Based on his first two seasons at Gonzaga, very few could have predicted Kelly Olynyk’s All-American campaign in 2013.
As a freshman, the straight-haired Canadian averaged less than 4.0 points in about 12 minutes per game. The following season he averaged 5.8 points (while shooting 44.4% from 3-point range).
“(Olynyk) was so frustrated by a lot of things he could potentially control,” said Gonzaga men’s basketball strength and conditioning coach Travis Knight. “For him, his particular problems had to do with athleticism, but really they had to do with balance, body control and some pieces like that.”
To the surprise of some, Olynyk opted to redshirt in the 2011-12 season. As the idea of “one and done” became more popular in college basketball, so did the obsession with instant results. Most of the players who redshirted were transfers who had to sit out a year due to old NCAA rules.
But no one imposed on Olynyk the idea of playing the long term.
“The way he accepted it, and it’s really greatly influenced my thinking about how to scale that for other players, is that the change was completely internal,” Knight said. “He tried a lot, but when you no longer have the need to be in a certain state for the game, where you have to have physical preparation and freshness… when you no longer have that, you can literally push.” the envelope with such force. And I think that was really exciting for him.”
Knight, who played baseball at Gonzaga from 1998-99 before assuming his current role with the men’s basketball team, incorporated some of what he learned on the diamond into his workouts with Olynyk.
“The game is about how fast you can move, how fast you can stop, how many options you can see and process,” Knight said. “And we had a great time doing that, and I think that’s where baseball helped, because baseball is hand-eye coordination, there’s a lot of quick-reaction balance stuff involved. We brought a little bit of baseball to basketball and it just took off.”
Olynyk returned to the court as a different player in the 2012-13 season. The Bulldogs earned the program’s first No. 1 ranking in the KeynoteUSA Top 25 poll behind Olynyk’s resurgence, as he averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks to earn consensus All-American honors. All while he looks like an eventual NBA player.
Olynyk was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 2013 Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, who later traded his draft rights to the Boston Celtics. Since then, Olynyk has had 11 productive seasons in the association playing for six different teams.
“Kelly has had an incredible career,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said at a recent news conference. “He’s done what he does best, man. He’s a really, really smart, tough, really good basketball player and that’s why he fits in really well everywhere. He was with (Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra) in Miami, You know, and he would be great on any team because he’s a great teammate, he knows how to play and he’s tough, he’s a winner and I think that’s why it’s “I did so well and I lasted so long in the league.”
Knight shared more about Olynyk’s career at Gonzaga, and much more, in a new episode of Gonzaga Nation.
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE BELOW:
Produced by Thomas Gallagher.
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