NBA Swiss Kyshawn George provokes and is praised by Steph Curry

At the beginning, Swiss basketball player Kyshawn George missed almost every shot he made in the NBA, but now he is finding his way around better and better. In addition to his trainer, superstars like Stephen Curry and Draymond Green also noticed this.

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«Shooters gonna shoot.»

NBA legends like Kobe Bryant and Klay Thompson lived according to this motto – in German: “Shooters will shoot”. The latter, who is new to Dallas this season, once said during his time with the Golden State Warriors: “I don’t care if I miss 100 throws in a row, I’ll never stop throwing.” Exactly: “Shooters gonna shoot.”

Kyshawn George has also internalized this. The Swiss rookie, who was selected by Washington 24th in the draft, got off to a very poor start in the best basketball league in the world despite strong preparation. Coming out of college as a good long-range shooter, he missed his first ten three-point shots in the Wizards jersey. Only the eleventh finally went in. The 20-year-old from Valais even converted the throw from one meter behind the three-point line without the ball touching the ring. Swish!

But the spell wasn’t broken yet. After five games, George had made two of 22 three-point attempts; overall, only a quarter of his shots were on target and he had 5.2 points per game. He also started the sixth game with seven missed throws – but he still trusted his abilities and just kept going. And that paid off.

After a pointless first half, he ended up with 20 points – the first rookie to do so this NBA season. George couldn’t prevent the 112:125 defeat against Golden State, but he was assured of the respect of the big stars among his opponents. Stephen Curry, the best shooter in history, was enthusiastic: “He started weakly, but kept throwing. You can’t learn this mentality.”

The young Swiss also made an impression on Draymond Green, also a four-time NBA champion. George provoked the four-time All-Star with trash talk during the game and told him: “You can’t throw.” Green, who is known as a bully due to some unsportsmanlike behavior and a punch in the face of a former teammate and is a legendary trash talker himself, was impressed by George’s attitude. «I’m a big fan of Kyshawn and Bub Carrington (another Wizards rookie). “You deserve my respect,” said the Warriors star.

The fact that George didn’t allow himself to be deterred by his false start is not only due to his mentality (“Shooters gonna shoot”), but also to his teammates and coaches. Head coach Brian Keefe said after the game against Golden State: “We told him to keep throwing. He’s a great shooter. We didn’t want him to go out of the game with zero hits on six three-point attempts.” So they said to George: “If you’re open, let him fly.” Then he did that too. The 2.03 m tall shooting guard, who according to studies will continue to grow, reported: “They trust me and my throwing. Today the throws went in and it felt great. Finally!”

For George, the fantastic second half against the Warriors was just the beginning of a good run. In the last four games, he averaged 15 points and surpassed the magical 40 percent mark in three-point shooting. He also showed signs of his potential on defense. In Coach Keefe’s eyes, his protégé’s strength lies primarily in his basketball IQ: “He showed this sense of the game right from the start. Now he’s in a good rhythm and hitting his shots, but it’s above all his game intelligence that helps the team.”

Kyshawn George even impressed stars like Stephen Curry and Draymond Green with his mentality. Image: fxp-fr-sda-rtp

However, the Wizards have not yet been able to convert this into success. They only won two of their first nine games – but that’s not a problem in Washington at the moment. The team is still extremely young and needs to be built up for the future. In addition to the 20-year-old from Valais, whose Canadian father Deon played professional basketball in Switzerland and France, two other rookies, Alex Sarr, the second pick of this year’s draft, and Bub Carrington (14th pick), have prominent roles. The 20-year-old Bilal Coulibaly, who has gotten the most playing time so far, only came to the NBA last year.

That’s why George recently said: “Of course it’s not nice to lose. But you have to look at the big picture.” The Wizards are on the right track there, also because they have proven not to give up even when they are significantly behind. And Kyshawn George plays a big role in that. Because: “Shooters gonna shoot.”