ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Interesting Sporting News article on Gerald Green (future NBA draftee and millionaire).
NBA draft preview: High riser
Posted: June 24, 2005
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=275 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=5>
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</TD><TD class=V10 align=right bgColor=#d6d6d6>Robert Seale/TSN
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width=5>
</TD><TD class=V10 align=left>"Basketball is just something that I have always done because I love it. I can't start seeing it as a job and making a lot of money. That is hard to get used to."
-- Gerald Green Jr.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Gerald Green is looking good. Why shouldn't he? He's 19 and soon will be a millionaire. Green is seated in a hotel ballroom in downtown Chicago in early June, his back looking uncomfortably straight -- as if he's repeating in his head, "Posture, posture, posture." He's wearing a new gray suit. Diamond earrings wink from each ear. It's a fitting look for the top prep player in the country.
Green is dapper now, meeting the NBA media for the first time. But ask Gerald Green Sr. what his son was doing the previous day back in Houston and he says, laughing, "I had him out mowing the grass. He was doing the edging, the whole thing, and I was sitting on my truck having a cigarette, making sure he was doing it right. I know you're going to the NBA and all, but the grass doesn't know that."
Green Jr. won't have to mess with a weed whacker much longer. When the NBA conducts its draft Tuesday, Green should be a top five selection. But don't expect him to develop a massive ego. He oozes humility, which makes sense considering his parents -- Gerald Sr. and mother Brenda -- still have him pushing a mower despite his impending fame.
When he is asked to guess where he will be drafted, Green says he can't because he can't believe he will get drafted at all. Asked what he thinks of an NBA age minimum, he says, "I believe the league will do what is in the best interest for everybody, so that would be OK." Asked what the first thing he will do with his NBA paycheck, he says, "Pay my church tithe."
"This still isn't even real to me," Green says. "I mean, basketball is just something that I have always done because I love it. I can't start seeing it as a job and making a lot of money. That is hard to get used to."
Two summers ago, Green was an unknown, playing at the Reebok ABCD Camp as a 6-5 center. But he began intense workouts, grew a bit and returned to ABCD last summer as a 6-7 shooting guard. He was named MVP of the camp's All-Star game.
A terrific season at Houston's Gulf Shores Academy, in which he averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, solidified Green's status as a first-round pick. Outstanding postseason performances in the Roundball Classic and McDonald's All-American Game, in which he made six 3-pointers, vaulted him even higher.
"He seemed to get better as the year went on," says one Western Conference executive. "You might think you have a knock on him -- say, he can't shoot from the outside -- then he goes out and hits six 3s."
Athleticism and shooting are Green's strengths. His weaknesses are ballhandling and his body, which needs more muscle. Green had hoped to weigh 210 pounds in Chicago, and he thinks he can get up to 225. But in the official measurements, he was just 192, in part because of a recent illness.
Green Sr., a retired firefighter, admits there were concerns about his son in his first two years at Houston's Dobie High -- Gerald got into some scuffles with classmates. The last altercation involved Gerald stepping in to defend a teammate, and it helped convince the family that a transfer to Gulf Shores, a school focused more on basketball, was a good idea.
"It was just an opportunity for me to start over," says Green Jr. "The style of play was good for me. And I needed a counselor and mentor at school."
Green says he may not be mature enough for the NBA -- he's shy and still a kid, really. But Green Sr. says that the potential for his son finding trouble is not a concern.
"He'd have to change into a different person," Green Sr. says. "There are a lot of times, when it's Friday night, and here is this kid, a big-time star, a nice car, and he's at home. In bed. That is unheard of. He's 19.
"I go in and check his forehead. I ask him, 'You feeling OK?' He'll say, 'Yeah, Dad, I am OK. I am just going to stay in and chill.' That's OK by me. He is not a typical kid, looking for trouble. I don't think, as a parent, I have anything to worry about."
As of next week, maybe one worry: Who's going to mow the lawn?
