To tell the story of Jim “Sweets†Chones is to tell the story of “If only…†If only he hadn’t Broken His Foot, if only he hadn’t Grown Up Poor, if only he hadn’t, well, I’ll let the Nets’ long-time scorer Herb Turetzky tell that one: Scoring the pre-season game in 1972 at the Nassau […]
Category Archives: Player Spotlight
Damon Jones – The Dream Before The Dream
Damon Jones is the funniest, handsomest, smartest, world-class 3-point shooter never drafted. And he’ll be the first to tell you. Living a life of hyperbole comes naturally: I think it’s a family gene . . . It’s in the DNA. [Damon’s Mom, Renee Jones-Lee] Galveston Ball High coach Jerry Williams, denying any knowledge of Damon’s […]
Walt Wesley Steps Out of the Phog
Walt Wesley, the man who set the infamous 1966 Jo Jo White pick which made the movie Glory Road possible, quietly shepherds at-risk youth through tough times. Wesley, a Police Athletic League (PAL) executive in Fort Myers, Florida, offers a balanced perspective, stressing education: It’s great to have aspirations of being a pro athlete, but […]
Mr. In-Between
As a first name. “Devin” is unusual, although not rare. Kind of in-between. “Brown†is cliché-common; put it after Devin, though, and it no longer sounds so ordinary. Rather in-between. Undrafted out of the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) in 2002, Devin Brown split the 2002-2003 season between the NBA (10 games with San Antonio […]
Playing Footsie
The year is 1974, the first season in Cavs franchise history without Bill Fitch as head coach. Stan Albeck heads the team; Cleveland selects Clarence “Foots†Walker as the 38th overall pick in the 3rd round of the NBA draft. We have our team: 7 Bobby Smith 10 Dick Snyder 14 Foots Walker 20 Campy […]
Joe Smith is the Revolution
Joe Smith’s NBA career began with a sob. During an April 1995 press conference at his alma mater, Maury High School, Norfolk, Virginia, Joe announced he was leaving the University of Maryland Terrapins at the end of the semester to join the NBA; then he sat down beside his mother, Letha, leaned over into her […]