It was a cold Saturday night game in the Bronx. Fordham University was playing right before Christmas, on December 22, against UNC-Greensboro. A modestly covered college game in the middle of the season. That night at Rose Hill, one of the oldest arenas in the country, there were 2.000 people, not many more, attending a game that was going to be historical in some ways. The starting centers were Kyle Hines from one side and Bryant Dunston from the other. Both were wearing number 42. Nobody knew at the time, but it was the first encounter between two of the most decorated guys of the last twenty years of basketball. Only, they built their legacy far from the Bronx. They built their legacy here in Europe. “I met Kyle in college – Bryant Dunston says -. We played against each other when I was at Fordham. It was a good game, you know, a back-and-forth battle. And I was like; this guy is kind of good. He’s pretty good. You know, I didn’t expect a lot out of him just because I never heard of him or anything like this. So, I was surprised when we played. I was like, okay, he has a lot of the same qualities as me. He’s energetic. He blocks shots, he plays defense. And offensively, he can do some things, a lot of different things on the court. And he seemed to know the game too”.
UNC-Greensboro won that game, 58-54. Kyle Hines finished the game with 18 points and 10 rebounds. It was his 36th double double of his career and the 59th straight game in double digit scoring. Dunston had a good game too, 10 points and nine rebounds. He cut the deficit to two points late in the game, but it was not enough. That night, a friendship was born. Kyle Hines moved to Europe; Bryant Dunston went to South Korea. But it was just a matter of time. They met again. And again. And again.
“When I was in Varese, I was watching him on TV winning the EuroLeague a couple of times – Dunston recalls -. He was doing a lot of great things. And I was really happy to follow in his footsteps at Olympiacos coming from Varese. And at the same time, I was looking for some advice. So, I called him, and I asked him, ‘hey, is there anything that you can tell me about, Olympiacos or the city or anything that I need to know to help me?? You know, this is kind of a full-circle moment, because this year, when I came here, again it was the same thing. So, I was like, you know, even at the end of my career, I’m still asking for his advice”. They have similar skills, undersized centers who can defend like nobody else does, who can rebound the ball and score when needed, both of them have won a lot in their careers. “But Kyle has won I don’t know how many EuroLeagues and the Final Four he’s been to how many? I think he’s been to about ten or so. So, you know, he’s a great player. He’s one of the legends in this league. And, when number 42 is retired, it’s going to be because of him”. Kyle Hine actually reached to him in the summer. “Number 42 is mine, you cannot have it,” but it was just joking of course.
Bryant Dunston comes from Queens, one of New York’s boroughs. He was raised in LeFrak City, an area full of playgrounds and great players coming from there. “Coming up in New York is tough. There’s a lot of, a lot of competition, obviously. Everybody plays basketball there. I feel like at every other street corner there is a park, a playground somewhere, and, you know, you go around the city, you have to prove yourself every time. You have got to work on your skills. But it’s actually an advantage too, because you get to play against a lot of good players when you’re developing and that helps. So, it was fun for me”.
“In New York, there’s a basketball court at every other corner. It is tough because there’s a lot compeietion, but it can be an advantage because you face a lot of good players right when you’re developing. That helps”
Bryant Dunston on learning the game in New York
You can get the man out of New York, but you cannot get New York out of the man. So, Bryant Dunston – despite his long globetrotting career – is still a New Yorker at the heart and leaving the Big Apple is not something that he really aspired to do. As a matter of fact, when it was time to pick a college, he elected to stay at home. He went to Fordham, in the Bronx. “It was a thirty-minute drive from home, my family could come to every game, if I needed anything they were there for me. It was cool. That was really one of the reasons why I went to Fordham. On top of it, I saw that the program was up and coming, and I was trying to be a part of something special. “
Dunston spent four seasons at Fordham, played since day one, appeared in 120 games, averaging 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, 9.9 during his senior season. But you don’t get to the NBA being 6-foot-8 with no outside shot to talk about. Next stop was South Korea. “Things were great there. I had a great time. But, you know, I was looking for more competition and I heard about the EuroLeague, so I said, okay, I want to try to make my way there,” he recalled. Make it in Europe was the master plan. But things didn’t start well. “I had a couple of rocky seasons, especially when I was at Aris in Greece. I was still learning about European basketball and how things work.” At the same time, he was watching Kyle Hines blossoming into a big star.
“When I got to Holon, I pretty much bet on myself. I wasn’t making that much money, but I was given the opportunity to show that I could play. So that year, I played really well, and, then I came to Varese and met Frank Vitucci, who was an amazing coach at the time for me, and also my teammates who were really good, I made a lot of good friends there.”
Varese was the turning point. Unexpectedly, the team had an incredible season, won the regular season, made the Italian Cup final and was eliminated only by Siena in seven games in the semifinals. Bryant Dunston was everywhere. “It was like a dream to me, to have a coach that was understanding. He was cool and at the same time he knew the game, and he was fair. So, if we weren’t doing something right, he let us know. And then a lot of times we would also adjust things in the game or fix the game our way, too. And I had teammates who were unselfish, guys who didn’t care about who scored or whatever. They just wanted to win the games. And we had a really good underdog mentality. So, we played against a lot of big teams and won a lot of games.”
