{"id":102345,"date":"2015-05-16T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2015-05-16T17:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bilcomprd.wpengine.com\/?p=102345"},"modified":"2023-06-12T12:35:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T19:35:18","slug":"paris-austin-doesnt-need-a-ranking-true-point-guard-is-a-killer-official-ballislife-mixtapearticle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ballislife.com\/paris-austin-doesnt-need-a-ranking-true-point-guard-is-a-killer-official-ballislife-mixtapearticle\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Austin DOESN'T NEED A RANKING, True Point Guard Is A Killer! Official Ballislife Mixtape\/Article"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFTER THAT MIXTAPE YOU GOTTA WANT MORE! (Mixtape By Shift Team HQ<\/a>)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

To find out the whole story of Boise State\u2019s new gem <\/em><\/p>\n

and Oakland\u2019s best kept secret scroll down  <\/em><\/p>\n

IT'S NOT WHERE YOU START<\/strong><\/p>\n

By TIM COYNE<\/a><\/p>\n

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Recent UC Berkeley signee Ivan Rabb has already become somewhat of a folk hero around his future campus.  The greatest source of the Golden Bear-to-be's legend is not his tantalizingly long 6'10 frame or his McDonalds All-American skillset, but rather an attribute much more associated with fortune 500 entrepreneurs than teenage hoop stars.  The country\u2019s top public institution now reveres the eighteen-year-old and his persuasion.  Rabb tipped the scales for top Cal recruit Jaylen Brown and reportedly Caleb Swanigan is not far behind.  While credit for the two top recruits\u2019 interest has not officially been given to Rabb, around college basketball some are referring to him as the sport's top recruiter.  Cal\u2019s newest power forward began developing this type of artistry years ago.<\/p>\n

Paris Austin was just fourteen and headed to his local public high school in Oakland when his close friend Rabb suggested that Bishop O'Dowd, the nearby catholic school, would be a good place to spend his next couple of years.  Before he could obtain a learner\u2019s permit Rabb had an eye for transcendent talent.<\/p>\n

In Austin, Rabb saw a kindred spirit.   The two met in the 5th grade while playing for one of Oakland's local AAU programs.  Rabb was playing up with the program's older team, yet the two bonded after discovering they shared a deep devotion to the game that simply wasn't in the rest of their fellow ten year-old teammates.  The bond and their commitment to the game deepened as they went on to share the floor on the local middle school<\/p>\n

\"I don't know how many 5th or 6th graders take basketball that serious,\" Austin wondered, \"Ivan and I were always watching the game or playing it.  He lives close by and we spent a lot of time together on those courts.\"  Paris explained in his bedroom of his parents house, while pointing out the window towards the Oakland blacktops a few streets over.  By their 8th grade year they\u2019d built chemistry, along with individual skillsets, and hit new heights as their Oakland Soldiers took the country by storm.<\/p>\n

\"That year is when things got really serious,\" Paris explained, \"we were playing for a really good team and spending a lot of time together on the road in hotels, just talking.  We challenge each other a lot, he has no problem coming up to be and saying 'P, what are you doing' and I have no problem doing the same.  If Ivan wasn't one of the best players in the country I believe we would still be really good friends just based on his character.   He's family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabb's premonition laid the groundwork for one of the greatest one-two punches in high school basketball this year.  The East Oakland duo conjures memories of Chris Webber and Jason Williams.  Rabb is as skilled of a big man as you'll find at the prep level.  He has range and touch from the outside, a great knack for finding the open man out of a double team, and an endless array of post moves to get him to the rim where he knows exactly how to finish.  His childhood friend has every bit the flair White Chocolate had when he exploded on to the NBA scene.  Spectators eject out of their seats into a standing ovation in reacting to Austin\u2019s lighting quick crossovers and passes that bend the laws of geometry.  A better comparison might be former NBA lottery pick and Coney Island standout Sebastian Telfair, in the way Austin makes it appear as if the court is covered in a thick layer of snow and he is the only wearing skis.  However, unlike J-Will and Bassy Telfair before him, Boise State's future floor general is rarely out of control.  As quick as he can appear when blowing by helpless defenders, he can just as easily slow the game and dissect it frame by frame.  Its a feel that cannot be taught and one that\u2019s most associated with Chauncey Billups and Chris Paul.<\/p>\n

Despite all the lines of comparison that can be drawn to great point guards before him, Paris Austin's most defining characteristic is the one associated with his home\u2019s soil.  No word in the english language more aptly describes the city of Oakland, California better than toughness.  It is a trait carried by all the great point guards to come out of Oakland.  Brian Shaw and Gary Payton may have perfected it.  Jason Kidd combined it with a savant understanding of the game and most recently the Trail Blazers\u2019 Damian Lilliard has used it to drive him from obscurity to a certifiable star.  Lilliard in particular is a fellow Oakland product who Austin studies meticulously, specifically his deadly stepback jumper which Austin has added in the last year.  As an unheralded mid-major star who became a NBA lottery pick, there is no better blueprint for Austin to follow.  Terry, Austin\u2019s father, remembers early on when his son first showed flashes of that hometown unshakeable toughness and self-belief on the court.<\/p>\n

\"When he was a little guy I felt like P was right where he needed to be, but nothing really specially.  Competitive but nowhere to the level he is now. Then there would be glimpses, like a step-back baby-step or pushing the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was one definitive time when Terry Austin can remember realizing his son had something burning inside him. \"I can remember taking him to these little tournaments around here and we went to one in Berkeley.  It was Paris's first time playing with this particular team and it was a tough game that came down to the last five seconds.  The team swung the ball to him, he made a move and hit a shot to win the game.  This coach went crazy and to this day keeps asking me to bring him back.  The tenacity he played with and the confidence to take that kind of shot on a team of players he didn't know...it was after that game when I said to myself 'we might have something here.'\"<\/p>\n

Around that time a small buzz began to build around the fiery point guard from Oakland.  Austin and Rabb's former coach on one of their earlier AAU teams, Steve Arowsman, remembers the first time he saw Austin play was coaching against Austin. He had already heard about him from kids on his team and some of them thought they were better than Paris.<\/p>\n

\"I told them, 'we'll find out' after the first half I remember thinking we need to get this guy on our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arowsman, who is known as \"Rossi\" by those close to him, got his way.  Austin began playing for Rossi shortly after the lesson in humility he gave his future teammates and remains close with Rossi to this day.  He often acts in a big brother role to put things in perspective for Paris.  Along with his father Terry, they have had countless hours of conversations about focusing on the bigger picture, working hard and letting everything else take care of itself.  It was during one of those long talks that Rossi told Paris while he was playing junior varsity as a freshman itching for a place on the varsity, \u201cIt\u2019s not where you start, it\u2019s where you finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paris took the words to heart and it has become somewhat of a mantra to lean on when life isn\u2019t going as smooth as his crossover.  That mindset best explains Paris\u2019s indifference to the various scouting services and websites that many of those who watched Paris throughout his career felt overlooked his rare skillset.<\/p>\n