BUTTE — With all the success Josh Huestis enjoyed during his rise from a star player at Great Falls CMR to the NBA, it might be easy to feel it was simply all meant to be.
But his first season at Stanford — where he went from one of Montana's best basketball players to, in his own words, "just another guy" — put his resolve to the test.
"Me and four other teammates my freshman year, meeting in our hotel room during winter break and talking about where we thinking about transferring to, because we didn't think we could cut it," Huestis recalled.
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But he stayed the course, and we all know how things unfolded for him as went on to play for the Oklahoma City Thunder for four seasons.
"We stuck it out and fast forward four years later three out of the five in that room got drafted," said Huestis. "It's just about resilience and belief. My parents taught me that we don't quit something when we've started. They believed in me and my response was to work harder."
That story of resiliency and belief serves as a source of motivation and inspiration for a lot of current basketball players in the Treasure State, dozens of whom attended Huestis' Montana Elite Invitational camp which gives some of the top players in the state an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of college coaches.
One of those players was CMR sophomore Miles Duda, who plays for the same high school team that Huestis did.
"Just seeing what he's accomplished and just trying to follow as close as I can," Duda said of wanting to emulate Huestis.
For Huestis, this camp, which just wrapped up its fourth year, is a way to invest in the next generation of players in his home state.
"I get to hang my hat on the fact that I made my dream come true," he said. "If I can help other kids now try to chase their own that's a great feeling for me and I think more valuable than anything I ever did on the court."
