In what could very well turn out to be the steal of the entire 2015 NBA Draft, 19-year-old Duke University small forward Justise Winslow fell to the Miami Heat at No. 10 overall in the first round. We know he was a great player at Duke during its 2014-15 NCAA Championship run, but here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about Winslow.
1. He Comes from a Large Family
Justise is the son of mother Robin Davis and father Rickie Winslow. He is the youngest child of three older brothers, Cedrick, Brandon and Josh as well as an older sister named Bianca, who currently plays on the University of Houston women’s basketball team.
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2. His Father Played in the NBA and Overseas
Winslow’s father, Rickie, played college basketball at the University of Houston (1983-87) and was a member of the famed Phi Slama Jama team that included Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Winslow, a small forward, was selected 28th overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1987 NBA Draft and played seven games for the Milwaukee Bucks during the 1987-88 NBA season before continuing his career overseas.
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3. High School Domination
During his tenure in high school at St. John’s in Houston, Texas, Winslow put together quite an impressive resume. He was a two-time Gatorade Texas Boys Basketball Player of the Year, a two-time Southwest Prep Conference (SPC) Player of the Year and a four-time all-conference selection.
Winslow averaged 23.9 points, 12.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 2.0 blocks per game over a 125-game high school career and was the centerpiece on the St. John’s Mavericks en route to a 94-48 record and three league titles over his four years.
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4. His Favorite T.V. Show is That ’70s Show
An instant classic with tons of laugh-out-loud material, Winslow lists That ’70s Show as his personal favorite television show of all time.
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5. He’s into Art, Really into Art
In an interview with SB Nation a few days before the 2015 NBA Draft, Winslow said that he surprisingly takes quite the interest in many different forms of artwork.
“It’s just something that during my time at Duke, I just found I had — not a passion, but a lot of respect for those guys,” said Winslow. “Whether it’s an artist or a musician, guys that spend a lot of time practicing their craft like I do, I have a lot of respect and admiration for that. And then just a lot of visual art: drawings, paintings, stuff like that. A lot of modern contemporary stuff has been stuff that I’ve been attracted to recently.”
Since the NBA Draft is held in New York City, the small forward did not hesitate to check out the Museum of Modern Art. Also, he plans to pay a visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art at some point during his stay as well.
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6. Winslow Played for the USA in the 2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championship
He was a member of the 2014 USA U18 National Team that compiled a 5-0 record, won the FIBA Americas U18 Championship gold medal and qualified the U.S. for the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship. Winslow, who put up very solid numbers in the tournament, averaged 12.4 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals per game.
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7. His Favorite Food is Chicken and Waffles
If you’ve ever had the opportunity of trying this delectable combo together, you can see why Winslow would list this as his food of choice.
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8. Golf Balls?
Um. Wait. What? When Winslow was interviewed by a handful of NBA teams back in May during the NBA combine workouts, he said that he was asked some of the weirdest questions he has ever heard. The one that easily stood out the most according to him was a question about golf balls.
“(One team asked) how many golf balls could fit in this (small conference) room,” he said. “But mostly the questions are a lot more sports related or about me and my family or something like that. They don’t really try to throw you off too much with the questions. I just did get the one question about the golf ball. I just said ‘a million.’”
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9. He’s a Fashion Aficionado
Winslow says he got to team up with AXE, working with their “white label” colelction, and GQ. He even says GQ dressed him up for the 2015 NBA Draft.
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10. Smashing Video Game Controllers
Winslow is an amazing competitor on the court as well as off the court, and he believes this attitude stems from his time playing video games as a kid.
“I’ve had times where, you know, you lose a game and cry as a little kid. Or playing video games and throwing the controller at the wall. Or times when you lose and say you just never want to play that video game or board game again. I’ve never hurt anyone because I lost. Just the controllers. I’ve broken a good amount. NCAA Football and NBA Live used to get me,” said Winslow in an interview earlier this month.
His tenacity and hard work will be on full display during the upcoming 2015-16 season when he suits up for the Miami Heat.
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