NBA Draft Analyst Krysten Peek sits down with Kiyan Anthony at USA Basketball’s junior minicamp to discuss his jam-packed summer, progressing his game, learning from his father and his final 3 schools of Syracuse, USC and Auburn.
Video Transcript
I’m Kristen Peak here with Ken Anthony at the USA Basketball training camp.
Uh Ken, you’ve come off one of the best summers ever.
I don’t think anyone had a better summer than you on and off the court with all the traveling you did the games you saw.
But how does it feel to be back here at the US?
It was great to get the invite back.
You know, I always come here with the best players in the country, try to separate myself from everyone else.
So I feel like I’m doing a good job at that and I’m going to keep trying to, you know, get better and keep being in the gym and try to outwork everybody my senior season.
So I feel like it’s going well.
I am looking forward to my senior season.
I mean, you’ve grown a little bit, your hand, you’ve grown a little bit, your grip is getting better.
But what specifically are you working on in your game?
I really just my body.
I feel like on the court, everything falls into place, you know, like you said, my handle is my shot.
I feel like my body, I try to get stronger with me also still higher.
So I feel like me being in the weight room is really going to impact my game even more and then take me to the next level going into college to be one step ahead of everybody.
So you’ve been everywhere this summer.
I mean, I saw you at PGM and then you went to the Olympics, you were there for the gold medal game.
How crazy was that moment when Steph took those shots?
That moment was crazy.
I can’t, I can’t even explain it.
How I made a video on my phone.
I had everyone text me like asking for rights to the video and stuff like that.
So it was just crazy to see the greatest players in the world or greatest players to ever even touch a basketball all in one place.
And um you know, step came out with a win and if it wasn’t for him I don’t think they would have won that game.
So I tend to watch that and record that and have that memory is like that, so I mean, you and your dad, you’re sitting courtside at a lot of games.
What are the conversations like?
Are you talking about a shop?
Are you watching the game?
He breaks it down for you.
Yes, for sure.
Like I would say more in the first half, he’s really going to break the game down like, oh, you see what he did here?
You should do this and things like that in the second half.
We’re really trying to, you know, break the game down or he’ll like me to tell him what I’m seeing and things like that.
So I feel like he does a good job of talking to me about the game, but also letting me make my own decision and letting me see the game for myself.
So what is it like to have him as a mentor?
I mean, he’s here all the time.
He is at all your events.
But what is it like to have him and pick his brain?
Yeah, I feel like now that he’s retired, he’s really dedicated, you know, basically his life to, you know, just supporting me and coming to all my trips, all my bachelorette stuff, even if it’s not a bat, he’s still . there.
So I am eternally grateful for that.
And then he just, he always keeps me in the gym.
He makes sure my mind doesn’t go anywhere else.
So I feel like without him, I don’t know if I would be, you know, invited back to this camp or even as good as I am now.
So you’re down to Syracuse, your dad’s alma mater, USA C and Auburn, what will go into this decision?
Um I’m actually getting close to a decision and the next one I’m aiming to come in the first couple of weeks in November.
So that’s right around the corner.
Um I feel what separates us, like what coach really beat me, like, you know, the most and what place that might fit and who’s there in my position and things like that and then what they tell me. where they could see me fitting in and I feel like that could really go into, you know, the fact that I’m actually coming into the school and also, like the history that they have, have they been good in the last few years or something . like that.
So, I feel like that’s what goes into it.
ok
Well Ken, good luck senior season and for more info on Ken Anthony.
Keep it right here on Yahoo sports.
