by Fresh8 on Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:26 pm
Chapter 25
Reshawn Tyson sat in the chair, staring at his mobile phone in disbelief. His eyes were burning from the tears he had shed. The words of Doctor Mafia rang in his ears. The memory of what had just happened in the past few days haunted him. He felt like he had failed and he felt like he had failed his family and friends. Most importantly though, Reshawn just wanted to get out of Minnesota and get back to New York as soon as his flight started letting people to board.
“I’m sorry Reshawn,” Dr Mafia had said to him on the phone, “There was nothing we could do.”
It was then that Reshawn had put the phone down; he didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear the truth. He though it was all so surreal and wished it was only a bad dream. But nightmares didn’t feel so real and didn’t hurt as much.
As his mom had always told him, “Be ready for the road ahead. The path may be hard and you will have your ups and downs but life goes on.”
He was only thinking about whether his mom was coping right now. An announcement that his flight home was boarding came over the loud speakers and Reshawn quickly stood up and ran for the gate. There were two police officers standing at the gate next to the service attendant. One of them had a goatee and was as tall as Tyson.
Detective Vince Thompson and his colleague walked towards Tyson who had stoped in his own tracks.
“Reshawn Tyson,” Thompson said as he flipped his badge out, “You are under arrest for charges of assault.”
Reshawn wasn’t to give up easily so he swung at the smaller officer who was trying to hand cuff him. Reshawn hit him in the nose before Thompson tackled him to the ground. Reshawn threw Thompson aside and kicked him and picked himself off the ground and ran for the gate. Two big airport security officers stepped out in front of him. Reshawn pounced on one of them and started punching him in the head. The other guard grabbed Reshawn by his collar and pulled him off his partner. Reshawn used his elbows to hit the man holding him.
“Don’t move!” yelled Thompson who had drawn his gun out at Reshawn.
Some of the female patrons at the airport screamed as children watched on intently. Reshawn looked behind his shoulder at Thompson who was kneeling on the ground with his weapon aimed at him. Thompson’s gaze was fixed on Reshawn.
“You’re under arrest Reshawn Tyson,” Thomspon called out, “And you won’t get off any easier now because of you resisting arrest.”
Moses Chara was fielding questions from the media, who had shifted their focus from Tyson to Chara after Tyson had left in frenzy.
“Moses, do you feel that you are good enough to be picked with the first pick?”
Chara nodded, “I would be humbled to be the number 1 pick. There are many players out there who could be taken first like those two Nigerian guys are doing well. Johnny and Haji are impressing scouts. And from what I’m told, that big man Grant Galanov also impresses many people. It’s good to know there’s competition.”
“Moses, what are your views on your rival Reshawn Tyson?”
Moses chuckled, “That kid has nothing on me or any of the other picks in this draft. To tell you the truth, he has skill but he’s just not a nice dude.”
“How do you think your injury has affected your stock?”
Moses confidently replied, “Well, teams already know what I can do and they know who I am. If they don’t pick me because they doubt my abilities, it’s their loss.”
After that his agent Thierry came over to tell him it was time to leave. Moses had another endorsement deal to sign. However as the two were about to leave, a reporter ran in through the door and stopped in front of them.
He asked Moses, “Moses, what will Utah’s Liu Ishito’s suddenly declaring for the Draft mean for you?”
Moses looked a bit surprised and taken back by the news, “You say what?”
Reshawn was thrown into the watch house cell and the officer taunted him, “Your eyes are red superstar. You been smoking weed?”
Reshawn ignored him as the officer shut the door behind him. He looked around the cell and sat down in the bed. In the bed opposite was another man who was seemingly asleep. Reshawn got up and pulled his mattress and threw it onto the ground, then stomping on it.
“Cut it out,” a muzzy voice called out.
It was the man in the other bed and Reshawn shook his head while continuing to do what he was doing.
“I said cut it out!” the voice shouted this time.
Reshawn stopped and flopped on top of the mattress, “What’s your problem man.”
“You are,” the man replied, “Do you even know who I am?”
“Do I want to know man?” Reshawn sighed.
“Eddie Griffin bitch,” the voice responded and Griffin stood up, “You don’t want to mess with me.”
Tyson stood up and showed Griffin that he was just as big as he was, “You won’t mess with me either.”
Vince Carter came off Nenad Krstic’s screen and put up the open jumper. The ball smoothly sailed into the hoop as the New Jersey home crowd jumped up and down in joy. Shaq felt like he couldn’t get anything done as he sat on the bench watching on. He had fouled out of the game and that included an earlier technical foul. Richard Jefferson had fouled Shaq hard so the big man retaliated by pushing Jefferson off the court and into the photographers down near the baseline.
