By: Jakob Janoski
Since 2016, Jimmy Gavin has had a successful overseas basketball career, playing in countries such as Lithuania, Poland and Belgium.
One may think that Jimmy was a standout high school basketball player. That could not be farther from the truth.
With that being said, sports have always been a large part of Gavin’s life.
“My dad always liked basketball. I think growing up… we just started shooting together early on,” said Gavin said. “[Sports] is kind of what [my brothers and I] did.”
Gavin played on both the freshman and sophomore basketball teams in high school, but due to his Crohn’s Disease diagnosis, he was unable to be fully available his sophomore year and compete on the varsity squad.
“I had to stop [playing basketball] all together, pretty much, because I wasn’t healthy enough at the time to compete.”
Gavin began competing in local park leagues when his health began to rebound around his senior year of high school. As he was playing, Gavin was improving upon his skills even without playing at the high school varsity level.
“I just started playing on my own; just playing at park leagues and stuff like that. I think you get better [from playing basketball],” said Gavin.
After Gavin graduated high school, he attended Mississippi State for one year before moving back home after his brother’s passing.
After a stint in community college, Gavin transferred to Bradley and tried out for the team, making the roster.
“When I decided I wanted to play, my main goal was to be a pro… I started practicing every day by myself, you know, for hours. Ended up getting to go to the gym with Steve Pratt, he’s an AAU coach in Deerfield and, he started teaching me a lot of fundamentals…,” said Gavin.
Gavin’s work with Pratt helped put him on coaches’ radars and eventually earned a couple of tryouts with the team at Bradley. When he made the team, Gavin felt as if the first door had opened and had to walk through it.
After a surgery, Gavin decided to transfer Wisconsin-Parkside, a division two school.
“I would have been welcomed back [on to Bradley]… I just did not think that I would build enough minutes to be able to start building my resume to become a pro,” said Gavin. “I was like, ‘Let me get somewhere where I have a better chance of getting more minutes.’”
Gavin felt that Wisconsin-Parkside fit well for what he needed to forward his basketball career.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eA1VkTNweGs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>“I think [Luke Riegel] was a great coach for me because he has a lot of experience teaching the game and teaches his guards how to post up, how to pass, how to cut,” said Gavin. “I got to use what I was working on in practice and got to put it in the game.”
“[Gavin] had this tremendous amount of talent,” said Riegel. “He just needed an opportunity to, you know, show it and then develop it… They use the term ‘gym rat;’ that was definitely Jimmy.”
At Wisconsin-Parkside, Gavin excelled. In his two years there, he averaged 16.7 points and 3.1 assists per game.
Coach Riegel was impressed with how disciplined Gavin was.
“He probably had more of a professional mentality of understanding how to take care of his body more than the normal 19, 20-year-old did,” said Riegel. “He just didn’t have any choice in the matter. He was either going to eat the right foods or drink the right drinks or he wasn’t going to be able to play and so he definitely had to have that focus and discipline more than the typical college athlete.”
After two years at Wisconsin-Parkside, Gavin transferred to Winthrop for his final year of eligibility.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qfw_2xvceoc" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>“When I had graduated, [the opportunity to be a division basketball player] ended up opening, and I honestly thought it would be a cool experience to play in March Madness and stuff like that on television,” said Gavin. “My initial was always to become a professional, and I just felt like having that additional experience could be helpful.”
He excelled at Winthrop. During the 2015-2016 senior season, he earned first team All-Big South honors and was the conference’s fourth leading scorer averaging 18.7 points per game.
After college, he played in the 2016 NBA Summer League with the Orlando Magic. Gavin said that there was adapting that he needed to go through.
“There’s so many different role adjustments. Obviously when you go from playing 35 minutes to playing lower minutes, your responsibility level changes on the court,” said Gavin. “And I feel like you start to see how your role can develop… Instead of thinking about what you would do with 12 to 15 shots in a game, it’s preparing your mind be ready to make one shot or two shots or go three for four.”
After his stint in the NBA Summer League, Gavin has since played in some of Europe’s top leagues. He played the 2020-2021 season with Beroe in Bulgaria’s top league and the Balkan BIBL. He averaged 15.3 points and 4.7 assists per game over the course of the 2020-2021 season.
Although Gavin has had a successful overseas career, he still feels as if there is more left to prove.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rvrW6MC-CgY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>“I would say that I am definitely not like fulfilled in the fact that I feel like I’ve accomplished all I can,” said Gavin. “I wanna do more, you know?… I still feel like the best basketball I’m gonna play is ahead of me… I’m trying to use [what I need to work on] as motivation to get to the next level.”
He does not have any goals for his future necessarily, rather, he wants to dive deeper into his strengths and become more comfortable with the player that he is.
“I think [Gavin will] play as long as he wants to. He just like to compete. He’s gonna put the work in,” said Coach Riegel. “Overall, I think he just has the ability to play at a very high level for a long time… We hope he just keeps moving up the ladder and get to the level that he wants to.”
Gavin is looking forward to getting back with his fellow Braves on Always A Brave for TBT 2021 after the trip-up in the Elam Ending the last time he played in 2018. He believes that chemistry is one of the key components to winning a tournament like TBT.
“Looking at the TBT, I think the biggest thing for tournaments and basketball in general, but especially something like this, which is like guys just coming together for a short period of time,” said Gavin. “I mean, obviously, chemistry is the key, so if it happens, you probably have a chance…”
Gavin says that a key for people in athletics with chronic illnesses is to try and keep finding ways for yourself and stick to what you know can get you through the tough times.
“I do think there are keys that you can find that work for you, and you kind of gotta stick with that,” said Gavin. “And then, at that point, you gotta have the courage to go out there and live your life, you know?”
“Don’t be scared to go after whatever you’re looking to do because you might make it.”