Photo by Todd Lester.
Homewood High School junior forward Logan Padgett is expected to play a big role for the Patriots varsity basketball team this season. Here, he is pictured at the 2016 Steel City Invitational at Samford University, where his dad, Scott Padgett, is the head men’s basketball coach.
The Hueytown High School boys basketball team met the new and improved version of Logan Padgett on an early November evening, when the Golden Gophers traveled to Homewood for their season opener.
Padgett, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, made his presence felt across the court.
He attacked the basket, showcased deft ball handling skills and displayed the willingness to absorb a charge. On one third-quarter possession, he spun past a defender before kissing a contested layup off the glass. On another, he dished a no-look pass to teammate Jack Goldasich for a wide-open 3.
Padgett finished the game with a double-double — 11 points, 14 rebounds — as his Patriots cruised to a 63-38 victory.
“If we’re going to be really good, he’s going to have to be a big part of it, no question about it,” Patriots head coach Tim Shepler said. “It’s his time.”
Such performances are expected to become routine for Padgett over the course of the 2017-18 season. The Patriots, two years removed from a Class 6A state title, lost key pieces from last year’s squad in Trey Jemison and Luke Touliatos. Jemison transferred to Hoover, and Touliatos now plays across Lakeshore Drive for Padgett’s dad, Samford men’s basketball coach Scott Padgett.
His son is now the Patriots’ next man up.
“I’ve got to be the leader this year; I understand that,” Logan Padgett said. “Not just playing wise but mentally knowing this is what I have to do to keep our team on pace, keep our guys in check, making sure they’re doing what they need to be doing.”
He is equipped for this elevated role.
As the son of a former NBA player, Logan Padgett has been around high-level basketball for as long as he can recall. Some of his earliest hoops memories, in fact, contain exchanges with his dad’s old Houston Rockets teammate, Yao Ming.
Those locker-room experiences have shaped Logan Padgett. They do not, however, define him.
“What I love is he’s really become his own person,” Scott Padgett said. “Having a dad who played in the NBA and coaches college, there’s pressure that goes with that.”
But Logan Padgett also draws inspiration from his dad’s past. He has watched tape from many of Scott Padgett’s games at the University of Kentucky, where he starred on the 1998 national championship team, and from his professional career.
The elder Padgett possessed the tools of a prototypical stretch four. His son now seeks to emulate him.
”He was able to step out and shoot it — that’s my biggest thing — but he was also able to go down to the block when he needed to, so I’m trying to have that versatility that he did,” Logan Padgett said.
He even gave up his second sport, football, to expedite his progress. Instead of refining his route-running, the former Homewood wide receiver spent his offseason in the gym. He played on an AAU team, worked out with his dad and dunked over one of Samford’s 7-foot centers in a pickup game.
Logan Padgett has always had raw athleticism — he first dunked in seventh grade — but taking the next step has also meant sharpening his technical skills.
“I think his current skill set is good, but it’s how much he wants to work to keep adding to that,” Scott Padgett said. “I think his ceiling is as high as he wants to make it.”
Logan Padgett has received an offer from Samford, and he also has garnered interest from Princeton. Yet college remains a couple years off. In the meantime, he has other business to attend to.
There are moves to make, shots to swish and rebounds to recover. He’ll do it all wearing his dad’s old number, 34, as the Padgett legacy lives on.
“I cannot wait,” Logan Padgett of his junior season. “It should be fun.”
