Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Against all odds, the youngest player in the NBA is on the brink of stardom

   “Look at how handsome my son looks!” Cindy Richardson says. Her son, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the second player chosen in the 2012 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Bobcats, is on the set of his AQ shoot, demonstrating his newfound passion for fashion. “In high school, I liked to wear things that made me stand out?” But that was two years and a national championship ago.
   Now at age 19, it’s hard to imagine the burden that Kidd-Gilchrist carries as the new face of the Bobcat organization. The transition to pro life is difficult enough in the best of circumstances. “During training camp,” Kidd-Gilchrist says, “I couldn’t believe how sore I was. We were working out hard every day. We hadn’t even played a regular season game yet, and I’m already sore?”
   And this comes from a player whose work ethic has become basketball lore. For high school, Kidd-Gilchrist commuted 70 minutes each way to St. Patrick’s High School in Elizabeth, NJ. Not only did the school produce great students, it nurtured the talents of young players such as Kyrie Irving. After a stellar high school and AAU career, Kidd-Gilchrist brought his intensity to the University of Kentucky. When coach John Calipari mentioned that Michael Jordan used to work on his game early in the morning, nothing else needed to be said. Kidd-Gilchrist organized several of his teammates to join him for sunrise workouts. From there, the teammates would eat breakfast together. They became known as “The Breakfast Club.”
   “I’ve always felt that I was a leader,” Kidd-Gilchrist says in his extremely softspoken manner. But don’t mistake the hushed volume of his voice for a lack of intensity. His work ethic is already receiving glowing reviews from the Charlotte organization despite a trying season for the team. Kidd-Gilchrist doesn’t just want to survive the NBA; he wants to thrive.
   Though Kidd-Gilchrist only spent one year in college, he certainly has a Masters Degree in survival. At age two, Michael’s father, a former state champion basketball player in high school, was shot and killed in Camden, NJ. After his father died, Cindy Richardson moved with her son to the Somerdale, NJ home of her brother, Darrin Kidd. Just hours before Kidd-Gilchrist was to sign his letter-of-intent to attend Kentucky, Kidd died of a heart attack. Michael decided to carry his uncle’s name as part of his own to pay tribute to a man that was a father figure to him.
   Despite the extreme obstacles, Kidd-Gilchrist finds himself on the precipice of NBA stardom. And despite his non-stop work on improving his game, Kidd Gilchrist still worries more about others than himself. Even though he has yet to turn 21, he’s already begun his charitable legacy by teaming up with A Child’s Place and Papa John’s to help raise money to ease the impact of homelessness on kids and to help them with their education.
   As the shoot ends, Kidd-Gilchrist plans to take his mother and stepfather, Vincent, to dinner in New York City. Tomorrow, they will watch him play in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, just a 90-minute drive from where Kidd-Gilchrist was born. “I’ll be there,” Cindy Richardson says, “but sometimes it’s hard for me to watch him play. I love him so much; I just want to see him do well.” And every day, it gets easier and easier to watch.