Jimmy McKinney chuckled when asked what awaited his cousin.
Sitting court-side inside the gym at Vashon High School, the former Missouri guard, who had recently retired after a steady career in Europe, gazed up to the bleachers. Mario McKinney Jr. quietly scrolled through his phone and occasionally looked down to watch Cam’Ron Fletcher get pushed through his paces.
“He’s heard what’s coming,” Jimmy McKinney, “but it’s different to experience it.”
This was a year ago, before McKinney took the reins of the Wolverines in his hands, before assistant coaches from Missouri, Kansas State, and Iowa beat a path to take in workouts and before the combo guard stepped up Brad Beal Elite’s 17U roster in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League.