Dunston was the best center in the Italian league, a double double machine. It was 2013 and Kyle Hines, after winning back-to-back EuroLeague titles in Athens left for Moscow. Olimpia wanted him badly, but he signed for Olympiacos to replace Hines under using his advice. Gradually, he became one of the best centers in the league, a defensive presence, an intimidator in the middle. While Olympiacos was the first team to trust him a big-time player, Efes Istanbul was the team he really became – well – Bryant Dunston the legend.
“A EuroLeague winning team is a combination of chemistry. You have got to have some luck and stay healthy. Everybody has to be committed to working every day. You can’t focus on the results. So, when you lose some games you have to forget about it: there’s another game in two days.”
Bryant Dunston of what it takes to be a EuroLeague winning team
“At Efes, everything happened organically. Like it was really natural from preseason. We got together in the first year. It was Ataman’s second year, but he was with us for half a year. Now, he got his roster on the team. We pulled in some guys, like Micic, Larkin. You know, Brock Motum was there. Kruno Simon was there. Tibor Pleiss came in. So, we had a bunch of new guys, and everybody was saying, okay, he’s going to take the guys a long time to adjust. And we were like, why? You know, we spent time together. We talked about basketball off the court after the games or practices. We didn’t want to leave the locker room. We sat there and talked and laughed and did things together. And it translated to the court. And we had an amazing season. Nobody expected us to be where we were.”
Efes went to the Final Four in Vitoria, defeated Fenerbahce in the semifinal and lost only to CSKA Moscow in the championship game. Kyle Hines vs Bryant Dunston. The following season, Efes was dominating the league when Covid broke out and everything was stopped. It was unfinished business, so they resumed the following season and won back-to-back championships. A team for the ages. “A EuroLeague winning team is a combination of chemistry. You have got to have some luck, I guess, you have to be healthy. Everybody has to be committed to working every day, not just on game day. It has to be every practice. You have to come in and you have to try and get better. You can’t focus on the results sometimes. So, when you lose some games really badly you have to just forget about it because there’s another game in two days. You know, you must turn around quickly. And I think the bond between the players is important. And then the communication with the coach as well. We added more players over time. Chris Singleton was great for us, and he helped us win. Elijah Bryant helped us win it back-to-back. Rodrigue Beaubois did a lot of great things. And Dogus Balbay, the captain of the team. He kept everybody together, closed the bridge between the Turkish guys and the Americans and others. That was important. And we had obviously Coach Ataman to push and pull when he needed to in the right ways to help us and also to give us confidence because in the media he would go on and say, we’re the champions, and then we had to prove it.”
In the process, Dunston won a couple of defensive player of the year awards, getting the award that many feels should be named after Kyle Hines. “It takes instinct and desire to be a great defensive player. Defense is not easy. It takes a lot of sacrifice. You also need to have guys on your team who are willing to help you, too. So, I can’t be 100% focused on defense if I don’t know if my teammates have my back. So, on the teams that I’ve won defensive player of the year or I was a good defender in those years, it was because I trusted my teammates a lot.”
“The love for basketball just carried me as far as I can. I don’t feel like it is bad when I have to go to practice. I’m excited. I still feel great.. And I’m thankful to God because I’m still healthy.”
Bryant Dunston on his longevity
Dunston is almost 39. He is the oldest active player in the EuroLeague. Kyle Hines has the same age. So, Sergio Rodriguez. He has some grey hair but can still play. “I still feel great. So, I’m thankful to God because I’m still healthy. I’m still able to play. And, as far as I know, the love for basketball just carried me as far as I can. I don’t feel like it is bad when I have to go to practice. I’m excited. When I go to the locker room and see the guys, I’m glad to be there or if we have a video session, I’m excited to see some mistakes that I made or something that can help the team to get better. And even if I’m not playing, I feel good that I can still give my energy to the guys. I still feel like I’m a part of the team. That’s important to me.”
And what about the NBA? Is it the only negative aspect in a career of only positives? “In the beginning, when you’re younger, you always want to go to the NBA. You think that this is the way it was. You have to play in the NBA and, while I did try a few years, at a certain point I said, okay, I’m over here, I’m in Europe. Why don’t I just try and do my best in Europe and if it happens to go to the NBA, okay, whatever. But I always thought, okay, I might not make it to the NBA, as a player, but maybe in some other capacity. I’ll be involved in the NBA. So, it’s still not over yet. We’ll see. But I’m not regretting anything that happened.”
“When you’re younger, you always want to go to the NBA. You think that this is the way it was. You have to play in the NBA and, while I did try a few years, at a certain point I said, okay, I’m over here, I’m in Europe. Why don’t I just try and do my best in Europe?
Bryant Dunston on his shattered NBA dream
Finally, there is one more season in Milan to enjoy. “I see a lot of potential, a lot of opportunities. You know, the players on the team, we got a lot of talent on this team, but it’s, you’ve seen a lot of a lot of teams that have talent and don’t succeed. I think our chemistry right now is very good. And we have a lot of tools and we’re still getting some more guys coming from national teams. So, the way we will gel is very important. And every day we’re committed to working hard. And, you know, I see hunger in all the guys, so that’s really important. And not just the players but the coaches too. So, our communication is good and we’re getting better every day.”
