CAMDEN, New Jersey – French forward Guerschon Yabusele’s dunk over NBA legend LeBron James within the gold medal game of the 2024 Paris Olympics was immortalized in a photograph hanging in his recent home outside Philadelphia. While the dunk wasn’t a part of host France’s game-winning victory over the U.S., it serves as a reminder of how Yabusele’s stellar play earned him a return to the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers.

“My advice is to just work hard, never give up and make your dreams come true. If you want it, you’re going to have to get it,” Yabusele told Andscape after practice on Oct. 9 on the Sixers’ practice facility.

The 76ers announced Yabusele’s signing to a one-year, $2.1 million contract on August 29, five years after he played within the NBA for the Boston Celtics. The signing of this contract also got here 19 days after the sharpshooter played within the gold medal match on the 2024 Paris Olympics. In six Olympics, he averaged 14 points in 23.3 minutes.

Yabusele got here to the Olympics with the dream of using it to land an NBA contract. And now that he’s back within the NBA with the Sixers, he “pinched himself a few times” in gratitude.

“We were driving through the city at night, and then I looked at my wife and said, ‘We’re going to be here all season,’” Yabusele said. “We won’t just be here for the summer (vacation). We will probably be there all season long. I play here. She was there after I was in Boston. We cannot consider it, but we be ok with it.

“I had quite a lot of moments (of gratitude). I remember feeling this sense after I got off the plane, going to training camp, going to the world for the primary time and customarily the entire atmosphere on the games. It’s just amazing to me.”

The Celtics chosen Yabusele with the sixteenth pick within the 2016 NBA Draft. A native of France, Dreux played the 2016–17 season in China for the Shanghai Sharks before joining the Celtics in 2017. He played sparingly for the Celtics in the course of the 2017–19 season, scoring a median 2.3 points in 74 games. Yabusele was best known on the time for making the bow and arrow gesture after scoring a three-pointer for Boston.

After failing to play a big role with the rising Celtics, Yabusele had no offer to return to the Celtics or another NBA team.

“I was able to take something away from all these experiences. The body of work. “Understand that you have to be ready,” Yabusele said. “The work ethic that I took from here has helped me a lot in my career up until this year.”

Yabusele then played for the Nanjing Monkey Kings in China before returning to France to play for NBA Hall of Famer Tony Parker’s ASVEL Basket in Lyon. The 6-foot-4, 265-pounder signed with Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid on July 21, 2021. He helped lead Real Madrid to 2 Liga ACB championships and a EuroLeague title in 2023.

Last season, Yabusele averaged 9.7 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 44.5% from three-point range in 64 games for Real Madrid. Although he had a sound contract with Real Madrid for the upcoming season, he had an NBA rest clause if he was offered a contract. Even though no NBA call-ups were received before the Olympics, Yabusele someway kept the religion.

“I always thought about it too,” Yabusele said of returning to the NBA. “I didn’t want to offer up. Of course, after five years, I assumed, “Damn, I feel like I did okay some of those years.” I assumed perhaps I could try it, nevertheless it didn’t occur. But I’ve all the time had this hope, and that is what drives me, too. It gives me a purpose to get all of it done (work). I used to be all the time pushing myself, attempting to get back. “

By making a preliminary Olympic appearance in Lille, France, the French men’s basketball team didn’t help Yabusele’s hopes of impressing NBA teams.

France needed a desperate four-point late play to force extra time before beating winless Japan on July 30. Germany also routed France 85-71 on August 2 to finish qualifying. Despite a 2-1 record, the French played poor basketball within the qualifying quarterfinals on August 8 in Paris against a Canadian team that included Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett and Jamal Murray, amongst others.

After France played so poorly in Lille, Yabusele said there was a scarcity of belief within the team. However, he still believed in his team and said so during a team meeting at their hotel.

“I want to say so many things and nothing at the same time,” Yabusele said of France’s game in Lille. “We were just still finding our way. The coaches were also trying to grasp what to do. And I don’t need to say it badly, but we weren’t together as we wanted after the defeat against Germany. We still won two out of three games. All the media, fans, people in our federation, everyone felt that we’d play our last match against Canada. It reached us personally. I took it personally…

You cannot be afraid and say: “Damn, this is going to be a difficult match. Oh my God.’ You read the comments. You read the media. “Oh, they’re playing Canada. They have so many NBA players. It’s over. We were beaten by them last year, so we don’t expect anything. I remember talking to the guys, pardoning my language, and saying, “F– that.” We’re going there to Paris and we’re going to win. There is no other way around it. Let’s go. We are at home. We have our family there. We in Paris. Now that Lille is over. Let’s go there and do what we have to do. “

France, with a game-high 22 points from Yabusele, defeated Canada 82-73 on August 6 within the quarterfinals in Paris. In the semifinals against Germany, Les Bleus gained revenge and advanced to the gold medal game with a 73-69 victory on August 8, which included Yabusele’s game-high 17 points and 7 rebounds. Yabusele and France immediately went from funny to lovable from the natives by advancing to the gold medal game and facing the favored U.S. team with their NBA superstars.

