American import Aaron McCuin is acutely aware of the positive impact he can make in his stint with the Werribee Devils.
The 200cm Texan will, no doubt, rack up the points, reel in the rebounds and collect multiple-game MVPs in the Big V championship this season, but his influence off the court could be his legacy.
“I was a kid once and we had a couple of older guys come back and teach us a lot of stuff,” McCuin, 24, told the Weekly.
“There ain’t nothing like seeing the smiles on kids’ faces when they look up to you and look at you with the positive image you have and the attitude you have.
“That’s a good thing because I can have an impact on somebody’s life and that’s the great part of it.”
McCuin idolises Dwight Howard, a starting centre for NBA team the Houston Rockets, and the similarities between them on and off the court are uncanny.
Both are sticklers for hard work, make a living inside the paint and play the game with an infectious smile.
On one occasion, McCuin turned up to training and told his coach of a niggling injury, the same one that inflicted Howard on that very night.
Knowing how much McCuin models his game and persona on Howard, his coach jokingly queried if he was faking the injury.
“He’s a character, always positive like me,” McCuin said. “I try to be a goofy, fun guy, and don’t like to be around negativity.
“He is a hard worker, too, and I’ve always said I’d like to make myself like that.
“He’s a beast on the boards, too. That’s what motivated me to play like that every game.”
McCuin is not the shortest player on the court and often he is not the tallest. Still, he will be used in both the centre and power forward positions with the vertically light-on Devils.
Rebounding is the main feature of his game, a craft he has continued to hone in a young career that started at Paul Quinn College in Dallas.
At one time, he was the No.1-ranked rebounder in the US National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, leading to All-Conference and All-American honours.
While he might appear naturally gifted, it has taken McCuin years of practice and coaching to arrive at this point.
“As a young guy, I wasn’t always good at basketball, but I put in the hard work,” he said. “I didn’t start getting good until my junior or senior year at high school.
“Rebounding has a technique to it: boxing out, positioning, knowing where the ball will land. It ain’t always how big and strong you are, it’s out-thinking your opponent, using your mind and that’s what it takes for you to get the rebounds. And hard work. Just keep working. Never stop.”
McCuin is excited about the potential of the Devils in the top division of metropolitan basketball.
The Young Devils are off to an encouraging 3-1 start and are eyeing off a playoff berth.
“When I first got here, people kept doubting us,” he said. “They were saying we’re small, we don’t have the talent, but if you work as a team and keep working and keep striving, nobody can take that from you.
“A lot of people are going to look at you negative, but as a team, we really don’t care about the negativity, we just keep working and keep grinding to prove people wrong.”
McCuin wants to be known as the “rock” of the team, the one who sets the example at training, walks off the court at the final buzzer knowing he could not have offered up any more and continues to produce consistently for a team that will rely heavily on his work on the inside.
Playoffs are the goal, but McCuin appreciates the work that must go in between now and August.
“We’ve only just got together and we’re learning to play together, but we’re already winning,” he said.
“I was talking to coach [Mark Hughes] and said, ‘Just imagine if we really get that chemistry together, we’re already winning’.
“We can only take it game by game, step by step, you’ve got to crawl before you walk.
“If we get there, we get there; it’s everybody’s goal to get to the championship, but you have to want to do it and have the fight to do it.”
McCuin and the Devils have a double header this weekend. They hit the road on Saturday night for a clash with Corio Bay at Geelong Basketball Centre before hosting the Bulleen Boomers at Werribee Sports and Fitness Centre on Sunday.
