Thinking About That Austin McBroom NBA Draft Situation
Yeah, I dug into that Austin McBroom NBA draft stuff a while back. It’s funny how these things stick in your mind. The guy went undrafted in 2016, right? Became an unrestricted free agent, which basically means nobody picked him in the big show initially. It’s a tough break when you’ve worked so hard for something specific.
It kinda reminds me of this one time, totally different field, but same gut punch. I was gunning for this, let’s call it a ‘lead role,’ on a big project at an old place I worked. I mean, I really poured myself into the prep. I spent weeks getting my presentation perfect, networked with all the stakeholders I was supposed to, and really thought I had it in the bag. Felt like my own personal ‘draft day,’ you know? I was so sure my name was gonna be called.
And then, bam. The announcement came. Nothing. My name wasn’t on the list. It wasn’t even that they picked someone wildly ‘better’ in my eyes at the time, just… someone else. It felt like being completely overlooked, man, like all that effort just vanished into thin air. You’re there, you think you’ve shown your worth, and the ‘teams’ just pass you by. It stings, no doubt about it.
So when I hear about someone like McBroom not getting drafted, I get that feeling. It’s not like his basketball journey just ended there, obviously. He found other avenues, other ways to make his mark. That’s the thing about not getting picked initially – it forces you to look at other doors, other paths. Sometimes those other paths, man, they lead to stuff you never even imagined. You might find yourself:
- Developing new skills you didn’t know you had in you.
- Meeting a whole different set of people who open up completely different opportunities.
- Realizing your original goal wasn’t the only thing that could bring you satisfaction or success.
- Discovering a resilience you never knew you possessed.
It’s a weird thing, how life works out sometimes.
I remember after my ‘undrafted’ moment with that project lead role, I was pretty down for a good week. Sulked for a bit, not gonna lie, replayed everything in my head. But then you gotta pick yourself up, right? You can’t just stay there. I started looking around, almost out of a need to prove something to myself, started taking on different kinds of tasks, things I wouldn’t have normally volunteered for. And you know what? I ended up on a smaller, skunkworks-type project that was way more interesting, learned a ton more than I would have in that ‘drafted’ role. We built something really cool, and it got noticed.
So yeah, ‘undrafted.’ Sounds like a full stop, a final judgment, but most times it’s just a comma, or maybe a sharp turn onto a different road, a road you didn’t plan for. For McBroom, it meant his NBA dream, at least through the traditional draft route, didn’t pan out right then. For me, it was a project role. But the feeling of being passed over? Probably not too different at its core. It’s all about what you do after the names aren’t called. That’s where the real story often begins.
