Utah Flash forward Ronald Dupree fielded questions from a group of Boy Scouts prior to one of the team’s home games. Questions like how long do you have to practice to be good? What’s the hardest thing about playing basketball? Is beating the L.A. Lakers hard?

One question he wasn’t asked.

How did you take it when your one-way ticket to the NBA turned out to be a round trip back to the NBA D-League? That question wasn’t brought up, but it’s not because Dupree doesn’t have a good answer.

Dupree has tried and failed so much that he’s got it down…five times to be exact…yet he’s never quit.

He’s now a D-League All-Star with the Utah Flash. He continues to chase his dream of playing in the NBA, and while he does so, he’s learned how to become a better player and a stronger person with each setback.

“I’m blessed. I just try to learn from each experience. I’ll continue to work and get better and when that next opportunity comes it will be a lot easier,” Dupree said. “In the NBA it’s all about mental toughness and fighting through adversities and setbacks, and continuing to try.

“A lot of guys get discouraged and lose their fire for whatever they’re trying to do, whether it’s in basketball or the business world. I wasn’t raised that way. I’m always a fighter.”

Dupree wasn’t picked in the NBA draft after four years at LSU where he finished his career as the eighth most prolific scorer and the sixth best rebounder in school history. The Detroit Pistons signed him as a free agent, he was released the same year. After a stint in the D-League with the Huntsville (Ala.) Flight, he got another shot when the Chicago Bulls signed him in the winter of 2004 to a 10-day contract and then for the remainder of the year.

He was released after the season, but was signed by the Pistons again and enjoyed the 2004-05 season with one of the top teams in the NBA. They played in the NBA finals where they lost to the Spurs.

He was traded by the Pistons to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the beginning of the 2005 season. He was released by Minnesota and went back to the Pistons for the 2006-07 season, but after the season he was released again.

Determined to be seen and signed again, Dupree played for Tulsa in the D-League in 2007-08 and Seattle signed him in April for the final portion of the NBA season and then let him go.