I Wasn't Built by Wins

I am so grateful for my career.

I’ve played in the NBA.
I’ve worn my country’s jersey.
I’ve lifted trophies.
And none of that feels accidental:

It didn’t happen because of talent.
It didn’t happen because of motivation.
It didn’t happen from “wanting it more.”

It came from learning how to become the person who could hold a dream without breaking under it.

That’s what Mondays with McVeigh is about.

Not what I have achieved,
but how I hunt,
what fell apart along the way,
and what I’m still learning as I try to pursue excellence in all areas of my life.

Because if my journey proves anything, it’s this:

Big dreams can come true, but you will need to learn how to grab them.

I grew up dreaming about being a pro.

But when that dream finally got close, everything fell apart.

College was meant to be the breakthrough.
Instead, it broke me.

I was homesick.
My relationships crumbled.
I was anxious before games and frustrated after them.

I trained harder than I ever had and kept getting worse.

I didn’t just struggle on the court.
My life was collapsing around me.

By my third year, I was benched.
Not playing.
Not trusted.
Not wanted.

I dropped out and came home ashamed.
My confidence was destroyed.

Back in Australia, late in free agency, I scraped into a team.
Again, I was benched, confidence low, and struggling on and off the court.
Different gym. Same feeling.

Still tense.
Still carrying the belief that I didn’t belong.
Day to day, I was in survival mode.

And here’s the truth I couldn’t see back then:

I wasn’t failing at basketball.
I was failing at life.

I had no tools for pressure.
No language for emotion.
No foundation for confidence.
No capacity for relationships.
No awareness of my own mind.
No discipline beyond training.
And most importantly, I took no accountability for my life.

Basketball wasn’t the problem.

I was.

The shift didn’t happen overnight.
It didn’t come from one book, one mentor, or one breakthrough moment.

Failure after failure forced me to look in the mirror and ask serious questions.

Why did I tighten under pressure?
Why did I attach my self-worth to performance?
Why did rest feel wrong?
Why could I train hard but not live well?

For the first time, I stopped treating basketball as something separate from the rest of my life.

How I slept mattered.
What I ate mattered.
Who I let in mattered.
What I believed about myself mattered.
What I said to myself after losses mattered.
How I reacted to uncertainty mattered.

The court didn’t exist in isolation.

It never had.

Improving at basketball wasn’t about doing more drills.
It was about becoming someone who pursued excellence in every part of my life.

So I rebuilt.

Not as an athlete —
as a man.

This isn’t motivation.
It isn’t basketball tips.
It isn’t another voice yelling about discipline.

It’s an ongoing exploration of what it actually takes to chase a dream — and live with it once you’re inside it.

It’s a record of becoming.

Of questioning what I was taught.
Refining how I think.
Sitting with discomfort instead of running from it.
Building a life sturdy enough to carry ambition without being crushed by it.

This isn’t about romanticising struggle.

It’s about telling the truth:

Your dreams are possible —
if you become the person capable of holding them.

Mondays with McVeigh isn’t a lesson plan.

It’s an open journal.
A place to share what breaks, what bends, and what builds.
A place to offer better questions — not perfect answers.

This is where I write that down.
This is where I think in public.
This is where I learn out loud.

Not as an expert.

but as a kid still chasing dreams.