It’s a windy, blustery night in late December, as the Kings – in the midst of an arduous road trip across four cities and three time zones – adjust to living out of suitcases for over a week, longing for the warm comforts of home.
But as Carl Landry makes his way from the visitors’ locker room to the hardwood for pregame warm-ups, an untroubled smile crosses his face, the eighth-year forward looking more relaxed and jubilant with each step.
“I’m blessed – my dream was always to play basketball, but I didn’t know at what level, and given the opportunity to play in the NBA, overseas or wherever, that’s still a blessing,” says the Milwaukee, Wis. native. ”I’m not a product of my environment. I made it out, and that’s through hard work, so there’s no reason to walk around here with your face all frowned up. There are better days ahead, and the days that I’ve already experienced have been great.”
Coming from a player abundantly familiar with overcoming adversity – whose unwavering resiliency has been tested time and time again by hardships that threatened to derail his basketball career – it’s a powerfully compelling statement.
Cut from the freshman team at Harold S. Vincent High School, Landry barely made the JV roster as a sophomore, and upon posting a single-digit scoring average as a seldom-used senior, contemplated leaving the sport before committing to Vincennes University, a junior college in Indiana.
After earning First-Team Junior College All-American and All-Region MVP honors, the 6-foot-9 forward transferred to Purdue, but lost nearly an entire year due to a torn ACL in his right knee.
As a redshirt senior, Landry was one of only two players in the Big Ten to rank in the top five in both points (18.9 per game) and rebounds (7.3) – leading the Boilermakers to the 2007 NCAA Tournament and making First-Team All-Conference – only to slide to the second round of the NBA Draft (31st overall) due to questions about his frame and athleticism.
Despite sitting out 33 of the first 36 games of his rookie season and fighting for any semblance of playing time on a deep Houston Rockets roster, No. 24 carved out a niche as a self-proclaimed “garbage man” – finding ways to score on an array of driving layups, short hook shots and timely put-backs. Landry was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team and soon established himself as a perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate and critical rotation player on four Playoff teams in his first seven years.
“I just want to help my team win – I know that winning cures all and everybody gets credit for winning,” he says. “I can be a guy who goes out there and averages five points and five rebounds and looked at as a huge contributor not only for my team, but in this league. And I can be a guy who averages 10 points and 10 rebounds on a losing team and nobody knows what I’m doing.
“So whatever it takes for me to do 1 – if that’s go out there and dive for loose balls, take charges, score, rebound, be a defender – that’s what I’m all for. I’m happy to be here, I’m blessed and hopefully I can just continue to be a player in this league for a long time.”
Last season, however – the first during his second go-around in Sacramento – the 31-year-old’s basketball future was once again seriously hampered and his fortitude put to the test, as a torn hip flexor suffered during training camp sidelined him for nearly three months, and a meniscus tear in his right knee ultimately ended his season after only 18 games.
“It was tough. I hadn’t really been injured since college, so after (injuring) the hip and then the knee, it was like, ‘when it rains, it pours,’” he recalls. “But I knew that I could get through it because I’ve been through tough times in my life before and it was just a matter of time … it’s just another bump in the road, and no matter how many bumps I’ve experienced so far in my life, I have to continue to find a way to get over it.”
While Landry admits the initial recovery process from the hip injury – which included a combination of rest, stretching and a strength-building routine – was strenuous, the most difficult aspect was waiting patiently on the sidelines.
“That was the hardest part – sitting on the training table every day, doing exercises, watching my teammates go to war (while) I (couldn’t) be out there,” explains Landry, who made his 2013-14 debut on Jan. 19. “(I reminded myself) that it’s a marathon and things would be better soon … I knew that it was going to be a tough rehab, but I told myself that I was going to attack it and try my best to get back to being 100 percent.”
The diligent rehabilitation process for his knee transitioned into the summer, as No. 24 sacrificed family time and vacation plans to return to St. Vincent Sports Performance's workout facility – a routine he’s kept since college – to work with physical therapists on mending the ligament, recapturing strength and balance, and rediscovering his rhythm 2.
“I never took a day off – Monday through Friday, I rehabbed,” he says. “I rehabbed twice a day, and as I got better, I rehabbed in the morning and I did basketball strength and conditioning in the afternoons. My goal was just to come to work every day and give all I had. That’s what it took in order for me to get back to the highest level of basketball where I’m at today.”
The lone sliver of silver lining for a player unaccustomed to sitting on the sidelines was the opportunity to view the game from a different perspective and identify how his skill set best suits the team.
