And there's this about that one

Just the usual game stuff here this morning; end of a long, tough grind, a practice to get to and a trip down to the peninsula delayed.

Have fun, we’re back with mail tomorrow.

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THREE POINTERS

Troubling signs

Guess the most disheartening thing about the whole night was the effort, or toughness, or disposition, or intensity, or whatever it is you want to call it.

Lacking. In almost every player on almost every level and that’s a telling characteristic.

As we’ve said all along, this is a season about learning and the hope from the organization was that they’d learn all kinds of good things about the players; left often unsaid was the fact they could learn bad things.

Now, we are not even halfway through a truncated regular season that’s as odd as any have ever been with the absence of practice time and no real training camp and a schedule so screwed up that not once so far this season have the Raptors had even two days off between games.

And that explains some things but the feeling Friday night that we were witnessing true regression, that old habits of capitulation were creeping into the minds and bodies of the players was difficult to take.

I truly think Dwane Casey is an excellent coach, a good motivator, a fine tactitian and we have absolutely seen at times how he can get this team to play, primarily on defence where effort is just as big a factor as strategy or systems.

But now he’s got some trouble signs to work through. It’s like when things started to go bad Friday night they looked like they expected to lose rather than wanted to win.

And that’s a difficult lesson to swallow about a team with some good pieces being coached by a smart guy.

I’m not suggesting these next four days of practice – or three if he decides a day of rest is necessary – are the absolute turning point of the season but there are some hard lessons to be hammered home.

And it will be interesting to see how these guys react in a season that’s all about discovering what the players have in them.

That’s both good and bad.

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Forcing his hand

Really didn’t think much of it in the second quarter when Dwane went to Anthony Carter with about six minutes left because they needed to try something to get Reggie Williams stopped.

But when Casey went back to Carter in the second half and didn’t use the apparently-available Jerryd Bayless, an eyebrow or two might have been raised.

No big deal, as it turns out.

Casey told us after the game he just didn’t think Bayless had it, primarily because of the sore ankle that seems to still be bothering him.

Was a good idea, I guess, to at least run him out there for a few minutes; without Kleiza they needed to get some scoring from some other source, and with four days off now before the next game there’s lots of time for rest and rehab.

Trouble is, he didn’t have a lot to give.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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So that’s what it looks like

It’s late in a game that’s probably already lost and it’s time for something out of the ordinary.

And we finally saw what the play at the end of the Lakers game – the one with the ill-fated non-timeout – was supposed to look like.

Except Jose made a shot.

It’s a really good looking play, a couple of backscreens for James Johnson, a lob to the rim and hopefully an easy basket. Second and third options are a guy in the corner and one at the top of the circle.

Trouble was, Jose threw the inbounds pass a bit too well, actually making the shot which, of course, is a violation.

But it was new that it was Calderon making the pass, not a bigger forward and it probably gave them another option, like the play at the end of the Utah game where he inbounded the ball and got a screen that freed him for an open three-pointer.

One of these days, maybe that first option for Johnson works; given the number of times they’ve tried it, you’d think it would.

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Okay; am off to do a mid-season report card on these lads before practice.

Wish me well.

 

 

 

The start of the weekend mail

All right, folks.

You did a good job keeping me busy and out of trouble so far – and there’s lots of stuff for me to do today for tomorrow – so thanks.

If you want one last kick at the can, you know how to do it, right?

And we should be back much later this morning with some leftover stuff from the big game.

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Q: Hey Doug. Love the blog and the IGBT as well. Don't know if you get a chance with all your grunt work to watch any of the ESPN films but with the release of this ESPN film trailer:

Just wondering if you remember the day Magic made this announcement and what your thoughts were about the change it would make to the game and Magic's legacy? Did it make an impact on the NBA's season as a whole?

Do you remember any other big announcements that were made while you were on the grind? How did they change the atmosphere of the game during that time?

Love the blog! Keep up the great work.

Judy S, Toronto

A: I do remember the day, actually. It was rather shocking, as I recall and given the time, societal mores of the era, questions about this new “disease” I was probably like so many others who figured it would tarnish his legacy forever.

