ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
Nets’ Kilpatrick has special connection to children with jailed parents
For many NBA players, speaking at charities is perfunctory. But for Sean Kilpatrick, talking to the Children of Promise was personal. The organization serves children throughout the city whose parents are incarcerated, and that is a pain Kilpatrick understands better than most.
Kilpatrick’s father — Sean Sr. — was imprisoned years ago. So the Nets’ Yonkers-bred shooting guard not only can sympathize with the kids he spoke with recently, but empathize.
“I come from a situation where these people come from, where you take a couple years where someone in your family goes away for a couple years and you actually truly miss them and you can’t do everything that you want because they’re not there,’’ Kilpatrick told The Post.
“I want to just continue to keep putting a smile on these people’s faces and make sure they know and understand even though I’m in the NBA, I still go through what they go through on a normal basis.”
Kilpatrick Sr. was arrested and jailed for minor offenses in Maryland regarding cigarettes, so when Kilpatrick Jr. spoke with the kids at Children of Promise in Brooklyn — helping clean up and repaint the building — it wasn’t just lip service.
“My dad was incarcerated for a couple years,’’ Kilpatrick told The Post. “Then he was able to get out. But like I told [the Children of Promise], when he got out he was more- so trying to do what their parents are trying to do, which is make up for time [lost].
“He’s done a great job with that, and I think that’s something we continue to keep building on every day is the fact that my dad is in my life and the fact that he’s here and he’s not going anywhere now. I’m going to make sure of that. And I think that’s something that really makes a huge impact within my life.”
Kilpatrick — who praised the job his mother Regina Williams did in raising him and his siblings and making sure they stayed out of trouble and off the streets — has been active in the community long before Sunday, includi ng using a power drill for the first time to build benches for Brownsville Ascend Lower School on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
That is part of the reason he was recognized by the New York CYO as their 2017 Hometown
Hero, an honor bestowed upon him earlier this month by Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
After years of bouncing around in the D-League, Kilpatrick joined his home team in 2015-16 on a pair of 10-day contracts, parlaying that into a multi-year deal. He has developed into reliable, instant offense off the bench (13.1 points per game) and a dangerous isolation player. Next up is cutting down turnovers and improving his playmaking.
Kilpatrick’s $1.5 million contract for next season is non-guaranteed — one of six Nets on non-guaranteed deals — but coach Kenny Atkinson and general manager Sean Marks have praised his work ethic.
“For me, maturity has never been a problem. That’s [reflects on] my mom, and how she raised me,’’ said Kilpatrick, 27. “At the end of the day, the mature thing to do is to always stay yourself. That’s something I always want to continue doing and make sure that while you’re grinding and you’re living your dream out you’ve got to remain yourself.
“I didn’t even have a problem with maturity as a young boy. I was 12 years old basically looking over my little brother. I grew up fast. For me to have that under my belt and to continue to keep carrying on with my life I take every day as serious, in terms of maturity.”