Detroit — With the NBA Draft a little more than a month away, projected lottery pick and Detroit native Darius Acuff Jr. returned last week to the place where his basketball dreams first took shape.

Acuff was back at the America’s Community Council Youth Center on Detroit’s east side, just blocks from where he grew up. Years ago, he anxiously waited for a chance to run with the older kids on these courts. On Monday, he had the gym to himself, but the competitive edge remained the same.

Few words were spoken before the workout began. Acuff simply laced up his shoes and got to work.

Now, younger players look up to him the same way he once looked up to the older players in the gym. Before the workout, a younger player reintroduced himself to Acuff after previously competing against him at King High School. The 19-year-old point guard already has begun giving back, hosting a free youth camp at the same gym in December.

Acuff’s old-school mentality — from the baggy jersey and long shorts to the cornrow braids and cutoff shirt beneath his uniform — was shaped inside the ACC gym. Acuff, who declined interview requests from The Detroit News, credits much of who he became as a player to the people who coached and mentored him there.

As a child, Acuff would get dropped off at the ACC gym after school while waiting for his father to finish work and begin basketball training sessions. During those hours, he often was watched over by Virgil Phillips, ACC youth director and Reach Youth Program founder.

Even with Acuff winning the Bob Cousy Award and earning first-team All-American honors following his freshman season at Arkansas, Phillips still remembers the younger version of Acuff walking into the gym in freshly pressed school uniforms with uncommon confidence.

“When he was little, he would walk in this gym like he owned it,” Phillips said. “He had a little strut to him and would look at guys like, ‘Get off my floor.’ His dad would have to hold him back. It would be high school guys in there and he’d walk almost right onto the court.”

Acuff roots run deep

During those early years, Acuff spent hours experimenting with dribble moves along the sidelines while constantly asking Phillips questions about the mental side of basketball, often while eating snacks in Phillips’ office.

Basketball runs deep throughout the Acuff family. Nearly everyone played the game at some point, and Phillips became a guiding figure for multiple generations of the family. Over time, the ACC gym became almost sacred ground for them.

“The Acuff family should have had a prodigy,” Phillips said. “That’s how good they were. A lot of them got overlooked. If I put together a basketball team from this neighborhood, 50% of it would’ve been Acuffs during their time.”

Acuff’s father, Darius Acuff Sr., played at Detroit Pershing and later at Eastern Kentucky after playing for Phillips on the Reach Legends AAU program alongside former Detroit Mercy standout Rashad Phillips, Virgil’s son. Acuff Jr. now honors his father by wearing the same No. 5 jersey.

Phillips also remembers competing against Acuff’s mother, Dureese Owens, and her twin sister, Doreen.

“Darius Acuff Jr. can really defend — he gets that from his mama,” Phillips said. “She was an excellent defensive player.”

Despite the structure and training around him, Acuff’s fearlessness came naturally. When his father coached an under-11 team, Acuff desperately wanted to play even though he was only 7 years old.

Once he finally got his opportunity, he dominated.

From that point on, Phillips believed Acuff was different. Having coached six Mr. Basketball winners and one Miss Basketball winner in Michigan, Phillips immediately thought Acuff had the potential to become the next great player from the state. Virgil and Rashad Phillips thought Acuff had more potential than almost any young player they’d seen. Rashad Phillips said he believed Acuff was better than he was at that age

From there, Acuff’s development became a collaborative effort between his father, Virgil Phillips and Rashad Phillips. Acuff Sr. taught him film study, decision-making and efficient scoring. Rashad Phillips worked extensively on ball handling and shooting drills. Virgil Phillips continued mentoring him mentally, helping him understand the psychological side of the game.

Because his mentors came from different eras of basketball, Acuff developed an old-school approach. He studied film of Stephon Marbury, Allen Iverson and Chris Paul while sharpening his game through increasingly advanced drills modeled after professional training camps.

The best competition often came from his own family, including older cousin Tyson Acuff, who starred at Cass Tech before playing collegiately at Duquesne, Eastern Michigan and Rutgers.

‘Hit the ground running’

Eventually, Acuff followed Tyson to Cass Tech, where head coach Steve Hall immediately recognized how advanced his game already was.