Sit wrote:Pfft, Will Sit is going to shit all over you.
Adam Sails on ESPN wrote:
After going to Los Angeles to check out Australian prospect Williams Sit, we headed up the coast to
check out the star of the University of California’s basketball team. The Golden Bears hit the lottery
when they ended up with forward Casey Lee. Lee is a very mature senior for the team and he should
be seeing as how he is twenty-five years old. Most seniors are twenty-two years old, so why is Lee so
old? That’s where the maturity comes from.
Casey Lee is the oldest of all his siblings. He has two younger brother and two younger sisters. They
all grew up being raised by just their mother, forcing Lee to help his mother out. Lee started working
at the age of fifteen to help with the bills. “She never asked me to, but with my father gone and me
being her oldest son it was my responsibility to take care of the family.” Once Lee graduated high
school he started working two jobs, “I had to keep working and making more money to help out. I
was the oldest and my oldest sister was two years younger than me. She had a bright future with
photography and I didn’t want her to have to waist her time working some dead end job. She needed
to practice photography and go to a good school. My other brothers and sister were all from six to
nine years old. My mom was still going to need help and the fast food jobs weren’t helping.” That’s
when Lee made the grown up decision of really being able to help provide for his family.
Once Lee turned eighteen years old he decided that the best way to make sure money would be to
join the military. Not only would the military give him a pay check every two weeks, they would also
give him $80,000 for school once he was out. Lee joined the Army as an interrogator, “I always used
to be called too tall. I was always the tallest guy and always getting crap from the sergeants. They
were good times though.” Lee is six feet eight inches tall, which is the tallest you can be in the Army.
Once Lee got out of training, he was quickly sent to Afghanistan for a tour overseas. “I think that’s
where I made the most personal growth. You really learn to appreciate the small things in life.” Once
Lee returned from Afghanistan he was stationed in Hawaii, “It was beautiful, loved every second of it.
I really didn’t get to enjoy the things everyone else was though because I was still sending most of my
pay check back home to my mom.” Then Lee’s steady pay checks would come to a halt.
“My knee would become sore a lot and the pain just kept increasing. It got to the point to where I
couldn’t walk anymore, so my sergeants made me go see a doctor. I ended up being diagnosed with
an Osteochondral Defect in my Medial Femoral Chondryl, which basically meant I had a hole in my
knee. I had to get micro fracture surgery and six months after that I ended up getting and OATS
procedure. An OATS procedure is where they take cartridge from a cadaver and put it in my knee to
replace the missing cartridge.” After the two surgeries, Lee was medically discharged from the Army
at the age of twenty-one. Lee would find out that he would still get him college money, so he made
his way back to California where his family was.
“At this point I was getting disability checks in the mail every month, which I gave straight to my
mother. The made it so I wouldn’t have to work anymore and I could just concentrate on school. My
dream growing up was to go to the University of California-Berkley. With the money I earned from
the Army, I was able to do exactly that.” Lee would enroll in school as a twenty-one year old
freshman. Late fall rolled around and Lee decided he wanted to pursue his dream of playing college
basketball. “My family never had the money for me to play organized basketball. I used to go to the
gym and play pickup games anytime I had the opportunity. I never played for any high school teams
or anything like that.” Lee would end up trying out for the team as a walk-on.
“A lot of people get nervous for try outs I guess. I had been through so much that it didn’t really
affect me, I had serious shit happen to me in life.” Lee would end up making the team and riding the
bench his freshmen season, seeing clean-up minutes here and there. “There was no reason for me to
red shirt, I was only going to be in college for four years. I wanted to get my degree in English and
become a teacher. Once I did that I could make a solid living for myself.” That summer Lee spent time
improving his game, “I have never had spare time like that, I figured I would take a few classes and
play basketball as much as possible.” Lee became a role player his sophomore year, but was still
getting limited minutes. “It never really affected me, at the time my priority was school. Basketball
wasn’t my dream, it hadn’t been since I was in high school.”
Lee’s junior year, he started off as a role player. After an 0-7 start, the Golden Bears decided to make
a change and give Lee the chance to start. He took full advantage in his first game as a starter against
rival school Stanford. Lee only scored eleven points, but he pulled down fourteen rebounds. The
biggest reason he kept his starting job though was his defense. In that game against Stanford, Lee
blocked six shots and stole the ball three times. “I think that’s when I realized I had something
special. I always knew I was athletic and liked playing, but never knew my full potential. I had never
played organized ball and when I finally did I was at the bottom of the bench. Lee ended up averaging
9.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 1.2 spg during his junior year. Lee made the 2nd All-Conference Defensive
team for the Pac-10 his junior year. “After the season was over, I realized I had a chance to do big
things. Throughout life I always wanted to be the best and I started to realize I had the chance to do
something special. That summer I didn’t take any classes and I was at the gym at least six hours a
day. That was the minimum time spent for me playing basketball a day.
