Desmond grabs and secures a legacy
All basketball followers have heard the expression “dominated the boards.” Well, to say Carmelo Desmond dominated the boards during his time at North Nova Education Centre, would be a huge understatement.
Desmond’s astounding three-year rebound total for the Gryphons of 545 includes a 13.5 per game average this past season.
And while one might presume his success is based on height, Desmond, by his own account, is “maybe” six-footone “on a good day.” The height is decent for a high school student-athlete, but certainly doesn’t account for pulling down so many rebounds against his peers.
“I have long arms and a good sense of where the ball is going, I guess ... kind of like Spidey senses,” Desmond said with a chuckle, referencing one the popular Marvel character’s super abilities. “Really, I played with those guys for so long, I had a sense of where their misses were going to go.”
On the defensive side, Desmond modestly gave more credit to positioning than his skill-set.
“It’s easy because we just play a zone and I’ll be the one in the middle,” he said. “I have a 6’10” wing-span, so it’s easy to get the ball.”
A couple of attributes he left out — desire and courage — were pointed by his coach Robbie MacGregor.
“He is a wide-body guy that was never afraid of contact,” MacGregor said. “All coaches say, there is a lot of things you could do too much of, but rebounding is just not one of them. He went after the ball and was a pleasure to coach. Guys who like to work like that are always fun to coach.”
And while rebounding was his strength, Desmond could be counted on contributing to the Gryphons’ offence. He and MacGregor suggested he would be around top three, as far as points per game this season.
“Usually I would get a double-double per game,” Desmond said, a reference not to the Tim Hortons drink
but recording double-digits in both points and rebounds.
“Top three or four for scoring, but rebounding was what set him apart for a lot of other kids of his age,” MacGregor said.
With his basketball career wrapped up, the New Glasgow resident talked about it being a great experience.
“It’s probably going to end up being one of the funnest times of my life,” Desmond said. “I had great teammates and made a lot of lifelong friends. It was just a lot of fun.”
As for his coach, Desmond turned to an acronym that has grown in popularity over the last few years, especially when talking about seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady.
“Robbie MacGregor is the GOAT of coaching,” he said, the acronym standing for “greatest of all time.”
MacGregor had praise back for his graduating player.
“Basketball is one thing, but you develop a relationship with these kids,” he said. “He is a guy we had for three years and are really going to miss next year.”
MacGregor talked about the whole team positively rallying around a couple of years greatly impacted by COVID.
“COVID certainly put a damper on things, but it was better than the alternative which was not playing. Being in the gym for practice is still a lot better than not being allowed in the gym, and it’s certainly good for these adolescent boys, and girls, they need an outlet,” he said. “And the players, they made the most of what was in front of them. We were still able to get 20 games in, playing the same teams multiple times, but they were a pleasure to coach and made the best out of a bad situation.”