But, thankfully, I, like so many others, learned more about people who are HIV positive and have full blown AIDS – thanks in part to Magic’s tireless efforts at education and fund-raising – and we came not to fear the issue but to try and find a way to solve it.

Other major announcements?

Hmm. I was somewhat taken aback not by Michael Jordan’s retirement but by his comeback; I remember watching Larry Bird having to lie on the court at the Barcelona Olympics because his back was so sore and feeling that it was an unspoken “announcement” that a great career was ending.

I can remember driving down the DVP the day the Jays traded for David Cone and thinking that pretty special of them and there are probably a couple of other “trade” announcements that I could recall if pressed.

But nothing beats the emotional impact Magic’s announcement had on the sports world, I don’t think.

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Q: Could you please tell me why you never give an ongoing score update in your live game blog??

People such as us, who don't have access to TV or radio coverage sure would appreciate more than your "observations".

Ted H, Phoenix

A: I do. Twice a quarter, which is all that is allowed under NBA media rules. They want, rightfully so and understandably, to drive traffic to their websites and those of their partners. But, don’t take this the wrong way, if you’re reading along with us, wouldn’t it be kind of easy to open a second window on your screen to show a live boxscore of the game?

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Q: Hi Doug. There were some interesting reactions when Kobe Bryant made all those favourable comments about Jose. Since LA doesn't have the requisite parts to trade for Jose, maybe they should just trade Kobe to the Raptors (I keed, I keed).

Seriously, I think Jose is a pretty good point guard, who is unfortunately turning into the Raptors version of Larry Murphy. How is he handling all of the negative comments made by fans about him? I would think no matter how hard even a professional athlete tries to block this out, it would eventually start to grate on his nerves.

Sohail G, Collingwood

A: I think you might be over-stating things with the Murphy analogy, actually. I believe most sane-thinking people see Calderon for what he is.

But here’s thing: He, and everyone who draws the ire of fans, don’t really let it bother them, they have a job to do to the best of their abilities and they do it.

And the rants of fans here or on in other public social media sites is so far off the radar of most athletes they may as well not even exist.

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Q: What does it say about Bryan Colangelo, when arguably the best player on the roster was brought in by Rob Babcock.

Jeffery A, Toronto

A: Nothing, really. What did it say when the best player on the team that made the playoffs was brought in by Glen Grunwald? And re-signed by Bryan Colangelo?

The Goods On The Game, Bobcats at Raptors

Hello.

My apologies in advance for the number of times I call them the Charlotte Hornets.

Have fun

Casey warns Raptors: No one can be taken lightly

 

Oh, this one is fraught with peril for sure.

A Raptors team that has a tendency to play to the level of its opposition far too often – good against good teams, bad against bad teams – gets one with the worst record in the NBA on Friday night and don’t for a second think coach Dwane Casey isn’t worried about the mental stability of his club.

And don’t for a second think he hasn’t mentioned it to them as they prepare to face the 3-26 Charlotte Bobcats at the Air Canada Centre.

It was a big topic for Casey’s media session after shootaround Friday morning, it was a big topic in is shootaround chat with the players.

“I know it’s human nature but I challenged our guys this morning: I don’t care what the record is, who we’re playing, we have to come out the same way,” he said.

“We told our guys, we did a good job of starting the game out the right way (against San Antonio on Wednesday and the Knicks on Tuesday), with a good disposition and now we have do it tonight.”

If you’re looking for news as opposed to purely set up stuff, there isn’t a whole lot.

Jerryd Bayless went through shootaround and they’ll see if his wonky ankle acts up before deciding Friday evening whether or not he’ll play; Linas Kleiza’s sore left knee will keep him out another night; Andrea Bargnani is a no-go.

But it doesn’t matter – or shouldn’t matter – whether Bayless goes or not and whether those other two guys are out.

The Raptors need to be mentally tough enough to take a struggling opponent – the Bobcats have lost 16 in a row – and put them away early and easily.

