{"id":43699,"date":"2025-08-04T20:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T20:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/43699\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T20:59:11","slug":"how-the-australian-overcame-darkness-to-land-with-cleveland-cavaliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/43699\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Australian overcame darkness to land with Cleveland Cavaliers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI got hurt in early November with my ankle, which kept me out for a month, and to finish the season like that \u2013 I told my coach in the locker room after that last game that I was coming back [next season].<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s just me as a competitor, me as a person. That\u2019s not being satisfied, and I\u2019m super grateful, super blessed that they were willing to have me back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tyrese Proctor was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/c727853ff922ab984c56679388ed33fb1ac032e1.jpeg\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Tyrese Proctor was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Proctor put his own game under the microscope and, with the help of a Canada-based mental coach, he put work into that side of his game.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cI\u2019m still working with my mental coach to this day, and I felt like it helped me tremendously this past season at Duke,\u201d Proctor said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to be open-minded to it as I hadn\u2019t done anything like this at all. I said: \u2018Why not?\u2019 I ended up loving it. We have a great connection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Proctor also stayed off his social media accounts for the whole season.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tyrese Proctor met the wildlife at Taronga Zoo.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/7423292ebeaecba092c2d9130d664f32db1dcfee.jpeg\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Tyrese Proctor met the wildlife at Taronga Zoo.Credit: Steven Siewert<\/p>\n<p>Proctor enjoyed his best season with the Blue Devils, who fell agonisingly one game short of the NCAA Tournament final, losing 70-67 to University of Houston. <\/p>\n<p>Proctor was able to flip his tournament script on his struggles a year earlier, hitting seven three-pointers and making nine of his 10 shots overall in a 25-point outburst against Baylor. He also had 17 points against Alabama in Duke\u2019s Elite Eight win.<\/p>\n<p>Duke coach Jon Scheyer became emotional after the Baylor game as he praised Proctor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would both say his sophomore season didn\u2019t go the way we wanted,\u201d Scheyer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s where it is easy to split. I wasn\u2019t in a convincing mode, I was matter-of-fact about where I saw him. The difference for a guy in his position is that he took it, as opposed to making excuses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the special thing about him, making seven threes and being our key guy after going through all these moments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is a clear bond between the pair. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember his first phone call to me in my bedroom in Sydney \u2013 he\u2019s only been honest with me,\u201d Proctor said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing him get emotional was a really special moment, he understood the work that was put in behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Proctor was also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/link\/follow-20170101-p5mai1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">one of four Australians selected<\/a> in the NBA Draft, and ended up in the best playing situation as the title-contending Cavaliers targeted Proctor and offered him a multi-year deal to be one of their backup guards.<\/p>\n<p>With Boston\u2019s Jayson Tatum and Indiana\u2019s Tyrese Haliburton expected to miss the season as they recover from ruptured Achilles tendons, the Cavs are among the favourites to win the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n<p>His new home in Cleveland has water views that remind him of Sydney, albeit of Lake Erie rather than the ocean. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going in open-minded and want to take everything in because the vets, the coaches have been there before,\u201d Proctor said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Aussie basketballer Tyrese Proctor mixes with juniors at his old club Sutherland Sharks.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/e0d957a00cb0903b0775266c867cedd844fde1ca.jpeg\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Aussie basketballer Tyrese Proctor mixes with juniors at his old club Sutherland Sharks.Credit: Janie Barrett<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to connect with those guys. I think I play a great brand of basketball, and I can fit in there really well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On a return to the Sutherland Sharks, Proctor recalled his side rarely won during some seasons, and that made winning at the NBA Academy and then Duke feel even more special.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowing up in the Shire, I came up not winning a lot of games,\u201d Proctor said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I really cherish winning basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tyrese Proctor returned to his junior club Sutherland.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/4f0faa939cb458d6eabfb2a99604ccf5eb695dea.jpeg\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Tyrese Proctor returned to his junior club Sutherland.Credit: Janie Barrett<\/p>\n<p>He aims to return to the Boomers side ahead of the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar and LA 2028 Olympics. <\/p>\n<p>Above all, he wants to repay his parents Rod and Melissa for helping him reach the NBA.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cA lot of people have poured time into my career and me as a person. Dad is my biggest critic but also my biggest fan,\u201d Proctor said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard at college with so much stuff going on and that\u2019s only going to grow in the NBA but having that platform, that ability to still be able to see them a lot and give back &#8211; that\u2019s a big thing for me.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>With Frances Howe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI got hurt in early November with my ankle, which kept me out for a month, and to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-43699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}