https://youtu.be/lUYsKP3oTB0
I have to say, I was SHOOK when I procured a closeup of Xavier Tillman’s face for use in the thumbnail image of this highlight video. SHOOK to my CORE. The reason for the shookage? It’s simple, really. Tillman looks old. Way too old for a rookie.
Tillman was a three-year college player, so it’s not like he’s 19 years old or anything. But he’s just 22. 22-year olds, while a bit old by rookie standards, are not old at all in the grand scheme of all living humans on earth. 22 year olds should look young and vibrant. They shouldn’t look aged and decrepit, with forehead wrinkles deeper than the Grand Canyon and eye-bags that make it look like they’ve only slept two hours in the past three days. But that’s exactly what Tillman looked up.
Basketball-reference gives me some clues as to why Tillman looks this way. He is listed as “Xavier Tillman Sr.” there, which means there’s a Xavier Tillman Jr. running around somewhere. I don’t normally think of rookies as being dads, but, sure enough, our man Xavier is a father of a little boy who is also named Xavier Tillman. He also has a daughter who was born while he and his wife were still at college in Michigan. So I totally excuse Tillman for looking aged beyond his years: he’s already had to deal with two kids (AND A WIFE LOL AM I RITE?? WIFE BAD BEER GOOD) on top of his commitments as a college player and now a professional player. That much stress in my life would definitely age me prematurely.
Tillman doesn’t play like he’s an old man, that’s for sure. In the absence of Jonas Valanciunas, who got a “cun cushion” (I don’t know what that is), Tillman went toe-to-toe with MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and fared well, scoring a season-high eighteen points and grabbing a season-high fourteen rebounds. Not bad for the only guy in the NBA that I’m aware of who has “senior” built right into his name.