolds:My editor knew I was a big basketball fan.