Meet Lee Cummard

Last week, before writing a little feature on BYU senior forward Lee Cummard about his thoughts on returning to the Cougars for his senior season, I spent about 15 minutes talking one-on-one with the star from Mesa, Ariz. As always I could not fit all of what Cummard told me into the story. But since I thought the interview went so well and that Cummard answered the questions so well and revealed some good insight on his thoughts, I’m going to publish the entirety of the interview here. I hope you feel like you know him better after reading.

Is playing in the NBA or somewhere else professionally your ultimate basketball goal?
‘Everyone who plays basketball, and in my experience everyone I played basketball with, always dreams of getting to the next level and keeps pushing themselves and having something to work for, and that’s no different with me. I’ve always dreamed of playing in the NBA, playing with the likes of some of the guys that are in the NBA. I can remember as a kid playing basketball and thinking I was Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley. Usually the Suns guys because I was a Suns fan. But I just want to get there. Basketball is a passion of mine and to get there would be a great honor, and we’ll see what happens.’

When did you recognize that you have the potential to play professional basketball?
‘I think coming into college, you figure you’ve got four or five years, depending on whether you redshirt or not, and I basically felt that I was on track if I just kept progressing with my game, getting a little better each and every year. I think it hit home late in the season last year that I could actually make a career playing basketball whether it’s in the NBA or overseas, that it’s a realistic thing and not just some talk, to actually be able to do that and still be able to be a family man, and provide for my family and all the other things I value. I know in the process of returning, everybody wants to go, but that’s when it hit home and I knew it was realistically going to happen if I wanted it to. I’m not saying the NBA, but a career in basketball. That’s when it became clear and there was a little bit of pressure alleviated off my back. I knew if I came back, barring a major injury or a collapse as a player, that it would still present itself at the end of this year. So that made the decision a lot easier. I loved the experience of working with the NBA, the teams and being around the organizations and seeing how they do things. They are very professional, and I just enjoyed it.’

Your thoughts on returning to BYU for his senior season?
‘The passion I have for basketball, I enjoy it so much. I love being out there competing, working with teammates and playing for the betterment of the team, I’m looking forward to it. Coming back is such a great situation because I felt like there were a lot of holes that were left. There’s a few places that I knew we had scheduled that were big games and there’s always conference games that I look forward to.’

What are your goals for this season?
‘I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with just winning another conference championship this year. We left some things on the table last season. I feel like there’s more for this team and more for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love championships because you can always come back to the Marriott Center and see your banners and you can always put on Mountain West championship ring and nobody can ever take that from you. I want to win in the tournament. I want another Mountain West title because that’s something that can’t ever be taken from you. Everything outside of that, everything else, basically gets me to those two things ‘ winning the conference and winning in the tournament.’

How do you handle the conflict of reaching your individual goals while also accomplishing the team goals?
‘I hear all the time from people ‘you need to shoot more and you need to look for yourself a little bit more’ but it really hit home my sophomore year, coming into my sophomore season, that as long as I am on the court a lot, the type of player that I am that my learning curve and my stats will just continue to get better, and that it becomes easier and easier for me to perform and excel at this level. From my sophomore year on I’ve just wanted to do anything I can to stay on the court. I played the most minutes of anyone my sophomore year and I knew my production would go up just because of that. If you’re on the court chances are you’re getting rebounds and making assists and scoring, and doing all those things So it kind of hit home then, and it’s continued from there that you usually just continue to get better.’

Is there a temptation to showcase yourself more to increase your professional stock?
‘There’s definitely that temptation, but on this team, from what I see, for it to reach its potential, is if a guy at the top or one of the guys at the top was out there just getting his, that would translate down the line. I know what’s going to help myself and the rest of this team more than anything is how successful we are, whether that’s in basketball or whether just in life. People like to be around winners and guys that do it the right way, and I can see the benefits of that.’

What parts of your game are you working to improve?
‘My summer was very similar to my past summers, just getting into the gym and getting into the weight room and working with Justin McClure, and just trying to get better. Nothing in particular. A lot of it was just trying to get guys motivated. I felt like we had the best summer since I’ve been here as far as the weight room and conditioning goes.’

So far, how do you feel about this season?
‘I’m loving it. And it’s not just the basketball. I love my time here at BYU, in the classroom, the friends we’ve been able to make and spend time with. I love where we’re at as far as a family is concerned. It wasn’t just a basketball thing. The way I look at it, the money and the playing career, it became apparent to me last year that that’s going to be there whether I’d like it to be or not, whether it’s the NBA or not, we’ll see. But there’s other things here. I’m just enjoying this last year. If we can keep this going, I mean I’m loving playing on the road. Nothing is better than winning on the road in a hostile environment. That’s all part of why I came back. It’s just a lot of fun. One of the things I enjoy most is just being with the fellows. Coming to practice and joking around, spending time at team meals, on buses, plane trips, and stuff like that.’

Do you feel the need to explain more on why you declared for the NBA draft last summer?
‘I thought really hard about it, talked to a lot of people in deciding whether to declare or not and wondering if I was going to get invited to the workouts, because that would be a slap in the face if I only got invited to a few workouts. But I think nothing but positive came from it. It opened my eyes to a great experience and how to better myself next time I go through the process and how not to get worried about certain things and enjoy the experience.’

Expectations for the rest of this season?
‘We’re heading on the right track and we have guys who are playing at a high level. We’re still looking to play a little more consistent for the entire 40 minutes. We have a tough challenge our next few games but I see positive things and I expect us to contend for the Mountain West title and go to Vegas and play for the tournament championship, and go on from there.’