On 1st February, in “Horia Demian” Sports Hall, BC CSU Sibiu beat U-BT Cluj-Napoca for the second time in a row. They had an excellent game and almost scored 100 points, winning with 98 to 90.

After the final whistle, the players from Sibiu got into the stands and celebrated the success together with the fans who came to Cluj. Then, in his way to the locker room, Isaiah Philmore told us that he already called Barry Stewart, who has a personal problem, and announced him that the win is dedicated to him.

Philmore has an excellent relationship with Stewart, since they were teammates three seasons ago, in Tiger Tubingen. Along 2016-2017, Jared Jordan and Barry Stewart had a huge impact on Isaiah Philmore, as they were helping him through hard times.

“My third year is when I met Barry Stewart and Jared Jordan. They are two people that I was leaning on when I was there because Jared sees the game like no one else and Barry is an ultra-aggressive and good defender. If I needed a shot selection or how to do a move, I would go to Barry, if I needed to read a play better or see things in a different perspective, I would go to Jared, cause' his mind is so far ahead of everybody else. It really benefited me in that season. That's one of the reasons why I became an All-Star. I also had Stanton Kidd on that team. It's one of my good friends, we're both from Maryland so I already knew about Stanton. So, he was on my team and now he is in Australia, you know, he was almost with the Jazz. We had a great team”

Isaiah Philmore's basketball story started 16 years ago. His childhood was filled with tough moments like his father's departure to the army, the separation between his parents, leaving the US for Germany and then coming back for his mother's enlistment to the army.

“I kinda started playing basketball when I was younger, but not like other American kids. I was born in El Paso, Texas, and then we moved straight to Germany because my mother is German. I was raised there until the 3rd or 4th grade and then my mom joined the army and that's how I got back into the States. I was a soccer player because that's what we do in Germany. So, I really loved soccer, it still is one of my favorite sports. But, over my 8th and 9th grade I grew six or seven inches in two months. I was hearing people saying: “Oh, you're tall. You should try playing basketball”. I thought to myself: “Let's try it”. So, when I was 14, I started playing basketball and trying to take it seriously. It's something that kept me focused and it's something that kinda gave me a reason to work hard. Once I heard that you can get a full-rights scholarship to college, it was one of those things where I can set an example for my family. I'm the oldest of four and I have three younger cousins also. I helped raise my three younger siblings because my mom was a single mom for a little bit. Then, on occasions, I would help raise my cousins so I'm like a father figure to everybody. I figured that if I can make it out of the worse situations, then it would help them see that anything is possible. Once that reality set in is when I really started going to the gym a lot, running, making sure that I did what I needed to do to get better. My best friend also died when I was 17 and that was extra motivation on top of everything else. You know, just talking to his family after he died was tough. So, it kept me in the gym and next thing you know I'm getting a full-rights scholarship to go to college. I was the first one to go to college and graduate and setting the ultimate example to everybody from my family on how to handle business, what it means to be a family man, and just trying to do the right thing and be the best version of you that you can be. No matter the circumstances on anything else, you can always work harder. The harder you work, the better your chances are. I have no regrets, because knowing how much work I put into this game, even though I still have flaws – everybody has flaws – but I try to make sure that every summer I go home and I work on something that I know it's gonna take me to the next level, or make me a better player, an all-around player. This is my background story”

Therefore, Philmore is in that category of young Americans who are finding their refuge in basketball, forgetting for a few hours about their daily problems. As a teen, he grew up very fast and the responsibility that he had for his brothers was proven to be decisive in his sports career.

“Being a father figure, you feel responsible for those that you're taking care of. It gives you a certain type of drive because I knew that I wasn't playing basketball for me, I was playing it for my family, for my siblings. The younger sibling is 15 years younger, so when I was in high school he was young, running around and calling me 'dad'. It made me feel more responsible for making sure that I'll do what I can, if I was lucky enough to make it to the NBA or even Euroleague, to take care of my siblings. If things would go wrong with my mom and she wouldn't be financially stable that I could do it. On this day, my little sibling, on Father's Day, posts something like `Happy Father Day' and tells me that I'm the best father. It makes you proud to have people see you like that instead of brother or sister. That's who I played for. Now I have my own daughter and the drive just got even higher and more competitive, more focused. I didn't think I could be more focused, cause' I always gave what I could, but once I have my daughter, I got to the next level. You think you are a father figure and you don't understand what it's like to be a father until you become a father. And there was this extra focus, something that I took into my workouts this year to make sure that I got a lot better in the things that I needed to do to help Sibiu.”

Indeed, every summer the 2m03 player gets back into the States and is working for the next season. In the past few years, Philmore prepared at Kobe Bryant's academy and there he won the respect of some popular basketball players like Jrue Holiday.

