25-06-2025
Tyrese Proctor, Alex Toohey, lead Australian hopes in the 2025 NBA Draft
The art of patience is the toughest lesson in sport for any young professional in a hurry to reach the top.
The pressures of winning to impress future coaches can leave an emerging athlete feeling like there is no time to play the long game.
Australian NBA draft bound guard Tyrese Proctor walked this tightrope for much of his junior basketball career in Sydney's Sutherland Shire.
Fortunately for Proctor he had the wise words of his father – former Mississippi college guard Rod Proctor – ringing in his ears whenever the push to rush his progression reared.
'We've always taught Tyrese that he will always end up where he is meant to be,' Proctor senior told Code Sports about his 21-year-old son.
'He has been very fortunate, but he has worked his backside off and he has had a lot of failures and challenges as well.'
Like in Proctor's early years playing junior basketball in the Sutherland Shire – when he faced pressure to leave the club because his team wasn't winning.
Rod reflects on the multiple advances he received in an attempt to lure his son to a more successful club.
'When people started to notice how good Tyrese was they would try and get us to move him to another association,' he said.
'His Sutherland side wasn't winning as many games, but they were always competitive and that was the main thing at that age.
'I always told Tyrese that building character also builds resilience and you've got to work it out.
'You've got to learn how to get the best out of your players.'
It's a team-first and big picture mindset that Proctor has carried with him his entire career.
It came to the fore last year when he had the option of electing for the 2024 NBA draft, but he chose to return for a second US college season with Duke.
Rod revealed the family's desire for Tyrese to play a second campaign with the Blue Devils in a bid to refine his shooting and overall game. The move paid dividends with Proctor's Duke reaching the NCAA March Madness Final Four.
'Tyrese could have gone to the NBA draft after his first year of college, but we wanted him to go for the long-term and not just for the sake of being drafted,' he said.
'That contributed to him wanting to go back to college for another year to develop more.
'He has worked on his body in the gym and his shooting has also improved.'
On Thursday morning, Proctor's NBA dream will become a reality when he is expected to be announced in the second-round of the draft.
Mock drafts are predicting the Sydney-born guard to be selected as high as pick 36, although his projected pick is 41 to the Golden State Warriors.
Either way, proud dad Rod can't believe how far Tyrese has come from the ambidextrous two-year-old he witnessed in the family's Sydney backyard.
'I was sitting on the back stairs one day and Tyrese was two and he was dribbling the ball with his right hand,' he reflected.
'I was thinking, 'that is interesting', so I said put it in your left hand and he just naturally swapped.
'I remember calling my wife (Melissa) over to say, 'look at this'. He was dribbling, but he wasn't looking at the ball he was looking at me.
'It was just crazy.'
Proctor senior – who was a successful baller in his own right – is now the skills, development manager/coaching director at the Bankstown basketball stadium in Sydney's south west.
The role is a full circle moment for him given the Bankstown Bruins was his first Australian club after moving Down Under following his successful US College stint with Mississippi in 1995.
'I love the place,' said Proctor, who also led the Sydney Comets to three straight Waratah League championships from 2002 to 2004.
'There are still people working at the Bankstown stadium today that were there when I first arrived.'
Proctor senior enjoys working with the next generation of hoops stars, not only from Sydney, but across the country.
He also relishes the chance to pass on valuable lessons he learnt about reaching the professional ranks to the other parents.
Proctor senior knew Tyrese had 'something special' when he was 14, but he never pushed any expectations on his son.
It's a message he regularly relays to the players and their parents.
'Because in my line of work at the stadium I see it every day,' he said.
'I'm constantly talking to parents about how much their children are doing because they want their kid to move way too quickly.
'Let them enjoy being a kid because once you reach the nationals level everything will come at you quickly.
'I talk about the amount of rest and the importance of having normal family time to have success in sport.
'I just wanted Tyrese to be happy and I'm fortunate he chose basketball in the end.'
TOOHEY 'ON THE RADAR' AS NBA TEAMS CIRCLE KING
by Michael Randall
Master mentor Brian Goorjian says any NBA team that selects young Aussie prospect Alex Toohey in the draft will be getting a kid with an 'NBA body' who will 'make the most of any situation he lands in'.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medal-winning coach had an up-close look at what makes Toohey tick as the NBL Next Star's coach at the Sydney Kings and he sees not just a Boomers jersey, but a national team leadership role in his future.
Goorj's phone has been ringing hot from NBA teams keen to get a picture of the 21-year-old Canberran, leaving the door open for the projected No. 37 pick to shoot up the draft board.
'I'm talking to NBA teams and agents and people are asking questions, still investigating and it's really, really hard to get a beat on (where Toohey will be drafted),' Goorjian said on Wednesday morning.
'He is of interest and his name is being bounced around anywhere from late first round to pick 50.
'He hasn't done himself any harm going over there (to the US), he's performed well in workouts and there is a ton of interest, he is definitely on people's radar.'
Goorjian said Toohey's intangibles — basketball IQ, work ethic, attitude, toughness — and embrace of the Aussie culture were '10-out-of-10' and he had tremendous belief the versatile forward had the makings of an NBA player.
'When you asked about Joe Ingles at this same point, you never thought he would achieve the things he achieved,' Goorjian said.
'Toohey may have to go through a process but the thing I see in him is he hasn't maxed out yet.
'The underscore on him is how good he is in any environment.
'He will make the most of great coaching, weightroom, supplements, video, he eats that stuff up.
'The question mark for NBA teams is, 'is this guy going to reach his ceiling' and I think that's an easy answer with Toohey.
'I think he can develop into an NBA player and be a guy on a good team in an eight-man rotation.'
Goorj revealed he was struck by 203cm Toohey's sheer size on their first meeting and believes his ability to develop his ball-handling ability at 203cm might be key to his NBA emergence.
'The thing that hit me when I first had him was how much bigger he is than I thought — tall, long arms and really broad shoulders, and he's hit the weightroom hard,' Goorjian said.
'When he goes into (training) camp, you've got 230-235lbs (104-106kg) walking in the door, 6'8'-6'9' and he can carry the ball.'
Toohey handled the rock for ACT at the 2022 U20 Nationals, leading the entire tournament in assists at 6.29 per game, among the likes of fellow draft hopeful Tyrese Proctor and NBL luminaries Owen Foxwell and Ben Henshall.
Goorjian believes the wiry forward can become a key member of the national team.
'When you're looking at a guy of his ilk with the Boomers, that's an NBA player,' Goorjian said.
'That's Dante Exum, that's Joe Ingles, that's Aron Baynes, that's (Andrew) Bogut, that's Delly (Matthew Dellavedova).
'All those guys are NBA players and the team's not getting worse, it's getting better.
'When you look at him in that light, he's not a guy who will jump out at you right away but he's going to grow and evolve.
'You look at (Oklahoma City NBA champion Alex) Ducas and (Indiana Pacer Johnny) Furphy and kids like that, he's right there in that ilk.'
