June 26, 2024. NBA Draft Night. We’re in NYC, where else? AJ Storr is on a Zoom from… Athens, Greece!?! We’ll explain all that in a second. More importantly, he knows the meaning of tonight as a prelude to his future.
“Literally one year from tonight, is it crazy to think you will be up on the stage…” we say before Storr interjects excitedly, “…in a suit and tie!”
Ten points for honesty with this one. Storr, now a rising junior for the world-famous Kansas Jayhawks and a projected 2025 NBA Draft pick, is not dancing around a topic many college players with eligibility remaining play hot potato with. “Yes,” Storr confirms, “I’m planning to be in the draft next year.”
Now that we have that very logical business decision covered, let’s backtrack and share one of the most unique and thoroughly modern basketball journeys of any high-profile player in the world.
We’ll start with the world business. Storr is in Greece at the moment because the Bahamian national team, of which he recently made the roster (pending some lingering paperwork), is playing a couple of exhibition games before an Olympic qualifying tournament in Spain that will determine if the small island nation with the increasingly outsized basketball talent advances to Paris.
The 6-7 Storr, a smooth-shooting, scoring guard tied to The Bahamas because his father was born there, is excited to be in Greece. Partly for the experience of what he calls his “world tour,” but even more so for the chance to play with folks who have gotten where he wants to go. Bahamas basketball has quietly built an explosive roster featuring current NBA players Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon, Buddy Hield, Kai Jones and Isaiah Mobley, as well as other talented college and pro players. The squad is coached by longtime Golden State Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco.
“It is a really great experience to be out there with all these pros,” Storr says, a day after scoring 15 points (on 7-9 shooting) in a 93-80 loss to Montenegro. “I played a couple of games with them last summer and then we had training camp in Houston earlier this month, and now I’m playing real games with them. It’s great to be around all this talent.”
Whenever The Bahamas’ run ends, the world is on notice that it’s a program to watch out for in the future, and then Storr will have more time to spend in his latest “home”—Lawrence, KS. And what a home it is. Perhaps the most storied program in all of college basketball—“I hadn’t known that James Naismith founded the program here. That’s who founded basketball!” Storr exclaims—and a program with typically high expectations for the ’24-25 season. As ESPN’s Jeff Borzello put it in his recent “Way-Too-Early Top 25,” the Jayhawks are No. 1 after Bill Self responded to a disappointing ’23-24 “with the most loaded roster in the country. He went into the portal and landed AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State) and Rylan Griffen (Alabama); then, All-American big man Hunter Dickinson opted to return for another year.”
It says here that Storr, with a shooting touch that the Jayhawks sorely missed last season, may be the biggest piece of the puzzle. As for all the places he’s been before Kansas, that unfolds like a bit of a puzzle in its own way.
This young man is in the sweet spot for a proper SLAM profile because he’s “big” enough—thanks to playing one year in New York City and another year going viral as the athletic leading scorer for B1G power Wisconsin—to be heard of but without his full story being known because he was not a super high-profile recruit. We’ll tell you the story now so you’ll be in the know when he blows up even more at Kansas and then flies into the NBA in 12 months.
Storr grew up in Rockford, IL, a city of nearly 150,000 about 90 minutes west of Chicago. It’s most relevant in modern hoops as the home of current Houston Rocket Fred VanVleet. AJ came up alongside one older sister, Ambranette, who scored more than 2,900 points in her high school career before playing in college, and five younger brothers, raised primarily by his mother, Annette Brandy—a former Chicago high school star who played in college as well—and his stepfather.
AJ attended Rockford Lutheran as a high school freshman, showing promise as a hooper who was still just 6-1. After that, a ride started that has yet to end. The family moved to the South Chicago suburb of Kankakee when his mom, a teacher, got a better job offer, and AJ spent his sophomore and most of his junior year at Kankakee High. Then Covid hit. As Brandy explains, it was time to make some decisions. “The whole state of Illinois shut down. He had some offers—Chicago State, IUPUI—but he still hadn’t gotten major looks. We knew he was a Power Five kid, he just hadn’t been seen,” she says. “His dad lived in Vegas, and AJ was hesitant about it, but I convinced him to go. Build a relationship with your dad and put yourself out there with basketball.”
It worked. Storr started playing for Vegas Elite and Bishop Gorman High School and his exposure—and ranking—skyrocketed. He was set to play his senior season for Bishop Gorman and then…Clark County, NV (which includes Las Vegas) announced there would be no winter sports due to Covid. “After Vegas shut down, he transferred to AZ Compass and they made it all the way to the GEICO Nationals,” his mom says. “By then he had gotten a lot of offers, but I thought he needed to mature a bit.”
So it was off to renowned IMG Academy in Florida for a post-grad year that went great. In the end, AJ had attended five high schools in five years, albeit for reasons that were outside his control. When the time came to make his official college choice, Storr enrolled at St. John’s, firmly hitting the (admittedly biased) radar of the #SLAMfam’s college fans by putting together a Big East All-Freshman campaign highlighted by 40 percent shooting from three-point range, 9 ppg and an exciting style of play. Alas, the Johnnies fired Mike Anderson and Storr decided to transfer back to the Midwest, putting together an All-B1G Second Team season (17 ppg, 4 rpg, 1 apg) in Madison and establishing himself as a future pro. Storr flirted with entering this year’s draft before instead deciding to transfer one more time. To the best team in the county.
“Playing for all the different teams has really helped my IQ. I’ve learned different plays, different coaches, different cultures,” Storr says, explaining the benefits of his journey. “Off the court, every school has welcomed me and made it like a family. I’ve got friends from every school.”
In Storr’s mind, the ascension from unknown high schooler to likely first-round NBA pick is not because he recently got good at the sport. For better or worse, exposure still matters. “I’ve been pretty good at basketball my whole life, but I had to get around the right platform and coaches and take advantage of the opportunities,” he says. “St John’s is in a great conference. Then I went to the Big Ten and the Badgers, who have made Final Four runs and are known worldwide. Being there helped me a lot. Now I’m looking forward to taking my game to another level at Kansas.”
Storr describes himself as very coachable and has learned bits and pieces from all the coaches he’s played for, but none of them have been around him consistently enough to have developed a deep mentorship. For daily support as he pursues his dream, Storr points to the people who have been around the longest. “I’ve got a team with my mom, my sister, my management,” he says. “It takes a team to accomplish your dream. You can be the most talented player, but if you don’t have the right people around you, you’re not going to make it.”
For her part, Mom could not be prouder. “I’m so excited for him,” says Brandy, who recently got a new job—and bought a house—back in Rockford. “He has put in so much work to get here.”
And to reiterate, Storr himself views his varied experiences as a positive. “My game translates to a lot of different places,” he says. “I know how to buy into a program. I respect all my coaches. I’m a great teammate. Once you step on that court or in the weight room, you become brothers. Where I’m trying to go, you gotta be prepared. In the NBA, guys get traded all the time. So this could be an advantage.”
Portraits via Missy Minear Kansas Athletics.
from Latest Sport Updates – My Blog https://ift.tt/qxBpPMu
via IFTTT