“She’s getting that fire [to play] now,” Arenas said. “Starting to pay attention to it, understand the elements of trying to be great, trying to get into a routine. I told her this summer to really take that next step, you’ve got to really put in that work. So if you ask for my help, you better be ready.”
Arenas then smiled under his mask, reminiscing about the off-seasons he took 100,000 shots and game days where he “only” took 100 shots at a shootaround.
“You got to be ready,” he said before chuckling. “I’m like [the] military!”
Sitting courtside is Robert Watkins. Watkins is the father of Juju Watkins, ESPN Hoopgurlz’s No. 2 player in the class of 2023. Watkins’ entire family coaches her from the sidelines throughout games. The junior superstar, and first female prep athlete to sign with LeBron James and Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports Group, had a moment during a 79-28 win over Bishop Montgomery where she turned to the family and asked them to quiet down.
The family declined the in-game request.
“We push her a lot,” Robert Watkins told rolling out. “She does her homework, studies and she has a great work ethic. That’s the reason why she’s at the level where she’s at today.”
Juju, a Watts, California, native, transferred to Sierra Canyon from Winward High School in Los Angeles.
“I think it was a good move,” Robert Watkins said. “They really embrace athletes with the education. It’s something we stood upon for Juju and it was a good transition. Winward was a great school for those two years, but I think going into her junior and senior year, I think this is the right place to be.”
While “every school you can think of” on the college level is vying for Juju’s skills, her father said she would like to stay on the West Coast.
It’s not just the biological Black dads at Sierra Canyon that guide the daughters, either. Gilbert Arenas trained with Watkins over the summer when she transferred, Robert Watkins embraced Zach Randolph after a blowout win, and Los Angeles Sparks coach Derek Fisher, whose nephew Duane Washington Jr. played at Sierra Canyon in 2017-18, talked to Izela Arenas after the game.
“Before Sierra Canyon, everybody was at Will Smith’s school,” Arenas said. “It was just Black excellence. He had a Montessori school [New Village Leadership Academy]. All the kids were over there first and then when the school went under [in 2013], all the celebrity kids came to Sierra Canyon. To see all the kids still friends, still hanging out, Kevin Hart’s kids, Diddy’s kids … it’s just amazing to see all the celebrity kids grow together.”
