Josh Huestis: 'This has been my dream'

Some five years later and 1,600 miles southeast, Josh Huestis is using the redshirt he wished he would have burned as a college freshman.

Well, in a sense.

Huestis, the former C.M. Russell standout and Stanford Cardinal who was drafted in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder, will begin his professional career this season with the Oklahoma City Blue, the D-league affiliate of OKC.

He will use this year to work on his game and improve like he would have if he redshirted as a freshman. The Blue open their season on Nov. 14. Training camp starts, Huestis said, Nov. 2.

"It's something that I really wish I would've done just because of the fact that I could only imagine how good I could've been if I was going into my senior year of college now," Huestis said on if wishes he sat out his rookie season with the Cardinal. "And I think it would have been better for me … I'm treating this like another redshirt year. Just because it's an opportunity for me to play a lot and play against good competition and get better and get ready for the future."

The 6-foot-7 athletic forward said he never had a talk with Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins about redshirting. Huestis was needed, he said, due to the lack of bodies and depth. If Huestis had taken the time to talk to Dawkins, Huestis said, it would've been a possibility.

Huestis steadily improved all four years while in California. He played sparingly as a freshman and averaged two points a game. As a sophomore, he was up to five. His junior and senior years, he scored more than 10 points a game.

But Huestis' presence wasn't felt on the offensive end of the floor, per se, it was more on the other end, where he set the school record in blocks (190) and dominated the glass. He was a defensive nightmare for opposing teams, highlighted when Huestis shut down Kansas star and No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins to advance to the Sweet 16.

If Huestis did take that redshirt as a freshman, who knows what he could have accomplished this season as a fifth-year senior, certainly as one of the top players in the Pac-12.

Dawkins wouldn't have had a problem with him staying another year, would he?

"I don't think he would've minded it at all, no," Huestis smiled.

Huestis is all situated with a home in Oklahoma — "It's weird living the grown-up life," he smiled. It's been a whirlwind and nuts, he said, these past few months.

"It's been incredible," he said. "It's been the fastest three months of my life. I can imagine that the next however-many are going to go even faster."

During his makeshift redshirt year, Huestis will have two adjust to two main differences between college basketball and what he experienced in summer league, he said: the speed of the game — he referenced the shot clock (24) sparking that, compared to college (35) — and the strength of the players.

"In college, night in, night out, I would be one of the strongest guys on the court," Huestis said. "But I go out there now, and I'm going against guys that, they don't move. They don't move no matter how hard you push them, so I'm still getting used to that, learning how to use my body. But it's a process. It's a long process, and I'm going to get better and better at it."

The prospect of him playing professionally for what he hopes is the next few decades hasn't dawned on him yet, he said, adding that it is still pretty surreal because it's something he's been working toward his entire life.

"And I really hope it never sets in a whole lot; I want it to be something every day that is exciting to me and new. I want to always have the motivation to keep working and always get better," Huestis said.

That working and getting better includes becoming more comfortable on the perimeter, which includes dribbling in space and consistently knocking down shots from NBA 3-point range. Huestis, who played both the small forward and power forward positions in college, says he sees himself as a guy who can play the 2, 3 and 4.

"I think it is going to be a big year for me in terms of development because I get to play against this great competition night in and night out, but at the same time I am going to get a lot of time playing," he said. "Had I been playing with Thunder this year, it may have been where, you know, a lot of games, stretches where I just wouldn't even see the court and now I have the chance to be able to get major minutes and develop my skills, so that in the long term, I'll be more productive in the NBA."

Huestis was in town this weekend for a one-day youth basketball camp at the University of Great Falls. Over the past few days, he's visited local schools, talked to awestruck kids and signed autographs.

The humble star certainly remembers where he's from.

"It's amazing," Huestis said on being back in Montana. "It's my absolute favorite place in the world, and I don't get to come here enough. Every time I do, it's a lot of fun – just the people I get to see and the support that I feel. I'm lovin' it."

He also loves basketball, a game that he will start playing professionally in a little more than a month. It can't come soon enough.

"I've been waiting almost 23 years for this," Huestis said. "This has been my dream my entire life, and I've never been more excited for anything."