This is the chronicle of Rick Daniel, a 6’2” scoring point guard from Akron.
I’m playing on Pro difficulty in 5 minute quarters.
I’m also going to be running this in first person, FYI. Let’s get it on!
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My career started after a 23 point, 3 assist 2 rebound Rookie Showcase, for which I was rewarded by being drafted 16th by Houston. Great, I get to ride the pine behind Linsanity. Fun! Actually, this is a good thing because I’ll need someone to cover for my growing pains in my first year or so.
The first half of the season went poorly. After two (key) games , my jumper abandoned me – without even saying goodbye! I went over a month without hitting a single three. My best play involved shaking J-Kidd, who was apparently traded to the Mavs, out of his shoes. Unfortunately it led to a pass to a teammate who blew a layup. In fact, that’s my biggest issue at the moment. My damned teammates blow the easy shots I set up for them so I can’t even play facilitator! Oh well, on we play.
Come February, I made the roster of the Rookie/Sophomore game, and seeing as how I’m averaging 2.6 points and 1.2 assists, and starting this game, I don’t think it’s possible to miss out on this game. Anyway, I started at shooting guard next to Kyrie Irving (being a RL Cavs fan, this thrilled me to no end) and had a mediocre game. This was during my no-threes stretch though, so I tried to set up other players and pass on long range shooting. That’s obviously foreshadowing, btw.
I sat with us down a few points in the fourth quarter and came back to start overtime. Overtime?? Yeah! I played a few minutes before getting pulled with us up 2. I came back to this.
Down a point with 7.5 seconds to go, and they have the ball. An intentional foul led to two free throws to put us down three. Now we had to hit a three to tie the game. I know one person who has no business…
Oh no. What am I thinking?!
D’AAAAARRGGHH! I knew better! I knew I was ice cold from deep! I cost us the game! CURSES!
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The second half of the season went a little better, partially because I worked out the kinks in my jumper by doing a lot of practice drills. My favorite highlight involved playing the Grizzlies in Memphis.
We were up two with time winding down and the Grizz had the ball. Specifically, Mike Conely had the ball. Emphasis on ‘had.’
I picked his pocket and cruised to a layup to seal the game. The second half of the season saw me playing allot of shooting guard next to Jeremy Lin which was just fine by me. I averaged about 10 points a game in the Key Games that I played in the last month of the year and made the All-Rookie 3rd team. We also made the playoffs, taking the 8th seed which pits us against the Clippers, and more importantly for me, Chris Paul. Wish me luck!
Die-hard Cleveland sports fan for 30+ years -- Not recommended for the faint of heart