“Having a chance to be on the outside looking in for the first time in my life definitely helped, because I never viewed the basketball like that,” he says. “Knowing the personnel of this team and what we had, I just took every practice and every game and tried to figure out how I could make an impact while out there on the floor – and even off the court, on the bench.”
As Landry continues to improve on a daily basis, his consistent, reliable production as the first big man off the bench – 8.0 points on 52.5 percent from the field and 4.3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per outing, including a pair of double-doubles – has been as one of the catalysts for some of Sacramento’s early season success.
According to NBA.com/Stats, in Sacramento’s 15 wins, the Purdue product has averaged 15.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per 36 minutes, during which time the Kings have outscored opponents by 5.3 points per 100 possessions with No. 24 on the court.
“He amazes me because he’s undersized, but he always (gets rebounds) in traffic, always with a couple of guys draped on his back,” says longtime Kings Radio Broadcaster Gary Gerould. “I also like his intermediate-range face-up. To me, it’s almost a lost art in the NBA – everyone either wants to shoot the three or they want to play above the rim. Carl can hit that 15- to 18-footer face-up, and he can knock it down with a good percentage.”
Providing indispensable inside scoring, aggressiveness on the boards and communication on both ends of the court, Landry has earned the trust of Sacramento’s coaching staff in crunch-time lineups, rewarding the confidence by grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring on a last-second put-back to give Sacramento an overtime victory over Indiana on Dec. 5.
“We need (Carl) to score for us off the bench, especially,” Kings Head Coach Ty Corbin said after a recent practice. “He’s one guy you can go through on the post … (he’s) able to step out and hit some jump shots on the perimeter, drive from the elbow and get a basket, so he’s a versatile guy in that second group for us.”
While Landry notes his maturity, basketball IQ and overall skill set have vastly improved since his first stint in purple and black during the 2009-11 campaigns, the forward is even more encouraged by the influx of skilled players around him.
“We’re a lot better now,” he says. “DeMarcus Cousins – hopefully an All-Star. Rudy Gay – one of the best players at his position. You have guys like Derrick Williams, who was the No. 2 pick in the (2011) Draft. Ben McLemore, (who is) getting better every day. We have good role players, as well. We didn’t have that before.”
With the Kings now in position to compete for a Playoff berth, Landry – who credits the sage advice of former Rockets teammates Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Shane Battier for shaping his strong work ethic and demonstrating proper nutrition – is aspiring to continue proving valuable veteran leadership and professionalism that have earned him the admiration of his past and present teammates.
“He definitely showed (leadership) qualities – he just came to work every day, worked hard and was a fun guy to be around,” says Rockets guard-forward Trevor Ariza, who played alongside Landry in Houston. “He’s one of those people who’s very grateful for every opportunity he got. He taught me not to take anything that ever happens for granted and enjoy every moment while I can.”
“Carl is a hard worker and has always been a great player since he stepped foot in the League,” adds Kings forward Rudy Gay.
Through all of his on-court accomplishments and intangible contributions, the individual statistic Landry is most proud of – and one he isn’t taking for granted – is the number of games played, as the forward hasn’t missed a single contest and already surpassed his total from last season.
“I was talking to the trainers a couple of weeks ago and telling them, ‘Thank you for putting in the work in September and throughout the course of this season,’ because I’ve already played almost two times as many games this year than I did last year,” he says.
"I just feel blessed that I have a second chance to be out there on the floor with (my teammates) and be productive … (My goal is) just continue to get better – physically, mentally – do whatever I can to help this team grow as a unit. We have a really good team and we’re going to go out there and battle every night.”
Free Throws:
- One of the League’s toughest and most durable players, Landry has made a habit of valiantly bouncing back from painful setbacks.
Most memorably, No. 24 lost three teeth in a collision with Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki on Dec. 18, 2009, and returned to action four nights – and seven hours of dental surgery – later to notch a then-career-high-tying 27 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 37 minutes against the Clippers.
- Landry reveals the final hurdle after being medically cleared to practice was regaining trust and confidence in his body.
“I think anytime you have surgery or come back from an injury – if it’s a knee, a shoulder or whatever the case may be – it’s definitely going half physical and half mental,” he says. “The move that you hurt yourself doing, you have to figure out a way (to get over) the mental hump of doing that same move again. That’s something that I had to deal with over the summer, but I’m past that part now and I’m just looking forward to better days.”
“It’s something that’s a part of the game, and plus, it’s just a tooth,” says Landry matter-of-factly. “I lost it, I wasn’t in too much pain, so I felt like I could go back out there and play. But obviously, the doctors wanted me to get that taken care of.”