Charlotte does have some talent – Kemba Walker’s a solid if unproven point guard, D.J. Augustine can score, Boris Diaw may not be the most svelte guy on Earth but he can play and Corey Maggette can get you points in a hurry.

It’s odd that they’ve won just three times given the weird schedule this season – you’d think they’d be able steal one here or there – but they haven’t.

“What their issues are, I don’t know and I really don’t care,” said Casey. “We have our own issues.”

 

 

 

 

With Carter, what you saw was genuine and real

I certainly can’t profess to know Gary Carter as others in the local gang of the craft did, I didn’t cover him a team he played for, maybe spoke to him in scrums a half dozen times if that but I was a big enough fan of the game and student of our industry to know a wee bit about him.

His playing bonafides are well documented, he could frame pitches like few other catchers, he played hard when playing hard was expected rather than hoped for, he ran out every ground ball and walk, he truly handled himself the right way on the field.

Off the field, we got a picture all those years of simply a good guy, genuine and real and if his personality came across as too genuine or too nice or too “something” for others to handle without a small tinge of jealousy or a measure of snickering, well, that says more about the people talking and writing about him than it does about Carter.

We kind of half expect our sports stars to be a bit fake, it’s the kind of give-and-take we put up with; you give me a good sound bite, I won’t mock you and I won’t care a lot how you treat people when the lights are off.

Trust me, there are people who try to carry themselves like Carter who are frauds, total and utter users of the podium and medium who are out to advance their own selves and don’t mind putting on a “show” for the media, and therefore the fans. There are guys who are simply disingenuous; when the cameras on, they are sweetness and light when the bright lights are on, they can be surly and put-upon when it’s just them and a guy holding a notebook.

You never, ever got the sense that Carter was like that. He was chatty and friendly, always respectful of the people doing their jobs because he knew they were the conduit to the fans.

He spoke of his family often, of his faith just as much and he simply came across as a well-meaning fellow.

Like I said, I didn’t know Gary Carter at all but everything I’ve read (and My Man Griff nailed it from Carter’s Montreal days, Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci killed with memories of his New York time) paints a picture of a good and honest man in a sports world not heavily populated by them.

Canadian sports fans of a certain vintage will always know Carter as the hustling, smiling, hard-playing Expos icon who would have to be considered one of the most popular baseball players to ever call Canada home.

His loss evokes sadness as so many levels; his memory will today bring smiles to the faces of a lot of baseball fans.

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Neverest?

Um, okay.

For those unfamiliar (and it’s only through the good graces of Google and Youtube that I am), it’s the, um, boy band that will sing O Canada before the all-star game, the league breathlessly informed me Thursday.

I guess they must be popular but the initial reaction of a couple of oldsters in the office Thursday was, ‘hm, a boy band that wants to sound like the Beiber lad; yeah, that says Canada like nothing else.’

Anyway, we’ve got Mary J. Blige doing the Star Spangled Banner (her, I’ve heard of) and halftime’s got Pitbull (yes, I’ve heard the song and it’s okay) with someone called Neyo and another songster called Nayer and, continuing her Tour Of Big Sports Events, that Nicki Minaj, who may or may not have overwhelmed at the Super Bowl.

Sure ain’t Madonna, is it?

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Hang on one cotton picking moment, here.

This tennis playing Roanic guy pulls out of the Davis Cup thing on Sunday because he’s hurt and now I’m reading that he’s into the third round of one of the endless ATP tournaments?

Hmm.

Guess we know where that lad’s priorities are, right?

Not that there’s anything too, too, too wrong with it; but perhaps someone will ask him about it if he deigns to speak to us before strapping on the Maple Leaf at the London Olympics this summer.

Just sayin’ …

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What am I going to do this afternoon post-shootaround and pre-game?

Well, I could knock off some mail so I can maybe get a few more minutes of shuteye tomorrow morning. But that depends, of course, on how you fine Irregulars help me out.

You know the drill.

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There was never a doubt in my mind that the NBA was going to find a way to get Jeremy Lin involved in the all-star weekend, it’s just too good a story that reaches people on too many different levels to be ignored.

