After Brandon Knight was selected eighth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft, he asked his mother, Tonya, a favor.
Could she take care of his dog until he had time to come back and get him?
“He ended up going to Milwaukee, so guess who wound up with the dog?” Tonya asked with mock indignation. “Me!”
She immediately followed that up by saying she wanted to keep the dog at this point. She has grown comfortable with him, and now can’t imagine life without him. Now she hopes her son will develop a similar comfort level with his new NBA home, his third within his first four years in the league.
“I don’t think anybody has seen the real Brandon...He’s somewhere where he’s wanted and the Phoenix Suns have accepted him. His confidence level is going to go through the roof.”
— Efrem Knight on his son, Brandon Knight
Such instability is uncommon for a player of Knight’s talent level and character. His numbers have improved every season. Milwaukee leaned on his ahead-of-his-years maturity last season, doubling its win total from 2013-14 by the All-Star break. Then they traded him. They finished the season 11-18 without him.
Knight, who nearly made the Eastern Conference All-Star team, now finds himself with a long-term basketball future for the first time since high school. That, says his father Efrem, will further unleash the 23-year-old’s talent.
“I don’t think anybody has seen the real Brandon,” he said. “But now that he has a home, all that other stuff goes to the back of his mind. He doesn’t have to worry about any of that other stuff. He’s somewhere where he’s wanted and the Phoenix Suns have accepted him. His confidence level is going to go through the roof.”
Brandon never lacked for confidence as a child. His parents both recall him being a leader even among his friends. It was a quiet kind of leadership, an example that would leave its mark. That stemmed from his parents, who had a simple philosophy: only ask what you’re willing to do yourself.
“If I cut the lawn, I’m going to cut the lawn to perfection,” Efrem said. “If I wash the dishes, I’m going to wash the dishes to perfection. If I clean the house, anything in the house is going to be done to perfection. He watched me do these things. I wouldn’t ask him to do nothing that I wouldn’t do. You have to lead by example. You cannot ask your child to do something because you’re grown and you don’t do it, but you want your child to do it. I just don’t believe in that.”
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Brandon took the quest for perfection to heart. Basketball obligations chewed up large portions of his daily routine. That meant that homework assigned from Pine Crest High School – one of the top-ranked preparatory schools in the nation – had to be done at the expense of free or play time. He would stay up until midnight or later, spending three to four hours each night to complete it. That wasn’t, Tonya said, because it was difficult.
“He’s a perfectionist,” she said, echoing Efrem.
If fatigue was a factor, it never showed on the court or in the classroom. Brandon was a two-time Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year as well as 2009 Florida Mr. Basketball. His schoolwork earned him a lofty 4.3 grade-point average and saw him become the National Honor Society president and high school valedictorian.
Now Knight brings his perfectionist leadership to the Suns, a team searching for its first playoff berth since 2010. His father’s philosophy – which helped see him through all his accomplishments – should serve Phoenix well.
“Whatever you do in life," Efrem said, "give it a hundred percent or don’t do it at all.