It was Yabusele, not NBA stars Victor Wembanyama or Rudy Gobert, who led France to the gold medal game. However, Yabusele said he still had no offers from NBA teams at that time, although interest appeared to be growing.

“We had heart. We found what was missing. We found a way. We fought,” Yabusele said.

Yabusele and France’s hopes of winning a men’s basketball gold medal ended on August 10 with a 98-87 victory for the USA. Wembanyama scored a game-high 26 points for France, while Yabusele added 20 points. If it weren’t for Stephen Curry’s stunning three-pointer that sealed the gold for Team USA, Yabusele’s stunning dunk over James would have been the highlight of the sport. Yabusele also felt that the Paris crowd was supportive of Team USA, which included Curry and all the opposite NBA stars.

“They are from France, but they ended up rooting for Curry,” Yabusele, 28, said.

The day after the gold medal game, Yabusele’s dunk was published in a French sports newspaper. It will probably be remembered as one in all the long-lasting moments of the 2024 Olympics. Yabusele added that it was “payback” for Team USA forward Vince Carter’s famous dunk over the pinnacle of French center Frederic Weis in a 7-2 victory on the Sydney Games in 2000.

“I won’t lie. It was good at that point,” Yabusele said of the dunk on James. “I didn’t realize it will be this big. I told the blokes that I’ve made just a few posters (dunks) in my life and a few good ones. But dunking LeBron in front of all of the people, especially at the ultimate Olympics with the entire world watching, I didn’t realize how big it was on the time…

“He blocked me just a few plays earlier. Of course he spoke earlier. But it was LeBron. You either post it or he blocks it.

Yabusele’s dreams of returning to the NBA got here true as he was capable of use a clause in Real Madrid’s contract and sign with Philadelphia. Yabusele left his belongings in a warehouse in Madrid and claims that Real Madrid are concerned about him rejoining the club in the longer term.

Gobert, the Minnesota Timberwolves star, is not surprised by Yabusele’s return to the NBA.

“He has been ready to return to the league for several years now,” Gobert told Andscape via text message. “The Olympics gave him a chance to really show it to the world. I think he’s more mature now.”

Yabusele hopes his return to the NBA with the Sixers will result in something long-term. He said his role in Philadelphia is to “knock down boards, rebound and, of course, hit 3s.” He also hopes that his return to the NBA will motivate those that try to beat all odds to pursue their dreams.

“Just never give up. If you didn’t make your dream come true the first time, it doesn’t mean it’s over,” Yabusele said. “You can’t give up. You have to work harder. I never give up, even though it was hard for me to leave Boston.”

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Call it the Marcus Freeman method.

I went to Notre Dame to learn the way Freeman felt about the opportunity of becoming the primary Black coach – and the primary Asian-American coach, more on that later – to win a university football national title. But at any time when I asked him about his future within the championship, Freeman focused on the current.

“The win is all a reflection of winning the break. It’s a reflection of staying in the moment,” Freeman said Oct. 12 after Notre Dame beat Stanford 49-7. The Irish, ranked twelfth within the College Football Playoff rankings with a 5-1 record, play Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday.

“You don’t control the journey. You have to trust the journey,” Freeman said. “That’s what I tell these guys. There is one guarantee that the longer term is uncertain. Why waste time dreaming about it? Why sit here and take into consideration what is going to occur in the longer term when it is uncertain? Why don’t you are taking the time to focus on the things you should do this have a likelihood of getting the result you would like?

“We will worry about what the result will be at the end of the season. We just have to continue to stay in the moment.”

This moment and this method hold promise for Freeman. Now in his third season at Notre Dame, at age 38, Freeman is one in all a dozen coaches – no matter ethnicity – with the appropriate combination of college, NIL budget and schedule to win a national title. That may not occur for Freeman this season accumulating damage and the blemish of a shocking Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois. But with the playoffs expanding to 12 teams and Freeman’s proven ability to recruit and develop top talent, Notre Dame might be within the constant hunt.