I thought they might put him in the guy-gal-old person shooting thingamabob on the Saturday night since he probably isn’t skilled enough to go in the punt-pass-and-kick thing that night, the three-point shooting contest or, obviously, the dunk contest, which is totally underwhelming as Nothing But Net explains.

And while it would have been something of a travesty to name him as an injury replacement for the real game, I was fearful they’d do that in some shameless effort to turn it into more of a circus.

Thankfully, at least for them, they decided to add him to the kids game on the Friday night, a perfect solution.

Of all events at the all-star weekend, that abomination might be the most boring. The players aren’t nearly as electric as the guys in the big game, there is even less effort put forth in that one than there is in the first quarter of the real game (although the real game does tend to get competitive in the final six or seven minutes) and now that rookie-sophomore event at least has a little bit of juice.

And Linsanity can play out on an even bigger stage, which is precisely what the league wants.

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Guy gets a Thursday night on the couch, decides to flip through something other than Bulls-Celtics and what happens?

The networks have scheduled Big Bang Theory directly against 30 Rock?

That stinks.

Gotta say, though, Tina Fey trumps all.

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Some old time movement and more celebration needed

What’s this?

A day off?

No practice? No game?

What’s a fellow to do?

Oh yeah, some video for the Facebook thing and some Nothing But Net but it’s going to a quiet day in The Life Of A Grunt and I’m quite fine with that.

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THREE POINTERS

A new look

How about some old-school stuff?

Did you get a look at some new offence the lads ran at time last night?

Looked a bit like some Princeton stuff with three guards running what looked like a three-man weave around the three-point circle with a lot of motion and movement and it worked pretty well.

I’m told it’s the kind of stuff they used to run in Seattle when Dwane was out there and they’d put Ray Allen, Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels out on the floor and, I have to admit, it’s more fun to watch than any isolation stuff or screen-roll action with a guard and a forward.

Not sure how it worked out – I don’t chart possessions nearly that closely – but I’d imagine if they wanted to go with Calderon, Bayless and DeRozan (instead of Calderon, Carter and DeRozan as they did against the Spurs) it’ll be a nice, new look that might confuse some fans.

And if the game ops people are reading, if they run it and you recognize it and you play some Sweet Georgia Brown, that’d be way cool.

Like this is.

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Welcome home, young fella

Very nice of Pop to give Cory Joseph a few minutes in front of the home folks.

Not so nice of Jamaal Magloire to welcome him the Air Canada Centre with a nice, jarring screen on Joseph’s first defensive possession but friends aren’t friends when the game’s on.

Joseph, as Pop told us before the game, is simply a young kid learning his way and it was impossible to get a read on the local product in the three minutes he played in the first half.

But Joseph did give all the right answers before the game about being excited to learn from crafty veterans like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and if he does that, there has to be some good things waiting for him in the future.

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Big numbers

Lost amid another loss – and perhaps quieting for a second those who’d like him traded or benched – was DeMar DeRozan’s season high 29 points, even if it was a rather “quiet” 29.

Given that in his last five games – and that includes the stinker against the Lakers on Sunday afternoon – he’s averaged almost 20 points a game, I’m wondering if the young fella might be getting it more often than not.

I’m not saying at all that he’s absolutely there but his free throw attempts are up, his three-point attempts are down and this might his best stretch since very early in the season.

Last night, especially in the second half when he had 17 of his points, he was pretty darn good.

If he strings together four more good ones in the next five, he might provide some answers to difficult questions.

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And a little bit more

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Oh, boy.

Big summer coming back home, I see.

Dude got approval to walk across the Falls on a wire and not since John Daly had some hokey stunt where he tried to drive a golf ball from one country to the next has there been such activity planned makes.

Makes one proud to be from there.

Sort of.

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A friend reminds me that yesterday was Flag Day here – a commemoration of the day in 1965 when the Maple Leaf first flew – and I’m kind of sorry that I missed it, actually.

Didn’t see people trot it out for one day and one day alone – and I am among the guilty parties – and I wonder if more should next year.

