His collegiate career at Wisconsin now in the rear view mirror, the start of Frank Kaminsky’s career with the Charlotte Hornets remains about three months away.
The winner of both the Wooden and Naismith Awards after averaging 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds as the Badgers reached a second straight Final Four, Kaminsky has never been shy to express gratitude for his basketball upbringing.
“I go back there all the time when I’m home,” the 2011 Benet alumnus said of his alma mater on Thursday from Orlando while in town participating in the NBA’s Pro Summer League. “That’s where I work out when I’m home. Just love having Coach (Gene) Heidkamp around. He has always been so helpful for us, with everything that we’ve ever needed.”
Before the attention of the ninth overall pick in June’s NBA Draft squarely turns to getting ready to suit up for Michael Jordan’s Hornets in October, he’s taking yet another opportunity to give back.
Kaminsky and a pair of former Benet teammates, David Sobolewski and Dylan Flood, are spearheading a three-day Frank Kaminsky Hoopsmasters Camp at Benet from July 22-July 24.
“I have no problem going to him and asking him if we can do something like this,” Kaminsky said of Heidkamp, “because he’s always willing to help. Obviously we all still love Benet and love our high school. It just means a lot that we’re able to host our camp at the school.”
The camp, now in its fourth year, is open to anyone in Grades 3-8 and will be split into a pair of two-hour sessions each day for Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-8.
The three former Redwings, Kaminsky, Sobolewski and Flood, will be prominently involved.
“We each run our own station,” Kaminsky said. “I’ve been very involved, 100 percent involved, every single year we’ve done it so far. So I don’t see anything changing. I just love doing this kind of stuff. I love working camps and I love working with kids and helping them with basketball.”
Amidst helping lead Wisconsin all the way to the national title game before losing to Duke in April, Kaminsky led the team in eight different categories.
He was the only player in Division I to average at least 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 blocks as the Badgers won a school-record 36 games.
As the start of his NBA career draws closer, he wants to take advantage of his increased notoriety after his last two years at Wisconsin to impart a message of perseverance.
“I view myself now like a representative of the community,” he said. “I have a story that I feel like that can be told where I was a kid in those camps growing up. I was just okay and there were a lot of kids who were considered a lot better than me and there were people that could tell me what I could and couldn’t do.
“I just didn’t listen to any of it and kind of pushed though it and now I’m exactly where I dreamed I would be. I feel like that’s a message I can pass on to the kids. It might not be in sports, but it can be in anything else you want to do. You just don’t listen to anyone (tell you that can’t do something) and go do what you want to do.
“Obviously, I’m a basketball player. So I know how to teach basketball to other people. But I can also teach them lessons at the same time.”
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