The hard work paid off for Lee as he had a boost in stats. Lee made California a legit contender in
basketball for the first time in years. Lee brought excitement to the game and for the first time in his
college career he was hungry for the game. Lee was a very emotional player his senior year. In a
conference battle against hated rival USC, Lee was ejected from the game in the third quarter. “I like
to talk a lot of smack when I’m playing defense. It gets in the other guy’s head, I play mind games
with people. Dude got mad and pushed me. I don’t play around when people push me so I rocked the
kid in the face. They suspended me for four games.” Lee would also miss another two games and
play less minutes for an additional six games towards the end of the season because of soreness in
his right knee. “I’ve had two surgeries in my knee, of course there were bound to be issues. I got used
to them though and I’ll battle through them. Teams won’t have to worry about me sitting out a long
period of time.” Lee was at full strength when the Pac-10 Conference tournament came around. Lee
led Cal to the championship where the faced off against UCLA. UCLA ended up beating Cal, but Cal
still earned a spot in the National Championship Tournament. They would be seeded as a number ten
seed and face off against seven seed West Virginia. West Virginia would get upset and Lee was the
main reason behind it, he had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals. They would get knocked
out in the next round though, “That game against West Virginia was amazing. I could feel that huge
crowd, I got lost in the game. I had no idea how many points I had or anything. It was me versus
them and I wanted to beat them.” Lee averaged 14.8 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 3.2 blocks, 2.1 spg and made the
2nd Team All-Conference and 1st Team Defensive in the Pac 10.
“I think I can help an NBA team, absolutely. Yes I’m old for a rookie, but that just means I bring
maturity to the table and I think a lot of prospects in the draft lack that. I’m going to give it my all day
in and day out. I’m not coming out to be the star, I’m not Kobe Bryant. Even though I might not be
Kobe, I’ll cover him and let’s just see how many points he scores. I want to be that shut down
defensive player and I will be. I’ll score every now and then. The photographers will love me too,
when I posterize guys like Andrew Bynum. Yea that’s right, I’m no Lakers fan. I come from the bay
area, it’s all about the Kings. I would love to get drafted by the Kings or the Warriors so I could be
close to home, but I’ll be happy wherever I go. First business will be to get my mom and siblings into
a nice home. I just want to play under the lights and feel the crowd's roar in my chest.”
Axel. wrote:shut down Kobe
shadowgrin wrote:Axel. wrote:shut down Kobe
That's what Ruben Patterson, Raja Bell, Bruce Bowen, and Shane Battier have been trying/had tried to do...
LeBron to start, Bosh a reserve, Wade snubbed in All-Star Game
The Miami HEAT received a shock as they found out Dwyane Wade was not selected to participate in the All-Star Game.
LeBron led all vote-getters and got the start in the East and the coaches voted Chris Bosh in as a reserve.
"I was surprised, I'm sure I wasn't the only one. I'm healthy and can play, but if they think I'm not good enough, that's fine. I will make the coaches pay for it during the Playoffs."
Surprising snubs were also Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Pierce among others.
Rookie-Sophomore rosters announced
Brandon Jennings will lead the Sophomores and Blake Griffin will lead the Rookies as the rosters were set for the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge.
Jennings will be joined by Toney Douglas, Terrence Williams, Tyler Hansbrough, David Andersen, Jonny Flynn, Serge Ibaka, Alonzo Gee, Omri Casspi and Hasheem Thabeet.
Tyreke Evans, last years ROY, and Stephen Curry, the runner-up, will miss the game as they have been sidelines with severe injuries.
The rookies will be led by Blake Griffin. He is joined by Wesley Johnson, Evan Turner, Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, Al-Farouq Aminu, Jeremy Lin, Ekpe Udoh and Landry Fields.
The rookies are missing #1 overall pick John Wall, who, like Evans and Curry, are done for the season.
The Rookies won last year in Dallas with Evans taking the MVP and sharing it with DeJuan Blair, who both will not be participating.
3PT, Dunk Contest field set, LeBron headlines Dunk Contest
LeBron James agreed to finally participate in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, making it a very highly anticipated event.
"This 1s for Dwyane. I'm gonna win it 4 him," said James on his Twitter account. The rest of the field is made up from Blake Griffin, Brandon Jennings and Chase Budinger.
The field for the Footlocker 3PT-Shootout was announced also, with the defending champion Paul Pierce ready to defend his crown. He will be challenged by Ray Allen, Kyle Korver and Danny Granger.
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