"You have to remember that Paul Hammond comes from a soccer family, he has been brought in soccer, everything he has lived for has been soccer, yet he finds himself as one of the top players in AAU Basketball and is probably the greatest bench player in AAU history."
Paul Hammond joined Springfield in 2018 and has already been named a 4x 6th man of the year award, in just 7 seasons as a member of Springfield. His willingness to take a limited role to help the team win has shown a great justice to who he is as a person, and his ability to sacrifice his own personal stats for National Title wins shows the true character of Paul Hammond.
"He's really unique, the way he plays the game, and the way that he does stuff on the court, it's just unbelievable, I used to watch EuroLeague a lot, and I was just watching Paul dominate over there in 16 and 17. I can't even begin to explain his approach to the game, it's so unique and crafty that it's so fun to watch and be apart of. Longtime teammate Conor McCaffrey said.
"We had actaully already reached out to Paul to join the team back in 2014, but he choose to stay in the EuroLeague circuit, and he stayed there from 2015-2017, and finally joined the team for the 2018 season."
"He just blossomed so quickly, it was constant improvement, his first season, compared to his last is so different, but as you look, you realize it's just constant improvement."
"I remember people telling me about Paul, before he came over to join our team, I was told he was the MVP of the EuroLeague, he's going to be a star in the league for years to come." former teammate Jamison Jones III said.
"I was contacted by Timothy Allen to join the team for the 2015 season, and I decided that it just wasn't for me at that time, I wasn't ready to commit the time to a full team like that until I had gotten older and matured more." Paul Hammond said.
"I was excited when he finally came over to the AAU, because his talents were going to translate well to our team, it was going to take some time because he is such a unique player, and nobody plays like him." Conor McCaffrey said.
"I didn't understand the time frame of him being asked to join our team, and then him winning his EuroLeague's MVPs. I thought he won the MVPs before he was asked to join us and not after." Longtime teammate Chandler Dawes said.
"His career up to that point hadn't been anything special and it didn't point to being a fantastic player for years ahead." Timothy Allen said.
"When he finally decided to join us, he had a bad ankle, but we knew he was a hell of a player, and I can still remember during that period, Chandler kept asking or saying, is this guy as good as you say he is? And it became apparent right away, Chandler's eye brows raised in amazement and you knew it was something." Coach Jenkins said.
"I was very intimidated by Chandler, not only because he was the best player in the league, he also was not that talkative or friendly. He was there, he was a good guy and he would talk to you when he needed to, but he wasn't exactly that welcoming." Paul said. "I just had to convience him that I was good for the team, and that I had to be on the court, but it took me a little bit, but I think he was easier to convience than coach Jenkins." He added.
"He taught me to be a little bit more patient and to widen and to think outside of the box a little more. At some point in the 2nd year that he was with us. I asked him; why do you do what you do? He said; I am Paul this is what I do, and from that day on, we pretty much let him do what he does." Coach Jenkins said.
"In the beginning we were both players who were inmature in the AAU game, it was my 2nd full season and Paul's first full season." Conor McCaffrey said.
"Before any of us knew much about him, it was just shocking because he had so much flare and so much power to his game, but he had this good shot that was smooth, but he was getting to the rim in these crazy ways and taking these euro-steps, getting up and up and over and around, and quickly everyone realized that this kid was special." former teammate Jake Pollen said.
"Compton happens, and I remember Emoni Bates saying to me when Paul came in the game for the first time; saying Jamison whose this kid? All I could say was 'he aint no kid." Jamison Jones said. He does a few couple things, and when I asked Emoni, he just smiled and said oh ok.
"To win Titles you need good players, you need the people with talent and Paul was just a crazy controlled player with his talent." Conor McCaffrey said.
"Paul doesn't have an off swtich, there's no knob that you can change, there's no 7 or 8s, he is either on or he is off, no inbetween. He played at that level all the time, and that is what made him who he is." Chandler Dawes said.