All players who have ever played in the NBA, from scrubs for the greatest of all time, had their “welcome to the NBA” moment.
It can be a tough transition because every NBA player has always been the best player in their city, their state, the best player on their college team, etc… but when they come into the league, everything changes.
Suddenly everyone is “that” guy, the alpha dog who has won most of the time, who has always dominated and who is not used to being humiliated.
So every player has that moment, the one where he realizes that he is now with the best players in the world and that humiliation can always be a second away.
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Chet Holmgren opened up about his “welcome to the NBA” moment on a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George. Holmgren may be one of the future faces of the NBA, but Andre Drummond still had to teach the rookie some lessons.
Chet Holmgren’s rookie season was technically his second in the league, as he had to miss his entire first season due to injury.
He had a spectacular rookie season, scoring over 16 points per game with good shooting and blocking over two shots per game.
If Victor Wembanyama hadn’t existed, Holmgren would have won Rookie of the Year and the two are the most exciting young defensemen to enter the league since Hakeem Olajuwon.
Holmgren’s team led the Western Conference in the regular season and he appears to be a foundational player for the Thunder and one of the best young bigs in the league.
But not everything was rosy for his first season.
Andre Drummond gave the rookie a lesson in humility last October, first dunking him in the paint. The very next play, Drummond stripped Holmgren near the top of the paint, then took him coast to coast, crossing the rookie and sending him sprawling in one of the highlights of the Bulls’ season.
While Holmgren looked good at times last year, he looked more like Bambi on the ice this time around, as veteran Drummond reminded him he still has a lot to learn.
Holmgren laughed at the situation, but no one wants to be fooled like that, and when you’re 7 feet long, it’s even more embarrassing and ridiculous.
The Bulls didn’t have many highlights last season, but the arrival of Andre Drummond and Chet Holmgren in the NBA was one.
