As the Super League Basketball Championship rolls towards the festive period, the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks are sitting pretty in third place in the standings, but they’re not settling for that.
We caught up with their 25-year-old American guard, Drake Jeffries, this week to discuss how he is adjusting to life in Yorkshire with Atiba Lyons’ side, and learn more about his hoops journey.
“I started playing basketball when I was around four years old,” Jeffries said.
“I played every sport growing up. I tried American football, soccer, I did track and field and baseball too, and I’ve just started playing golf recently, so I’ve always been a sports enthusiast.
“In track and field my events were the high jump and triple jump and I was ok at them. When I was a junior in high school I started taking visits as a track athlete to Division I schools but I never felt there was an opportunity for me to make a living out of that, so I opted for basketball.
“Growing up, I came from a single-parent household where it was just my mum and I, so I knew if I wanted to go to college it was going to be via a scholarship to get there for free and not put any stress on my mum. I had the opportunity to play basketball at a Division II school so I took it and I’ve never looked back.
“Everybody’s journey is different. I look back on mine all the time and I’m nothing but blessed and grateful. I never take it for granted, because going from Division II to Junior College to Division I is not the normal journey, but everybody’s journey is different and I’m just blessed that I’ve been able to do this and can hopefully continue to continue for many more years.”
Summertime Magic
After a storied collegiate career which concluded with Wyoming at NCAA Division I level, Jeffries sampled the NBA Summer League for the first time with the Denver Nuggets in 2022 – this would be the first of two Summer League experiences, representing Orlando the following year.
With competition for court time at an exceptionally high level, the sharpshooting guard had to wait for his opportunity to show what he could do with the Nuggets, and how adopting the right mindset whilst doing so led to a performance that changed his career.
“I knew it was going to be tough to get playing time, because teams take 18 guys to Summer League. This includes the draft picks, who have to play plus the two-way guys and returning contract guys who have to play because the team wants to see how much they’ve developed this summer – that’s what summer league is for – so opportunities for others are rare.
“When you get to the final two games of Summer League, you’ve just got to stay ready because your chance will come, and that was my mindset. In my rookie year I didn’t play the first three games but in the fourth game, I finally got in… I hit two three-pointers in six minutes and after that my agent started to get a lot of calls.
“All through that experience and ever since then I’ve always kept telling myself to stay ready because it’s been proven to me that if you do that everything else will take care of itself. If I had any advice for young players today it would be simply that: stay ready. You never know when your time is coming and if you stay ready then your life could change before you know it.”
Keeping it simple
Throughout his career to date, Jeffries’ status as an elite shooter has been solidified. In the NCAA the Illinois native consistently shot over 40% from beyond the perimeter, and his shooting talents caught the eye on the professional level as well.
Standing at 6’5” with an athletic style of play that makes him an asset on both ends of the floor for the Sharks, Jeffries discussed how he developed those qualities in his game and why they make him a great fit for this Sheffield roster.
“I was always pretty good shooter, even at a young age, but as I got older and I realised how much of a strength it could be, I put a lot more time and effort into further improving shooting, especially when I was at Wyoming.
“That skill is a big part of my identity as a player and it’s something I’ve got to keep living up to and rising to the challenge of improving there. This year I think I’ve played my best basketball when I’ve stuck to that philosophy and not tried to stray away from my game too much.
“I’m more effective when I keep things as simple as possible and stick to my role, and for this team I know the best qualities I can bring to the table are locking in on being an elite shooter and using my size and my speed to be an asset defensively as well.”
Settling in the Super League
In his first season at the Canon Medical Arena, Jeffries has quickly become a fan favourite for Coach Lyons’ side as they sit third in the Championship at this stage of the season, with a hectic festive period to come.
The roster has performed well throughout the campaign, especially against the context of several roster changes which has required the team to come together quickly in a fast-paced start to the season, and the 25-year-old shared his reflections on his time in Sheffield thus far.
“It was an easy decision to come to Sheffield. I knew I wanted something different from the American and Canadian leagues I’d played in and I felt like coming here would be a great transition into European basketball.
“When Atiba and I first spoke, he emphasized the family feeling of this club and from the moment I got here it has certainly felt like that. You see the same faces every day all around the facility, everybody is friendly, we all have each other’s backs and I’ve enjoyed being a part of that culture a lot.
“There’s a lot more to come from us as a team this season. We know what we’re capable of and we’re not complacent. We’re not pleased that we’ve dropped a couple of games that we should have won, but we’ve made some changes to the roster and feel like with this group we have a lot of confidence in accomplishing the big goals we’ve set for ourselves this season.”
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