Joey King could hardly dunk the ball as a sophomore. Teammates and coaches would laugh at the 6-7 kid who could barely get it over the rim.
"Now he's doing it with either hand," Eastview coach Mark Gerber said. "He's doing it with two hands. He's doing a reverse. He's catching it on the run and throwing it in."
All that came with work in the weight room, conditioning, plyometrics and added gym time. He now graces the court as a senior with a 6-9, 220-pound frame fresh off a productive travel league season and another tireless workout campaign.
He heads to the gym even when it's not open.
"He's a guy in the summertime or the springtime who's always calling me to get in and do extra stuff," Gerber laughed. "He never misses a weight workout. He never misses conditioning in the offseason. He wants to watch film. He wants to talk about games on TV."
That passion doesn't make King mistake-free, but he possesses the key qualities of a special athlete.
"All those traits that you always hear the great players have," Gerber said. "He's doing the extra things while everybody else is playing video games, eating chips and sleeping."
All that has paid off thus far for the senior forward, who committed in late June to play Division I basketball at Drake.