No Black coach has won a national championship in college football, one in all the last unfulfilled “firsts” in sports. Just 16 out of 134 coaches at this highest level of competition, there are Blacks in comparison with greater than half of the players. There are three Polynesian coaches within the FBS: Ken Niumatalolo, who is Samoan, from San Jose State; Kalani Sitake of Tonga at BYU; and Timmy Chang of the University of Hawaii. Despite this history, there are an unprecedented variety of Black coaches leading programs with a reputable path to championships in the following few years: Freeman, James Franklin at Penn State, Sherrone Moore at Michigan and Deion Sanders at Colorado (or anywhere else). might be his next stop).

Freeman is actually the second black coach in Notre Dame history. The first was Tyrone Willingham, who coached the Irishman from 2002 to 2004 and was then fired in what many black observers considered a rash decision. While at Notre Dame, Willingham tried to recruit top-of-the-line highschool defenders within the country – tough forward Marcus Freeman.

“Coach Willingham influenced me,” Freeman said during an interview at Notre Dame Stadium. On his desk is a photograph of his wife and 6 children; a tattooed wedding ring surrounds his left ring finger. On her feet, Golden Goose sneakers. “I remember talking to him on the phone many times, thinking that he reminded me of my father in his attitude and tone.”

Freeman’s black father was serving within the Air Force when he met and married Freeman’s mother, who is South Korean. Identity generally is a tricky thing – a word to Tiger Woods – so I asked Freeman how he describes his ethnicity.

“It depends on who is asking,” he replied. “I am a multiracial person. My father is African American, my mother is Korean. I am a piece of both of them. They both have a huge impact on my life and me cover both sides of this.”

After returning to highschool, despite Willingham’s recruitment, Freeman selected Ohio State, where he was an All-Big Ten linebacker within the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Ohio State lost the national title game in Freeman’s final two college seasons. So how do these losses impact Freeman’s coaching now?

“Those two national championship games didn’t end the way you wanted them to,” he said. “I’m happy that at some point I’ll be able to lift the trophy and become champion.”

At this point, Freeman rubs his hands, probably unconsciously, as he mentions winning all of it – a rare moment when he allows himself to daydream. Then he returned to his method.

“But when I think about these games,” he continued, “I feel concerning the journey. I take into consideration people. I feel concerning the exceptional seasons we had in 2006 and 2007 and the ups and downs of those seasons. But most significantly, I only remember the people, the coaches, the players and the journey we were on.

I appreciate Freeman’s approach. Sport comes with enormous pressure, so many extraordinary demands and expectations, but in each season there can only be one winner. You cannot label anyone or anything as a failure, especially in college football where most of Freeman’s players might be playing last. If we won’t find meaning in the game beyond winning, the entire endeavor does more harm than good.

Freeman was chosen within the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, but his profession was ended by a diagnosis of an enlarged heart. Beginning as an assistant at his alma mater, Freeman coached linebackers at Kent State and Purdue, where he rose to the position of co-defensive coordinator. Then Luke Fickell, who coached Freeman at Ohio State, hired him to run the defense in Cincinnati. Freeman developed the Bearcats D into top-of-the-line units within the country and was recognized as a rising star.

In 2021, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly hired Freeman as defensive coordinator. A 12 months later, Kelly went to LSU. Notre Dame considered various candidates, including Fickell, who finished the season in Cincinnati with a 13-1 record. But behind an outpouring of support from players and recruits, Freeman landed the highest job.

How did it occur?

“I worked tirelessly in the position I held,” Freeman said. “I worked very hard to be the most effective defensive coordinator I might be. I never got here to work attempting to interview for the Notre Dame head coaching position. I tell people on a regular basis that should you keep on the lookout for one other opportunity, you’ll waste the one in front of you. And the most effective thing you may do to make the most of your next opportunity is to make great use of the chance you’ve got now.

This is the Marcus Freeman method. Buckle up, put all the pieces you may into what you may control, after which live with the outcomes.

But it wasn’t that way back that this approach rarely worked for Black coaches in all sports. Even today, exertions and high qualifications aren’t any guarantee – just ask UCLA associate head coach Eric Bienemy or Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell …or Willingham.

When Willingham began coaching in 1977 at Michigan State, and even when he was hired at Notre Dame 25 years later, opportunities for black coaches were extremely rare. Fast forward to 2021, when Freeman — who has never been a head coach at any level — landed the Notre Dame job over the older, more experienced and, dare I say, whiter Fickell.

It’s like a brand new day for me. What about you, Coach Willingham?

“We now have the opportunity to do things that have never been done before,” Willingham told me over the phone on Monday. “Many years ago we needed to cope with quite a lot of stereotypes. You cannot have a black center, you may’t have a black point guard, because those were our views. So you could not have a Black head coach because that meant you needed to be thoughtful and thoughtful and intuitive.

