Josh Childress: The Sydney King Who's Straight Outta Compton

Josh Childress of the Sydney Kings discusses his love of sneakers and unlikely journey from Compton to the NBL

Josh Childress: The Sydney King Who Is Straight Outta Compton
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Josh Childress: The Sydney King Who Is Straight Outta Compton

Born and Raised in Compton, a top-10 pick in the NBA draft, a talent with global basketball experience and a sneaker collection in the hundreds, Josh Childress has become the unofficial face of the NBL. While the domestic basketball competition has previously soared to Jordan heights and more recently hit crushing Craig Ehlo lows, a personality like Childress has been a gift to the league. 

Childress' story doesn't follow the standard narrative for a professional athlete, and certainly not for a kid from Compton. Born in the '80s, JChill was raised when the city was in the throes of its wildest times. Backed by a soundtrack of hometown hero DJ Quik, Childress navigated local gang sets to ball his way to Stanford University and eventually the NBA. After being selected by Atlanta with the sixth pick in the 2004 NBA draft, Childress played four seasons with the Hawks before leaving the NBA for Greek team Olympiacos Piraeus, citing favourable tax breaks which put more money in his pocket. After a brief return to the NBA, Childress has moved to Australia with an eye on success both on and off the hardwood floor.

Let's talk about the NBL and that new Foxtel deal. We saw you there at the press conference.
Dealing with Fox Sports is obviously massive for the league. It puts the NBL on a platform that’s able to be viewed, be consumed by Australia as a whole. It’s pretty cool that I was able to be front and centre for that, and I’m very appreciative to the league for putting me in that position. It’s just opened up so many opportunities for the players here and for the league as a whole.

There was a time in the early to mid '90s, when NBL players were household names.
I heard you had a guy by the name of Dwayne McClain [and] he was on McDonalds commercials and Coca Cola billboards and all those good things. You just don’t see that here [now]. Everything is just footy, rugby, or soccer. Hopefully that translates to good things for the league.

It's good timing for that TV deal too, because it seems like there's a good vibe around the Kings this year.
I think we’ve improved at every position. The club has done a good job of trying to bring in a talented group, but also a cohesive group. Sydney is the biggest city in Australia and we want to put ourselves in the position to capitalise on that. For the past few years that hasn’t been the case, but the ownership and management have done a good job this year, so hopefully we can be up there contending for a title. 

The Kings have just added Marcus Thornton to the lineup too. Is he still living in your house?
[Laughs] He was staying there while I was still in the States. So they got his situation settled when I got here. You gotta take care of the young fellas when you can, it was something that happened to me when I was a rookie in the NBA. You always have veterans who look out for the younger guys, and show them that it’s important to pay it forward. 

You guys had to head over to New Zealand to take on the Breakers for a few pre-season games. Considering the Breakers were last year's champions it must have been kind of daunting?
It wasn’t. You know we had a tonne of issues last year with injuries and things of that nature. But we split 2-2 with the Breakers during the season. I just feel like any time I step out on the court, I'm ready to compete.

So this picture of you sitting on a throne of sneakers, was that here or in the US?
That was in the US, I was moving from my home in Phoenix. My buddy G, he said "Hey let’s do something cool and post it up on social media."  I mean I’ve been into sneakers my entire life. I grew up with older brothers who were into the culture a bit, and I just developed a love for them from a young age. It’s kind of become second nature.

There must be some serious logistical issues with trying to bring them all over to Australia.
When I first moved over, I probably brought maybe 25-30 pairs. Just basics, you know? I didn’t know the landscape over here, so I just brought Chucks, Vans, things like that. Then I started to realise that I could get a little freakier with it, so I brought over some other stuff. 

How many have you got in Australia now?
I probably have maybe 40 pairs. I got my staples, my dress shoes, a couple other ones. I kept it pretty simple. 

When you say you came out here with Chucks and Vans, that sort of style really works here. You would have fit right in with that stuff.
It does, and it was cool because this is a very beach-surfer culture. That made it easy for me to just fit right in. Now that it’s my second year, I’m gonna be coming out with some t-shirts and stuff  at Kings games. They kind of play on that beach culture, so I'll see if I can get into some of the merchandise in this region. 

When you came out here, what was your observation with the sneaker scene locally?
I was surprised. Here I am walking through Sydney CBD and I walk into Foot Locker, I can ask for a pair of Js, and they’ve got them in my size. I’m shocked! That just doesn’t happen back home.

There’s a sneaker culture here, and they’ve embraced me. I enjoy having discussions with guys, and I’ve brought a couple guys from a [sneaker] forum out to some games. It's cool, there’s just that common thread there — we have a love for sneakers.

Is that a particular message board you’re talking about?
yeah, it’s a Facebook group. It’s for big feet guys. Like size 12.5 and up.

So here's the toughest question of the day. What are your top 5 pairs?
1. Jordan III Black/Cement
2. Jordan XI Concord
3. Air Max 90, any colour
4. Jordan XII Taxi
5. Air Trainer 1 Fragment

So you were kind of growing up during the time when Compton was the center of the map for west coast hip-hop. What were you listening to at the time?
Ice Cube and DJ Quik. Quik was popular in my neighbourhood for sure.

So if we're talking about Quik we'll have to ask about MC Eiht. Was he popular at the time too?
Yeah, but you had to choose sides. You know, I don’t want to go into too much detail here but the area I grew up in was a blood area. It was kinda controlled by the bloods and MC Eiht was a crip.

I've also read that you're involved in a few investments and other ventures outside of basketball. Is that mainly here in Australia or overseas?
I’m involved in a fund within the US, but I also plan on parlaying that into a fund in this Asian corridor. One of the people I met here in Sydney has an extensive background in that, and so over the last year we’ve become business partners. When you tie that in to the fact that one of the majority owners of the Sydney Kings is a founder of one of the largest private equity groups in Australia, there’s just a bunch of tie-ins there that made sense for me to explore. It’s been a learning experience and it’s been cool for me to be able to do that. 

I always want to progress, I want to learn. I’ve played at the highest level in my profession for a while, and I want to try to parlay that into success in a different region. You sit down with successful people who have done it at the highest level in their respective fields and just try to learn off of them, and that’s what I’m doing, and what I’ve been doing for a while.

The Sydney Kings begin their season Saturday October 10, when they take on the Cairns Taipans at Qantas Credit Union Arena.

 

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