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for the Sporting News. E-mail him at [email protected].
http://www.sportingnews.com/experts/sean-deveney/20050624.html
NBA draft preview: High riser
Posted: June 24, 2005
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=275 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=5>
</TD><TD>
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width=5>
</TD><TD class=V10 align=right bgColor=#d6d6d6>Robert Seale/TSN
</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width=5>
</TD><TD class=V10 align=left>"Basketball is just something that I have always done because I love it. I can't start seeing it as a job and making a lot of money. That is hard to get used to."
-- Gerald Green Jr.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Gerald Green is looking good. Why shouldn't he? He's 19 and soon will be a millionaire. Green is seated in a hotel ballroom in downtown Chicago in early June, his back looking uncomfortably straight -- as if he's repeating in his head, "Posture, posture, posture." He's wearing a new gray suit. Diamond earrings wink from each ear. It's a fitting look for the top prep player in the country.
Green is dapper now, meeting the NBA media for the first time. But ask Gerald Green Sr. what his son was doing the previous day back in Houston and he says, laughing, "I had him out mowing the grass. He was doing the edging, the whole thing, and I was sitting on my truck having a cigarette, making sure he was doing it right. I know you're going to the NBA and all, but the grass doesn't know that."
Green Jr. won't have to mess with a weed whacker much longer. When the NBA conducts its draft Tuesday, Green should be a top five selection. But don't expect him to develop a massive ego. He oozes humility, which makes sense considering his parents -- Gerald Sr. and mother Brenda -- still have him pushing a mower despite his impending fame.
When he is asked to guess where he will be drafted, Green says he can't because he can't believe he will get drafted at all. Asked what he thinks of an NBA age minimum, he says, "I believe the league will do what is in the best interest for everybody, so that would be OK." Asked what the first thing he will do with his NBA paycheck, he says, "Pay my church tithe."
"This still isn't even real to me," Green says. "I mean, basketball is just something that I have always done because I love it. I can't start seeing it as a job and making a lot of money. That is hard to get used to."
Two summers ago, Green was an unknown, playing at the Reebok ABCD Camp as a 6-5 center. But he began intense workouts, grew a bit and returned to ABCD last summer as a 6-7 shooting guard. He was named MVP of the camp's All-Star game.
A terrific season at Houston's Gulf Shores Academy, in which he averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, solidified Green's status as a first-round pick. Outstanding postseason performances in the Roundball Classic and McDonald's All-American Game, in which he made six 3-pointers, vaulted him even higher.
"He seemed to get better as the year went on," says one Western Conference executive. "You might think you have a knock on him -- say, he can't shoot from the outside -- then he goes out and hits six 3s."
Athleticism and shooting are Green's strengths. His weaknesses are ballhandling and his body, which needs more muscle. Green had hoped to weigh 210 pounds in Chicago, and he thinks he can get up to 225. But in the official measurements, he was just 192, in part because of a recent illness.
Green Sr., a retired firefighter, admits there were concerns about his son in his first two years at Houston's Dobie High -- Gerald got into some scuffles with classmates. The last altercation involved Gerald stepping in to defend a teammate, and it helped convince the family that a transfer to Gulf Shores, a school focused more on basketball, was a good idea.
"It was just an opportunity for me to start over," says Green Jr. "The style of play was good for me. And I needed a counselor and mentor at school."
Green says he may not be mature enough for the NBA -- he's shy and still a kid, really. But Green Sr. says that the potential for his son finding trouble is not a concern.
"He'd have to change into a different person," Green Sr. says. "There are a lot of times, when it's Friday night, and here is this kid, a big-time star, a nice car, and he's at home. In bed. That is unheard of. He's 19.
"I go in and check his forehead. I ask him, 'You feeling OK?' He'll say, 'Yeah, Dad, I am OK. I am just going to stay in and chill.' That's OK by me. He is not a typical kid, looking for trouble. I don't think, as a parent, I have anything to worry about."
As of next week, maybe one worry: Who's going to mow the lawn?
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for the Sporting News. E-mail him at [email protected].
http://www.sportingnews.com/experts/sean-deveney/20050624.html