Next Star Terry Armstrong’s journey from America’s most dangerous city to the NBL
His hometown is on the map for all the wrong reasons, but basketball was the lifeline for Phoenix teen Terry Armstrong. LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton have hogged headlines, but here’s the NBL Next Star you need to know.
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Terry Armstrong grew up frightened of drinking tap water.
Like, genuinely worried — bacterial infections, at best, and Legionnaires’ disease or lead poisoning, at worst.
That is life in one of the worst and most dangerous cities in the United States — Flint, Michigan.
As bad as things were being a Flintstone — the name given to residents of the city — there was always basketball.
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A recycled rim hung on a tree was enough of a distraction from the real world to help set Armstrong on the path towards the best basketball on the planet — NBA.
The water crisis, which swept through the city in 2014 after its drinking water source changed from Lake Huron and Detroit River to the Flint River, has forced residents to rely on bottled water.
“That changed me,” Armstrong said.
“When I was younger playing ball … I’d just drink the water out of my hands.
“But since that (crisis) happened I haven’t stuck my head under the faucet since.”
Basketball afforded the spring-heeled 198cm shooting guard a ticket out of Flint, but the same cannot be said for his mother, four brothers and three sisters.
“I’m concerned for them,” Armstrong said.
“(But) We’ve grown up there our whole life so I feel like they’re safe right now.”
FLINT!!! TONIGHT!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/ownhrGSkMW
— Terry Armstrong (@TerryTerry25) August 20, 2019
Before embarking on the 21-hour journey to Melbourne, the grounded rookie-pro handed out 40 pallets of water to residents at a going away party he hosted at a local elementary school.
The once thriving automotive industry metropolis, landlocked Flint, about an hour north of ‘Motor City’ Detroit, is now gripped by violence and poverty.
“It’s very crazy in Flint … I’m just happy I made it out of Flint,” Armstrong said.
“I want to get back to where I came from but it’s definitely not a place I want to be right now, I’m happy I made the decision to come here.”
A FATHER’S INFLUENCE
The 19-year-old lost his father, Terry, too soon, but the pair did get time to make cherished memories with basketball and fishing.
“He was definitely a big part, part of the reason I’m playing now,” Armstrong said.
“He saw my passion for the game … we couldn’t afford a rim so he got a board and a ring, put it together and hung it on a tree … him passing drives me even more.
“It was pretty small (the board) but it worked to keep the ring up.”
Flint instilled in Armstrong a deep-seated resilience and hard edge — necessary attributes for any budding professional.
Armstrong, who fielded offers from multiple US colleges, was poised to join Australian NBA draft prospect Josh Green at the University of Arizona but elected to skip the student-athlete pathway to play professionally under the NBL’s Next Stars program.
While he’s only been used sparingly so far, learning from NBA-calibre star Mitch Creek and seasoned veterans Adam Gibson, John Roberson and Tai Wesley has been an invaluable experience.
“I’m just learning right now and once my time comes I’ll be ready for it,” Armstrong said.
“If I see something I feel like I’m doing wrong I go to Gibbo and ask questions, even Creeky and Tai, he’s on me a lot tellingme what I need to do.”
Not playing often has resulted in Armstrong, who was as high as top-40 in some NBA mock draft boards, slip down the rankings but the wing, who drew comparisons in high school to NBA All Star Kevin Durant, remains hungry as ever.
“Sometimes it’s hard to park it, knowing you’re a draft prospect and I feel like I’m not getting talked about much,” Armstrong said.
“Once I come into the gym I’m not thinking about it, I’m just thinking about getting better.
“I feel like I’ve proved myself in practice enough to get out there and play with these guys, I think I’ve earned the respect of the players as well, they know what I can do.”
MELBOURNE LIFE
Living in Boronia, about 10 minutes from the State Basketball Centre, lets Armstrong focus on basketball, and semi-regular visits to the zoo to see the “big cats” and “kangaroos”.
“Not too much I have to worry about (here) other than basketball and taking care of my body,” Armstrong said.
Just as LaMelo Ball (Illawarra) and RJ Hampton (New Zealand) set tongues wagging in the US off sparkling NBL appearances, Armstrong hopes to do the same in the second half of the season.
“I played against Melo three times in high school, beat him once for a championship, I know what I can do,” Armstrong said.
“I’m pretty happy what those guys (Ball and Hampton) are doing, setting it up for the next guys to come in and be Next Stars and they’re good friends, I don’t compare myself to them.”
High-profile recruit or not, Armstrong must earn the Phoenix green singlet.
The attacking component comes naturally, but other parts of his game are a work in progress, according to Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell.
“When the floor is open and we’re running, he is incredible in those situations,” Mitchell said previously.
“But when we’re struggling to get into our transition offence, he doesn’t really fix any of the issues for us.
“We’ll put our best players that we feel in the moment to execute for us and it’s just going to take time for him.”
But Armstrong knows being around hard taskmasters — like Creek, Mitchell and co — will only benefit him in the long term.
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What is not in question, though, is the slam dunk specialist’s aerial prowess.
The go-to manoeuvres include, a 360-degree slam off the lob, between the legs and jumping over someone, but the execution is king.
“I go with dunks I know I’m going to make, for sure, because guys try and go up and do something that looks cool but they can’t make it,” Armstrong said.
Winning the dunk contest at the NBL Blitz pre-season tournament in Tasmania was a given, too.
“The backboard was low on my second dunk (in Hobart) … I thought I was going to hit my head,” Armstrong said.
“I’ve won plenty of dunk contests so I’m not expecting to lose anytime soon.”
