About two months after meeting Goodwin, I was finally headed down to Arkansas to work with him on his jumper. I’ve worked periodically with players in the metro area, some of them being very high-level talents. But you know the saying: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Goodwin works hard. He scooped me from the hotel in his Red Camaro — he loves his car, driving, and blasting his favorite Soulja Boy and Gucci at the absolute maximum — and took me to the Sherwood High School Bears gym on Friday morning to work out. Each word that I preached to Archie about shooting seemed to be absorbed for future rehearsal. When he felt that he could be doing a better job, he paid even more attention to detail. I was impressed once again, just as I had been at the Nationals because of the aforementioned consistency in his approach to the game.
After that workout we got something to eat, chilled, then got back in the gym with his brother Solo and MV — something they’ve been doing for quite some time — at UALR (University of Arkansas at Little Rock). It was another tough workout, filled with lots of shit talking and challenges by his older mentors.
The conclusion of the workout was most telling. With Solo guarding Goodwin near half court — and daring Goodwin to beat him to the rim, where MV was waiting to hack him — Goodwin embraced the challenge. Time after time Goodwin kept going at them, attempting to get four baskets to finish the drill. Upon making the fourth basket MV shouted “Get five! You top 20 now keep going and get five.” As usual, Goodwin accepted the test, finishing with a tough layup between both defenders.
“This is how it is,” said D. “This is the Archie Goodwin workout.”
Goodwin knows that without the support of his superiors, it wouldn’t have been this easy to get to where he is today. Upon taking a deep breath Archie explained how these workouts have helped him. “MV and Solo take my game to a new level—you saw yesterday it gets intense and I just love those kinds of workouts,” said Goodwin after a meal at Applebee’s. “You know, they’ve done so much for me over the past couple of years to make sure I get better and they don’t wanna see me fail in any kind of way. And if they see me doing too much or getting to cocky they’ll tell me right away before it gets too far — which hasn’t happened yet but if it did they would let me know. They keep me humble in many ways, as you could see, and MV always wants me to work harder, every second. So I just love that about them guys and I love that they’re around to push me to new heights of my game.”
Off the court, they help him also, but Goodwin breathes the game of basketball as if it were oxygen. Even when he’s off the court, he still takes measures to ensure success. “Off the court I hang around some of my friends that I have but mostly just my uncle, my stepdad and my dad. We all just come together and have a good time when we’re chillin’ and even when I’m off the court I’m still doing something basketball-wise—pushups or anything like that. But I don’t really have too much free time; I don’t hang around too many people.”
***
I’ve barely glanced at A-One’s skill-set. This article should help you get to know A-One as a person. But I’ll let him explain his game.
“My strengths right now—I just work really hard on the court,” said A-One Goodwin. “I play offense and defense, not just one side. I use my length on both sides of the floor, I can get to the goal well, I got a good handle and I can make my teammates better. What I’m workin’ on now is getting my shot better and better, just progressing on my shot. Just making sure I keep my shot good and it keeps getting better and better—just making sure I don’t stay on the same level I was on last year. As a matter of fact I wanna make sure I don’t stay on the same level as the last couple of months. I wanna keep improving at a fast rate, that’s really what I do every day.”
Although it feels nice to finally be appreciated, that doesn’t mean he’s satisfied with where he’s currently at.
“It just feels good to know that the hard work is finally paying off,” said Goodwin. “It’s gonna make me work even harder to maintain that [ranking] and to make everybody else—schools that aren’t taking looks at me—take looks at me. So that’s what really drives me and makes me work harder to be one of the top people in my class and try to get to that No. 1 spot in my class if possible. Even though the rankings don’t matter I still wanna be one of the top players.”
As it relates to college, Goodwin understands that it’s a long process with many factors involved.
“My decision probably won’t be until midway or later in my senior year so that I can make sure I look at everything that I need to look at and make sure everything goes well and that I make the right decision because it’s a big decision,” stated Archie modestly. “Things that impact it will be the team history, the coaching staff—making sure it’s a family oriented coaching staff—making sure that I go to a school with a coach and a staff that’s gonna make me better, and won’t just give me everything I want and that I have to work for what I get.”
***
As talented and hard working of a basketball player as he is, Mr. Goodwin might be a better person off the court. He understands the value of staying true to himself and the people who love him most. He lives with his mother Melisha Humphrey, stepdad “D,” six sisters and one brother, whom he is always surrounded by and loves to play with. “I love little kids man,” said Goodwin. “I don’t know if it has to do with me being around the family that I have because I have a big family but I’ve always loved being around kids since I was younger. I always used to mess with little kids and I think I get that from my mom and my stepdad because they do the same thing too. They just need direction and sometimes they look up to me as a positive influence so I like being around them a lot.”
And as grown up and responsible as he is, Goodwin still has a healthy soft spot for fun. “SpongeBob’s my favorite cartoon because Patrick’s just so stupid. Patrick’s funny, SpongeBob’s funny — I’ve just been watching the show since I was young so I just always grew up watching and it was my favorite cartoon.”
If, for some reason, his dream of playing in the NBA doesn’t work out he still wants to be involved in sports. “I would like to become a sports broadcaster. Even if I’m not playing basketball I want to be in sports, period. I love sports and if that didn’t work out I guess I’d try taking on being a barber or something like that.”
I wouldn’t bet against him.
