/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50323821/542657364.0.jpg)
While Michael Gbinije is representing Nigeria in Rio, the Detroit Pistons’ first round draft pick Henry Ellenson is in New York getting his NBA Rookie Transition Programming on.
If you follow the Detroit Pistons on Instagram, you may have seen a pic of Ellenson from the rookie photo shoot earlier Monday.
If you’re wondering what the heck the Rookie Transition Program is, here’s what I found from an old article on NBA.com:
More than 1,600 players have participated in the program, which has been running since 1986. It has been tweaked, changed and overhauled over the years to focus on issues more pressing to the current group of players entering the league. This year the emphasis was on financial management, healthy relationships with friends and loved ones, transitioning to a post-playing career and continuing education.
Basketball Insiders editor Alex Kennedy actually stumbled across the full schedule of events for the week, which looks to be extremely jam-packed:
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6909207/RTP1.jpg)
Ellenson’s probably looking most forward to the Hypnotist session with Hypnowheel at 9 p.m. on Monday night and the Body Shop Panel at 4:05 p.m. on Wednesday.
It’s seriously great that the NBA is doing this for its rookies, though, and hopefully Ellenson is taking it as serious as he needs to. Hopefully he can then pass the useful information on to Gbinije when Gbinije returns from Rio.