“I have a funny story. I went to a workout and my wife was going to be in labor that day. I just go to Mamba Academy, I see Jrue Holiday working out all the time, I see Anthony Davis working out, and a couple of other NBA players who go there. I mean you see a lot of people. I was going there for a regular workout with my trainer and at the end of my workout, Jrue Holiday walks in and says 'Hey, we are playing one-on-one-on-one. Do you want to join'? There is no way that I'm turning down a session with Jrue Holiday, are you crazy? I'm tired after two hours of working out but I said 'Yeah, let's do this'.

So we were probably down there for another thirty, forty minutes and he's like 'man, you're a little bit more athletic than I thought, you are a little stronger than I thought you were'. You can tell that he gained some kind of respect for how hard I was playing.

We take a water break and during this water break, I check my phone and my wife started having contractions. I'm calling back and I said 'Babe, I was in the gym, sorry'. And she's like 'You're supposed to be home 45 minutes ago, we have to go to the hospital, I'm having contractions'. I'm like 'Babe, I was working out with Jrue Holiday'. She's like 'Ok, I'm not mad at you at all, but you need to come home so we can go to the hospital'. So, I said 'you're not mad?'. She's like 'You're working out with Jrue Holiday, what do you want me to say?'.

I hang up and we were gonna go for another 45 minutes, we had just started and I'm like 'Man, guys, I gotta go'. Jrue Holiday says 'What, you gotta leave?' and then one of the LA Lakers shooting coaches is like 'Man, we are about to really get started'.

I'm like 'My wife is in labor'. They're like 'Oh, man, you are going to have a daughter and this and that'. You could just see the excitement that they had for me becoming a father. A couple of days later, I go on Instagram and Jrue Holiday just followed me. I'm like 'This guy is awesome'. He's a really down-to-earth person. 

Ever since that, I went there last summer and he walked into the gym and we just talked. It's crazy to have somebody like this see you play. Cause' I see him on TV and this guy is good, he can play, he gets it, he gets that mentality. Let's not say that I have a relationship with him but to be able to speak with him when he says to me he approaches me just to see how my daughter is doing and stuff like that, it was really great. 

That would have never happened if it weren't for Mamba Academy. And I would've never met some of the other NBA players. Nick Young walks into the gym and says 'What's up, big fellas?'. They see me there every day, five days a week. They know I'm there. They come to the gym and say 'Oh, he's back here'. 

Mamba Academy means a lot. It gave me some great relationships and connections. I'm just really thankful for that place being there. I never got to meet Kobe. I mean, when he came in, there would be really private. My trainers would know but they wouldn't tell you because it's Kobe. They are not allowed to go tell 'Kobe's gonna be there'. Then they wouldn't have been able to enter the gym because of fifty thousand people shouting 'Hey, Kobe'. My wife's house is really close to there so you would know that he is there. But just to be able to work out in the same gym that he would work at, or other NBA players worked at, or have NBA players there, makes you feel special and gave me more of a drive to be better.”

Kobe's death profoundly affected Isaiah who confessed that he watched videos and read articles on this subject all week.

“I've been watching a lot of Kobe interviews and reactions. It makes you see that life's too short to hold grudges or to not talk to those people that you love as much as you should. Just to kinda adopt that mentality that he had as a player and as a father, the kind of love that you've seen between him and his daughters. To adopt that and to be a better leader. Just watching a couple of those interviews, I became more demanding of my teammates, a little less patient. Because it's the middle of the season, we all know what we have to do, we all know our responsibilities and it's time for everybody to look in the mirror and be honest with themselves about if they're giving 100% if they're not giving 100%, where they messed up, if they messed up, and holding each other accountable. If you hold each other accountable, everything else is easier. Then I know that you're not telling me to do this because you just want me to do it, you're telling me because you want me to get better. And if I do the same with you, you won't have an attitude with me.”

Kobe Bryant had four daughters and Isaiah Philmore also has a daughter named Leyla. As he was trying to find his words, the BC CSU Sibiu's leader talked to us about a sad moment in his life and about the joy of having a healthy child.

“I always wanted a son. I mean just to have a little me and somebody that, if I don't make my goals, could fulfill the dreams that I had. Nothing is greater than your child achieving what you couldn't. So, for me having a girl at first was like 'Man, I'm having a girl'. But I was happy because I had a healthy baby. My wife and I, we lost one before that. That was in Tubingen when I was with Jared and Barry and after that, the season wasn't the same. I couldn't get my mind out of that event, I couldn't pull it out of my mind. So, for me, it was more so that I was happy that I had a healthy kid. Being a father to a girl is the best feeling ever. I really love it and if I and my wife will have another kid and we have another daughter, I would love it. But a lot of people take it for granted having kids. After you lose one, it doesn't really matter. As long as my kids are healthy, I'm good.”

