Danuel House credits Rockets assistant coach John Lucas for helping him to stay focused when it appeared his NBA dream may not work out, writes Sean Deveney for Forbes. House reached out to Lucas after being waived by the Wizards in March 2017. A broken wrist had sidelined him for more than two months, and he had gotten into just one game — less than a minute of playing time — with his first NBA team.
“Shut your mouth,” said Lucas, who first met House at age 13 at a Houston basketball camp. “Shut your mouth and get ready for your next opportunity.”
That came the following year with the Suns, but House found a more permanent home last season with the Rockets. He spent most of the year as a two-way player, but he started 13 NBA games and eventually earned a three-year contract.
“I also told him he would be an NBA player,” Lucas recalled. “You could see he was good enough for that. I just never imagined we’d be together with the same team.”
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