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MILWAUKEE Apparently Charlotte Bobcats rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had a crisis of confidence in the preseason, but his college coach quickly put out that fire.
Kentucky coach John Calipari, speaking with local media in Lexington, revealed Friday that Kidd-Gilchrist sent him text messages that “I may have made a mistake” turning pro, and “I don’t think I’m good enough.”
“He was scared to death,” Calipari recalled.
Calipari brought this up to illustrate how much he valued Kidd-Gilchrist’s competitiveness, resilience and energy. He reminded Kidd-Gilchrist of that in a series of texts.
Calipari said he told his former star, “What? Are you kidding me? You may not shoot it as well. You may not bounce it as well. But the thing you do, no one else does. So you keep playing hard and competing. That’s what you do.”
Asked about all this before Friday’s Bobcats-Milwaukee Bucks game, Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap said most great athletes are motivated by a fear of failure.
“So he comes in early every day and puts up extra shots and watches film. He’s great in the locker room, and that’s not something” the public sees, Dunlap said.
Kidd-Gilchrist, 19, is the youngest player in the NBA this season. Dunlap said he’s particularly impressed with Kidd-Gilchrist’s “unbelievable discipline,” something he got from his upbringing, not his coaches.
