It was not long ago that Chris Boucher was a high school dropout.
Fast forward years later and Boucher has signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors.
“I almost cried. I got emotional,” Igor Rwigema, Boucher’s former coach said. “Yesterday he accepted the deal on the phone with Golden State I was like ‘Chris about five years ago we thought it was a dream.'”
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Boucher was once a dishwasher at a St. Hubert restaurant before Rwigema discovered him.
Since then Boucher’s career has taken off.
He starred at the University of Oregon where he spent two years.
“I think now it’s just going to give us more tools to kind of tell the kids that if they trust it, if they put the right amount of time, they have a chance to make it,” Rwigema said.
Boucher’s combination of size and skill has some calling him a unique player.
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“He’s very versatile, he can shoot the 3-point shot, he can block shots, he can rebound, he can run the floor,” NBA analyst Peter Yannopoulos said. “He has a specialty that the NBA teams and general managers are looking for.”
It could be a bright future for Boucher and for Montreal basketball.
Local players may soon be seeing a Montrealer suiting up for the defending NBA champions Golden State Warriors.
“I guess they’re going to see it once he starts putting on the jersey and he starts playing,” Ibrahim Appiah, Boucher’s former coach, said. “That’s when they’re going to realize ‘yes we do have a kid from Montreal playing for Golden State.'”