Rawle Alkins kept a blog at USA Today for his last two years of high school and went on to help Arizona capture back-to-back Pac-12 titles before declaring for the NBA Draft this year. Alkins averaged 13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last season for the Wildcats. Now he’s back with USA Today to give fans a peek into what his life has been like since preparation for the NBA Draft began. The draft will commence Thursday at Barclays Center (Brooklyn, N.Y.) at 7 p.m.
Well, well, what’s up world!
I’m baaaaaack!
I know it’s been a while since my last blog, but as most of you know I’ve been at Arizona the last couple of years and lately I’ve been busy preparing for the NBA Draft, which is Thursday, but I wanted to come back and fill you guys in on everything before the big day!
What better way to do that than with my people at USA Today!
My last two years at Arizona were great!
I learned so much and grew so much and won back-to-back Pac-12 championships! People forget that part, with everything we went through we still won.
I, honestly, can’t believe that I’m about to be an NBA player. That hasn’t hit me yet.
I can’t even believe I just said that. Wow. It’s like a dream.
I’ve just had so much going on with pre-draft stuff that I hadn’t had time to just sit and reflect on it.
It’s a little nerve-wracking because so much is unknown.
I don’t know what team will pick me then there are so many scenarios where teams could trade up and down and all of that.
I feel like I’m in a great position with all of the workouts I’ve been through I’ve been getting great feedback. No one knows where they’ll actually go; people have different mock drafts, but teams have their own thoughts. You never really know.
I definitely think my guy DeAndre Ayton is the No. 1 overall pick.
I personally think I’ll surprise a lot of people in the draft. I’m confident in what I can bring to a team and I’ve been fortunate to be able to matchup against some of the top players in the draft at workouts and everybody leaves the workouts surprised at how well I play.
I tell them they shouldn’t be surprised because it’s always been like that.
The teams always leave telling me something like “Man I didn’t know you had that in your game!”
The best part about the NBA game is the spacing. I can operate so much easier with all the space on the floor so I’m just excited to get there and do my thing.
The pre-draft process has been wild though!
They do all of this intense questioning, just to test your psyche.
One question was: If you died how would you want to die?
I was like wow! I said I’m gonna live forever!
It’s been fun though.
I’m working on my suit and all the fun stuff too. Nothing final yet though.
I’m more focused on where I could potentially go. I know there are a lot of teams with multiple picks so I think it’ll be even more interesting than other drafts.
There are so many different scenarios where I could go here and there that it can be a lot, in a good way.
For the last few months I’ve been going from city to city working out for teams, then I talk to the teams and try and sell myself. Then I go to my hometown to rest for a couple of days and then I just do it over and over again.
It’s a lot, but I’m doing what I love to do; gotta keep everything in perspective.
I’ve definitely been reflecting a little on how this all started. I remember it was my sophomore year of high school when I really started to get noticed nationally.
I played with The RENS and won the adidas championships in Atlanta by about 30.
We played against all of the top-ranked guys like Kobi Simmons and Dennis Smith and I just did my thing against everybody.
After that, I was ranked in the top 10!
It’s been nonstop since then.
Draft night is gonna be lit regardless of what happens! We’re looking at venues that we can maybe rent out for an after party so that’s gonna be fun.
OK everybody, once again, I’m happy to be back with you guys after a couple of years off! Thanks for reading about my journey and definitely tune in to the NBA Draft Thursday night.
It’s still crazy to me that I’ve been writing this blog since my junior year of high school and now I’m writing about achieving my dream of making the NBA.
Wow!
That’s a blessing.
OK, guys, I’ll continue to update you from time to time, but thanks again and I’ll be back soon.
Rawle out.
Don’t forget to follow Rawle Alkins:
Twitter: @Iam_RawleAlkins
Instagram: Kingrawle
