Kyle Hines, the Man behind the Legend

Now that he has truly decided to retire, on his own terms, after 11 national titles over the last 13 seasons (not counting the unfinished 2019/20 COVID-impacted season), three in a row at Olimpia Milan, the time has come to pay homage to one of the greatest American players who have ever come to Europe and the most successful of them all. Kyle Hines was an "old school" player in terms of spirit and mentality and "new school" in terms of his way of playing the game. A center who brought the ball up, an additional point guard, or a point-center as now the job is called. A center who could switch and defend against penetrations and isolation plays performed by smaller, faster guards. He was a player considered out of place because too small and who has always defeated the laws of physical size and the number one rule of basketball: you cannot teach height so taller players will always have the edge against smaller ones. Not against Kyle Hines, not if you have to go around him only to find him, so fast, where you wanted to get to, first. And yet, the size of the player is not comparable to the size of the human being. A leader, an educated person, a man very protective of his origins, attached to his family, to his principles. An honest and loyal fighter, with himself, with his teammates, with his opponents. Hines was the player who, if he complains, must be right, because he never complains if he is wrong. He was the player who has always been lauded by his opponents and the other teams’ fans, because you cannot have nothing against someone who fights with this kind of respect, with that style.

(An earlier version of this story was publiched when Kyle Hines set the record for most games played in the EuroLeague)

Sicklerville, New Jersey, is a small town, home to 50,000 people along the American East Coast, crossed by the Atlantic City Expressway which in 40 minutes takes you straight to the ocean, to one of the gambling capitals of the country. But the inhabitants of the town founded in 1851 by John Sickler, hence the name, prefer to gravitate towards the Delaware River and the city of Philadelphia. In easy traffic conditions, you can reach the heart of the City of Brotherly Love in 25 minutes. Kyle Hines is from Sickerville and is a Philadelphia sports fanatic, like his younger brother Tyler, like their father. They say that his grandfather placed the basketball in his cradle, but he also tried athletics, karate and football. But when it came time to go to high school and had to travel 20 miles every morning to get to Camden, basketball became his only passion. Fortunately, Timber Creek High School opened in 2001, much closer and more accessible from Sicklerville. "I am proud to have been part of a completely new school. Mine was one of the first classes to graduate. Every summer when I come home, I like to see how the school has evolved and developed. I’m happy to help," he says.

The basketball team’s coach was Gary Saunders, brother of Leon Saunders who had been Julius Erving’ teammate at Roosevelt High School on Long Island (it is in the New York area but not far from South Jersey where Kyle comes from) in the 1960s. Erving, the legendary Doctor J: at that time, he wore number 42. Saunders decided that Hines had a similar personality and wanted him to wear the 42. "For me the motivation is an honor, Doctor J was a legendary player, but also a great person," Kyle says.

Kyle Hines was an excellent player at Timber Creek, but when you are confined to a small town in southern New Jersey, far from the eyes of the big colleges, it is not easy to catch their gaze, the so-called "Exposure". Hines was then built like a linebacker, but his game at the time was more suited for a 6-foot-10 guy (in reality it wasn’t exactly like that: many have always missed Hines’ incredible ball-handling). Mitch Buonaguro, an assistant coach at UNC-Greensboro, was the first to notice it and reported it to his head coach, Fran McCaffery who is from Philadelphia. So, Kyle was recruited.

Hines came to Milan in the summer of 2020 and in Milan he extended furthermore his streak of participation in the Final Four. No American players has taken part in as many Final Fours or won as many titles as he has. He always did it with class, style, education, appreciation for what he found in Europe. The American players, not just his teammates, look at him like they look at a legend.

The Americans arrive late in the EuroLeague and finish playing before the Europeans, for obvious reasons. This is why Hines’ numbers are so amazing. Being the prototypical team player, however, the statistic that means the most is that of championships and games won. "If I look back – he concludes – I have no regrets, I got to know Europe, I played in the EuroLeague, I had many life experiences, I won a lot, I played with great players and for great coaches, for some of the clubs with the most history in the world. I always had the dream of playing in the NBA, but today I’m happy that it didn’t come true. I understood at a certain point that my real dream was another, and it was here in Europe. During my first four years in Europe, I thought it was a path and that I would end up playing there. But after four seasons, I was in Athens, I stopped thinking about it," he says.

A clip with its spectacular actions can be achieved through a miraculous, unexpected block, generated not so much by his leaping ability, but by strength, timing and jumping speed. Or it can involve him leading a fastbreak only to dish an assist at the end. Offensive rebounds are his signature trait. But his secret is in the seriousness with which he prepared, his application, his intelligence. And then all this became charisma. Kyle Hines is to modern-day basketball what Dino Meneghin was to 1980s basketball. It is never a matter of personal statistics; their enormity only serves to generate the only thing that really matters to him. WIN.