Left to right – Trey Ramesy, Brady Proctor, Dawson Dilley, members Class of  2025.

My name is Patrick Cannon and I am a sophomore on the basketball team at Athens Drive High. I am also an assistant student coach with the Triangle Blazers Class of 2025. I have had a relationship with Coach Michael (head coach of the team) and the Blazers since 6th grade. I would like to be a basketball coach when I grow up, so getting to serve as an assistant coach now, is a great opportunity.

It was great to head back to the Dean Dome to see some basketball, but it was the first time I went with the Class of 2025. We do a lot of stuff on the court as well as off the court to build chemistry and a big basketball family. On the court, we give each other feedback we talk about what went well in the game and we joke around.  Coach Michael doesn’t mind if we joke around if it doesn’t get in the way of practice.

Off the court, we have parties at each other’s homes and we’ve done service projects.  This time we went to see pro-basketball at the Dean Dome.  We saw the Celtics and the Hornets.  I really enjoyed talking with Dawson about the Celtics. He’s a big fan.  We talked about Brad Stevens, too. He is the Celtics coach, and the best coach in the NBA.  I wonder if any members of the Class of 2025 will play in the NBA.  It was inspiring for all of us to see these great players. The Hornets won the game by a score of 101-97. The game is not so different from what we are teaching the Class of 2025 about the pace and space style.

In addition, I had a great time reconnecting with Devonte Graham. He is from Raleigh and his grandmother works with my mom. I first met him after the Final Four in the 2018-19 college basketball season. He played for Kansas University and they lost before the final game.  We had a chance to talk about his basketball journey and he gave me advice on what to do to be a better player.

Left to right – Patrick Cannon, Devonte Graham.

It was great to see him after he got drafted to the Hornets. This time we talked about how much different the NBA is from college basketball. Unless you are playing in the conference tournament or a tournament around Thanksgiving time, you don’t play on back to back nights while in college.  In the NBA, you do and Devonte said he had some difficulty adapting to that schedule. It was a great night to interact with all levels of basketball; middle school, high school, college and the NBA.