Pat Riley was still on his feet and had his arms on his hips as he screamed, “Get the basketball! Defend it! Come on!”
Lawrence Frank was a surprising comparison as he sat calmly at his bench with a smile on his face. On the court, Posey had the ball and shot the three. He missed and the rebound was taken in by Carter who started off the fast break. He passed to Jason Kidd who went up and did a behind the back pass off the back board for Carter to come in to slam back home.
“Vince Carter!” came over the PA system as Vince and Kidd gave each other high fives.
The ref blew the whistle for a Heat time out and with 6 minutes left, the game was all but over. The Nets led 96 to 75 and the bench was about to get ready to sub into the game. The series would now swing back to Miami and Shaq was hoping to be more of an impact in Game 2.
On the other side of the country, Kobe Bryant sat on the bench, Sasha Vujacic made a three pointer. Bryant smiled and waved his arms in the air cheering the Lakers on. Phil Jackson called Brian Cook to sub in for Luke Walton. After Tony Parker missed a floater in the lane and George was fouled on the other end, Cook entered the game for Walton.
“Good work Luke,” Jackson patted Walton on his back as he strolled past.
George sank two free throws with ease and the Spurs got possession of the ball. Parker dribbled up the court and passed it to Robert Horry. Horry took the ball and retreated to the sideline and went up for the three pointer. The Staples crowd booed as Horry gave high fives to his team mates on the side of the court. Vujacic took advantage of the Spurs’ lack of concentration and quickly got the ball up the floor. He scored on a finger roll and the crowd cheered. Parker tried to pass the ball in but Vujacic stole the ball and passed it to Brian Cook. Cook went up for the three and scored.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Kobe shouted.
Jackson nodded and sat back down on the bench, “They’re getting it now.”
Kwame Brown and Lamar Odom were on the bench clapping for their reserve players doing well in the fast paced fourth quarter. Walton was on his feet and also waving his towel. Chris Mihm blocked Tim Duncan’s shot into the stands and the fans were on their feet.
“This is awesome!” yelled Justin Timberlake from the sideline.
Cameron Diaz was screaming at the top her lungs next to him, “Go LA!”
Denzel Washington was calling out to someone on the court, “Go get them!”
And Samuel L Jackson had his arms in the air, “Man, I’m sick of these motherfucking Spurs in this motherfucking stadium! Let’s beat them already”
Stephon Marbury was sitting courtside near Kobe Bryant and had walked up to him.
“Hey man,” Stephon said.
Kobe looked at him strangely, “Marbury.”
“I ain’t here to cause no trouble man,” Marbury said, “Those comments in the media were taken out of proportion by the media man. No hard feelings?”
It was only a few months prior that someone had written about the players who hated Kobe Bryant and Stephon was one of them.
Kobe wasn’t convinced that Stephon was acting genuine, “Man, you know I don’t know if I can trust you.”
Stephon shrugged, “Man Kobe, I’m sorry and no hard feeling dog. Congrats on MVP. That’s all I can say. We cool?”
Kobe also shrugged and accepted the apology, “We cool man.”
Marbury went back to his seat and Kobe Bryant sat down as the ref blew the whistle and Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili walked off the basketball court. The Staples Centre was so loud that any normal person would have thought LA was winning. Kobe smiled and looked at the scoreboard. 116 to 68, with 3 minutes left; advantage: San Antonio.
* * *
“Mark, this is it,” Flo said.
Mark and Flo walked through the door and look ahead of them. There were four basketball courts in the large complex. Media were banked on one side of the building while many people were already in the stands looking down onto the hardwood. There were a number of players talking to representatives of other NBA teams.
“The Pre-draft camp,” Mark smiled, “Time to see who’s got skill and who doesn’t.”
“Well, better than Portsmouth,” Flo laughed, “At least everybody is here at this camp.”
“Yeah,” agreed Mark.
The two walked towards five players who were joking and laughing in a small circle. Flo knew all of their names. Sawandi Marshall, Mitchell Elway, Quint Hamilton, Bryan Elho and Liu Ishito; the Utah Utes’ entire starting five was in the house. Liu Ishito and Quint Hamilton were by far the best players out of the five- both of them were looking at being picked in the lottery. For the other three, being at the camp was just to see if they could break into the second round.
Flo approached the guys, “Excuse me, my name is Flo Ruf. I am a scout for the Minnesota Timberwolves.”
Quint Hamilton, a 6’9” power forward, shook Flo’s hand, “Quint Hamilton from Utah sir.”