“I do not know what to call this barrier, nevertheless it was one in all those things that, as we progressed as a society, needed to be removed. And I feel we’re attending to the purpose, the issue is not solved yet, nevertheless it’s lots higher than it was.

Freeman understands the probabilities of this era.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say there are days when I’m in my office, sitting alone, and I say, ‘You’re the top coach on the University of Notre Dame.’ It’s surreal. I’ll definitely remember. You must, because should you take it with no consideration, it would be taken away.

“And then,” Freeman said, “you come back to the moment.”

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Near the north side of the Illinois basketball court is a statue of a coach kneeling as a player stands behind him along with his hand on the coach’s shoulder. The coach is Will Robinson, the first African-American head basketball coach in NCAA Division I history. The player shall be former Illinois star Doug Collins, who can also be a basketball star.

“They paid to build a statue in front of our arena in Illinois,” Collins said at the Hall of Fame news conference at Mohegan Sun on Saturday. “It was Coach Robinson kneeling along with his hand on my shoulder. And I at all times tell people, “This isn’t a basketball story.” He’s a white kid from Benton, Illinois, hanging out with a black man from Detroit, and together they’re constructing a Division I program that they might get out of.

“It was a love story. My hand on my shoulder was saying to me, “Coach, I trust you and I believe in you.” I think it’s getting harder and harder to have those relationships these days because the coach’s voice is so much lower in the rankings of who these guys are listening to. He said, “Wherever your voice reaches, a young man’s life will determine how you can help him.”

On Sunday, Collins was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, as a contributor. The former head coach and NBA star was previously honored with the Curt Gowdy Media Award for broadcast excellence. The 2024 Hall of Fame class also includes Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter, Seimone Augustus, Bo Ryan, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Charles Smith, Dick Barnett, Harley Redin, Michele Timms, Jerry West and Herb Simon.

Collins, 73, scored 442-407 points as an NBA head coach in 11 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers. He coached NBA legend Michael Jordan at the starting and end of his Hall of Fame profession. The four-time NBA All-Star played in the league for eight seasons, averaging 17.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and three.3 assists.

Collins was also the No. 1 overall pick in the 1973 NBA draft out of Illinois, a three-time All-American, and played on the 1972 Olympic basketball team. He holds the Illinois record for profession points (2,240), goals in a season ( 847), profession field goals made (894) and season field goals made (352). In 2007, the CEFCU Arena floor in Illinois was renamed “Doug Collins Court”. In 2016, he was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. Fifteen years after the statue’s unveiling, Collins credited Robinson with much of his success.

“I went to play in college for the first black coach in Division I basketball and I grew up in an all-white community and Coach Robinson was from Detroit. Coach Rob, I fell in love with him, he helped me stay strong and gave me great wisdom,” Collins said.

Robinson, who died in 2008 at age 96, was recruited by Illinois State in 1970 after Collins’ freshman yr. Robinson posted a 78-51 record as the Redbirds coach from 1970-75. He also coached Hall of Fame Spencer Haywood at Pershing High School in Detroit and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Missouri Valley Conference in 2003. The former Detroit Pistons scout also helped discover guard Joe Dumars and forward Dennis Rodman.

Collins added that Robinson also helped him develop into humbled by his success at Illinois State.

“My junior year, the first game of the season, we played Oral Roberts and I scored 40 points in that game,” Collins said. “I at all times went to the coach’s office to speak. And on this particular day he called me Master. I do not know if he ever knew my name or not. So he called me champion. He said, “Champ, let me show you something.” He took me to the bathroom where there was a newspaper and someone had urinated on it. And he said, “That’s breaking news. Next time they shall be waiting for you. I said, “I’ve got you, coach.” I’ve got you. “

Collins said he had “truly special moments” with Robinson. Not all of it was pretty, like watching Robinson endure racism from fans while coaching him at Illinois State.

“We played at Arkansas when I was younger and we always had to play D-I teams on the road,” Collins said. “They would never come to play with us in our building. We tried to become a DI team and beat them on the road. It was a really good victory. I was walking off the floor with coach and he put his arm around me and I said, “Coach, this is a great win.” “Yes, Master.” And then I said to him, “Coach, how do you take all this teasing and what’s being said about you?” And he said, “Champ, these people are ignorant.” They do not know that sooner or later (Arkansas) can have a black coach.

“And now we go to 1994 and Duke vs. Arkansas in the NCAA championship game. And my son plays for Duke and Arkansas wins on Scotty Thurman 3 (-pointer). And not only was (Robinson) a visionary that they’d sooner or later have a black coach, but this guy (Nolan Richardson) led them to a national championship.