KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ As soon as the doors of Park Hill High School's gymnasium were unlocked on a 75-degree July morning, the first attendees of Landry Shamet's sold-out basketball camp streamed through.
Some wore Los Angeles Clippers gear. Others carried basketballs. Everyone craned their necks to get a glimpse of the hometown star who, in just the last year, had gone from a first-round pick in Philadelphia seemingly bound for the G League into a Clippers starter with all-rookie honors, and a game-winning three-pointer in the playoffs, to his name.
If campers had signed up to emulate Shamet, they were partly in luck. Counselors taught shooting form and preached hustle. Each huddle ended with a cry of Shamet's mantra: "Never cheated."
But not everything that explained his rookie success could be taught in a two-day camp.
"Landry," said David Garrison, Shamet's high school coach at Park Hill, "has always been wise beyond his years."
For the Clippers to claim their first NBA Finals berth this season, they will need superstar performances from Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. But a title run will also require something extra from the Clippers' role players. They include Shamet, a 22-year-old starting guard of whom much will be asked, in only his second season.
Yet Shamet has grown up quickly before. The only son of a single mother took on responsibilities that seemed beyond his age well before he reached the NBA.
At 2, Shamet could dribble a regulation-sized basketball the length of a court. By 8, when his mother's work shifts ran long, he would let himself into the back door at home after school using a key worn around his neck. In middle school, his family lost its duplex to bankruptcy. In high school, he was confronted with the stunning choice whether to contact the father he has never known.
"Learning how to take care of yourself," Shamet said. "I was doing that since I was in first, second grade. Having responsibilities, being held accountable, the whole thing."
Coaches and teammates trace a direct line from Shamet's dependability as a pro to his upbringing _ a childhood in which he quickly learned to depend on the team around him.
"The village that was there for him," his grandmother, Patti Shamet, said, "when times were hard."