All these experiences that Isaiah had gone through were very tough and maybe, if there was someone else in his place, he would have been broken. But, the 30-year-old athlete says that the most important thing is how you manage to overcome these moments and to move forward.

“Everybody has their own experiences. It's what you make of that experience that shows what kind of person you are. I had a tough life, tough experiences but most basketball players, at some point, did. Every human has tough experiences. How do you come out on the other side of that experience? That's another thing that I was looking at from Kobe. He just put one foot in front of the other and kept going. That's what you have to do. As tragic as Kobe's death was, it's terrible that it had to be him and I would've never thought that it was going to be him. Especially with his daughter on the way to the Mamba Academy for a game. He's probably flown a thousand of times. But, he pulled people together and basically say 'Everything is too short. Make sure you put 100% in anything you do: basketball, being a family man, painting, whatever. Everything you do, just give it 100% because it could be all gone tomorrow'. That's the biggest thing that I think people should take from Kobe's death. I still can't believe it.

If you love to do it then why you're not giving it 100%? Does that mean that you're going to be the best at it? No, but you're going to be the best YOU at it. And that's the most important thing. I could never go to the Euroleague, but I'll still know that I gave everything I had. I will be proud of myself, my family is already proud of myself. I'm a professional basketball player. Nobody would have ever thought that”.

Personally, I got struck by Zey's statement which he pointed with a lot of pride: 'I'm a professional basketball player'. Most of us have the tendency to look up just at the best players in the world, forgetting that the others are also making huge efforts and that they also take their job very seriously. Isaiah is an example of a player that works extremely hard and the sport has taught him some valuable lessons.

“Definitely, fighting through adversity, coming together for sure, and that winning attitude, the hard-working attitude. Those are all things that you can get from basketball and just apply it to your own life. You know, for us is hard because you do all that preparation and when the lights are on you could just have a bad day. And a lot of fans are mad but you don't understand. You go to work at a desk or wherever but you don't have two thousand people watching you see if you're writing this correctly. You don't have that pressure and that's why I like Sibiu fans so much. They watch your emotion, your attitude, the way you're presenting yourself. So if you are out there throwing your body around, diving on the floor, they're like 'Hey, we lost? I don't care. Just look at what you gave them'. In plenty of games, we lost and you know that in the end, we all have to go and shake hands with the fans. I'm kinda disappointed that we lost and they just hug me and say 'Zey, what you all just gave up there. Ok, you lost against Oradea all these times, but you were out there fighting. You lost because they're just a better team. They were a better team tonight'. It's really nice to have fans that understand what to look for when they watch basketball. It's not just the score, it's everything else that you can get from the game and apply to your life. But, only a couple of people see it and only a couple of people do it. You could see it but not do it. There are plenty of things you can apply to your life, but are you going to put in the effort? That's the main question, that's something that Kobe did, going back to Kobe. He saw something and he applied it and he asked questions to other NBA players and if somebody would tell him something, he wouldn't say 'Nah, I'm too good'. He would listen to your point and see if he could apply it to his own game. It's what I do and hopefully, that will set me apart from others. We'll see”.

At 30 years old, after four seasons in Germany and one and a half spent in Romania, Isaiah Philmore doesn't give up on his dreams, but he has big objectives and is willing to work in order to get to them.

“I mean, like any other basketball player, the NBA would be great. Probably not gonna happen, but it would be a great thing to do just cause it's a dream. Euroleague would be great. I don't know how real those chances are but that's not gonna stop me from working as hard as I can so I don't regret anything. If I work as hard as I can and I don't make it then it just wasn't meant to be. But, if I leave it in somebody else's hands then that's my fault. So, I'm just going to work on all my weaknesses every summer and hope that I could make it to one of those two levels. I hope that I'm good enough to play at one of those two levels. It's also important who gets luckier with the opportunity and hopefully I get lucky. Once I get that opportunity, I have to make sure that I give it everything that I have. As far as working hard, that's just me. If you don't work hard, how do you expect to be anything or anything above average? I don't want to be average. I could sit at home all summer and be average. All I need is the preseason. I'll be back in shape and I could outwork people on the court by trying to rebound and anything else. My heart could make me average. I want to be above average. I want to be somebody who people look at and say: 'I like this guy – good teammate, hard worker, knows his responsibilities, and is very professional'. Those are my goals”

Whether Isaiah will ever get to the NBA or Euroleague, he will remain an inspiration for those around him thanks to the fact that he is a good teammate, a hard worker, knows his responsibilities and is very professional.

*photo: Valentin Todea/Baschet.ro

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