Delano gym rat Calvin Wishart does it all, with a little swagger

It's not exactly a family room with an overstuffed La-Z-Boy and a 50-inch HD television, but to Delano's Calvin Wishart, a basketball court is just as good.

It's his comfort zone, a 90-foot man cave where the junior guard can relax and be himself and feel completely at ease. It's where he can drive and dish — penetrating on one play, stepping back for a soft three-pointer the next — and make teammates look good and opponents look silly.

"I grew up in the gym, starting in first or second grade," he said. "It's natural. It's hard to describe it. It's just where I want to be."

Delano coach Terry Techam says Wishart fits the mold of basketball junkie.

"He's definitely a gym rat," Techam said. "He's in the gym or the weight room just about every day during the offseason."

Wishart doesn't pass the initial eye test the way a lot of players with his skills do. He doesn't stand out in warmups, doesn't leave a wake of defenders strewn on the floor, doesn't throw down monster dunks.

No need. And truth be told, he isn't concerned with highlight reel plays.

At a recent Tuesday home game, Wishart and the Tigers started slowly. Looking to get his teammates involved early, Delano struggled to pull away from overmatched Princeton. It wasn't until the Tigers began to press the length of the court that they began to pull away.

It was also when Wishart's game took off. Creating in the open court, overplaying passing lanes, even blocking shots, his points and assist began to add up.

By halftime, Delano led by 22 and Wishart had 18 points and a half-dozen assists. Just as importantly, his confident style of play was getting under the skin of the Princeton players.

"If I played on the other team, I would hate him," teammate Mitchell Kurtz said with a laugh. "The thing is, he's not cocky. But on the basketball court, he's got that killer instinct."

"But you're glad to have him on your team," added teammate Dylan Gilmer. "He's the type of guy that makes everyone on your team better."

"I talk a little smack," he said. "But I try to do it subtly, mostly just to show what I can do."

Techam says that Wishart's style is often misunderstood.

"He's very competitive and doesn't like to lose in any drill or game or contest," Techam said.

"But he's very coachable. He's always talking, encouraging his teammates. He impresses me with how much fun he has playing basketball."

Wishart credits his father, Phil Wishart. Phil was an assistant coach at Mounds View in Calvin's youth and continued to coach and inspire his son when the family moved to western edge of the Twin Cities.

''We'd get so competitive, sometimes you had to pull us apart. I always talked the most smack to my dad."

Those days are over now that Calvin has become one of the metro's best junior players. Father and son rarely play anymore. The verbal sparring remains, however.