The others introduced themselves and that included Junior 6’2” shooting guard Liu Ishito.
Flo then wished the boys good luck for the camp before the group of Utah players left to warm up with the others on their draft teams. Mark and Flo joined the other scouts, GMs, coaches in the seating area and watched the players take part in drill sessions.
“First day’s usually pretty boring,” Flo said to Mark, “But in the afternoon, the teams play their first games so we can look forward to that.”
Mark nodded, “Nice.”
Lebron James couldn’t believe it. The ref called a travel on him and James followed the ref to complain.
“That was two steps ref? Get your eyes checked out!” James contested.
The ref then called to the score bench, “That’s a technical foul.”
The old man turned round to Lebron, “I won’t tolerate any more of this.”
The Cavs’ home crowd booed as Chauncey Billups lined up for a free throw. He sank it and the Pistons took an unstoppable 98-81 lead with 4 minutes left in the match. Detroit got the ball back and Prince passed to a hard cutting Billups. Chauncey squared up and faked to his right before darting to his left. Damon Jones was on the wrong side of the basketball and Billups went up for a shot. It was a dagger in the heart as Billups put 2 more on the scoreboard in Game 2. A handful of minutes later, Detroit had completed the two game sweep of the Cavs. Lebron James had to go home for the rest of the post season.
Tracy McGrady was lying in the trainers’ room. Tip off was in an hour and he was relaxing before shoot around would begin. Yao Ming walked into the room to look for the team trainer.
“Hey T-Mac,” Yao asked in his Chiense accent, “Where’s the trainer?”
“Say Yo,” McGrady joked.
Yao Ming rolled his eyes and hesitantly repeated, “Where’s the trainer… yao?”
“No, not Yao!” McGrady shook his head, “It’s yo!”
Yao Ming just turned and left the room and McGrady lay back and got back to what he was thinking of before. He remembered the Rockets’ spectacular finish to Game 1 against the Warriors in Houston. The Rockets were down by 7 with 3 minutes still left in the game after Yao Ming had fouled out. The Warriors were stupid not to take advantage of it and McGrady went on a tear. He remembered his big dunk on Jason Richardson, his block on Baron Davis and then he would go on to score a three pointer to pull his team within three points.
“Don’t let him get the ball!” yelled the Warriors’ coach.
But it was too late as McGrady stole the inbounds pass and passed it to Rafer Alston who hit a trey from the baseline. After the Warriors called a time out, Davis missed another shot and fouled Mutombo. The big man made one of his two free throws before Stromile Swift grabbed the rebound and passed it to McGrady who was fouled. He remembered the pressure that was mounted on his shoulders to hit his shots; and the feeling of swishing both of them.
“Nothing but net!” Van Gundy had yelled from the sideline.
The Rockets would immediately start to press the Warriors down the court and Derek Fisher would put up a last second three pointer. McGrady breathed a huge sigh of relief as Fisher’s shot rattled out of the hoop and the buzzer sounded. He raised his fist and pointed at the scoreboard as camera crews focused in on him. The scoreboard read 105-102.
“Game time T-Mac!” yelled rookie Luther Head who had run past the room.
The noise outside in the stadium was astounding and T-Mac hopped off the bed. It was show time.
Liu Ishito drew the foul and was sprawled on the floor. Quint Hamilton helped his friend off the floor and their coach called a time out. As the players left the court, the floor sweepers ran onto the court. Mark thought he recognised one of them, Isn’t that Jing Xu?
“Looks like we may need to reconsider who we might draft,” Flo wondered out aloud.
Mark focused his attention back to scouting, “Liu’s playing really well. Man, I guess this is why he entered the draft now.”
Hampered by injuries in his past Junior year with Utah, Liu had limited chance to show anyone why he should be considered a top draft pick. But his track record was still excellent on paper. Liu, who had Japanese parents, played high school basketball in Australia before earning a scholarship to join Andrew Bogut in Utah. Liu had led his high school team to the national school tournament and led them to a fourth place finish. Mark was impressed just by that.
“Man, look at what he’s done. Averaged 30 points a game in Victoria,” Mark said.
“Is that good?” Flo asked.
“Victoria is probably the best place to play basketball. All of the talent is around there,” Mark noted, “It’s a pity this dude got injured but it looks like he’s better than ever.”
“It’s probably a stretch to say he’s a top 10 pick but lottery and mid first round is a good say I guess,” Flo accessed.
“That’s true,” Mark agreed, “But I think things are looking up for him at least. A bit undersized for the 2 spot but maybe he could survive.”
The players went back onto the court and Liu made two free throws. His personal tally went up to 23 points as his team led the game 67-32.