A flag, like a national anthem, is one of the few symbols we have and I don’t know that we celebrate it well enough or often enough. You know me and the anthem, right? How I hate when performers treat it as some kind of demo tape instead of giving it the respect it’s due. Well, same for the flag.

I was barely able to comprehend that mid-60s debate over the flag but for those of you of a certain age slightly younger than myself, it’s all you’ve known as the standard for our country.

Next year, we’ll all do better, won’t we?

Oh, and if the feds would like to make it a statutory holiday – perhaps changing the bogus Family Day we’ll celebrate here in Ontario on Monday – I’d be fine with that, too.

I don’t want us to become too ostentatious in our nationalism but a wee bit more might not be too bad. Be a good reminder about what’s right in this country.

Rant over.

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Sure, I could use some mail, who couldn’t?

You know the drill.

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Guess word’s coming out of Seattle today that they have some kind of arena plan in place and they’re going full steam ahead with a new building in an attempt to lure the NBA back.

Can’t wait.

My personal preferences aside – I love Seattle ‘cause it’s a nice walking city with an interesting downtown and two places I like to go an awful lot in the Kell’s and Metropolitan Grill – I do think the league needs another team in the Pacific Northwest for some geographical balance if not for marketing reasons.

The thing is going to be how they get a team, and from where.

There is absolutely no appetite for expansion – nor should there be given how thin that talent is already stretched – which would leave relocation as the only way to get a team.

But who?

I guess all eyes are going to be on Sacramento, given their difficulties in getting an arena there. But past that? Don’t see too many good candidates. The league is going to exhaust all manner of possibilities before it gives up on New Orleans and the business community there seems to have rallied around the franchise. Charlotte might be a possibility given the difficulties the Bobcats have in drawing in a college and NASCAR region and Memphis might make sense except getting out of the lease at the arena there is so financially punitive it’s hard to imagine the Grizzlies being a logical target.

So while it’s all well and good that Seattle seems to be back in play, if Sacramento gets its act together, I don’t see a logical franchise to move.

Of course, things can change rather rapidly in the world of high finance and big business – owners who are solvent today may not be in 18 months – but right now Seattle looks like a tough market to fill.

And that makes me sad.

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The Good On The Game: Spurs at Raptors

Yes, another night.

Yes, another game.

I hope the story never ends; and Canada gets its Olympic task

Okay, we got Linsanity out of the way, now it’s time for the real party.

All set for Bonnerpalooza tonight?

I am.

Until then …

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THREE POINTERS

So, Lin

Okay, if there’s a better story in sports – now or in the last half of a decade or so – I sure can’t think what it is.

As we’ve been saying all along it’s one of the great tales of our time and last night just made it even greater. I hope the kid never wakes up.

(Oh, and no one – NO ONE – got Joe Boyd or bothered to mentioned it yesterday? For shame)

Anyway, Lin as a player?

Dramatic, no question; fearless, without doubt. Complete? Not quite.

Can’t, or won’t go left, and a huge defensive liability but who really cares. Shot’s a bit flawed, kind of flung over the shoulder; and, as I mentioned, he couldn’t cover you last night.

But who cares that Jose abused him for three quarters until the Knicks got wise and shifted a bigger, stronger defender on to him?

Who cares that he almost had a triple-double of points, assists and turnovers?

Who cares about any of that right at the moment?

The kid’s got stones – that game-tying and-one drive was a man’s play, the shot to win it was stone cold – and he’s writing one of the greatest scripts I can imagine.

I don’t know how it will eventually end and I’m not entirely sure I care how it will eventually end because Jeremy Lin is providing us with a great, great narrative that’s all about what’s good in sports.

He seems to be a very nice fellow, appreciative of his opportunity, self-confident enough to know what he means to his team, respectful without being dismissive of the sometimes-fawning media that’s turning him into something extraordinary.

He seems quite likable and that’s probably part of it: If he was a knucklehead people might be hoping he’d fail.

He’s not and anyone who doesn’t like this story needs to re-examine his or her outlook on sports.

This is that good a story, he seems to be that good a kid and his playing limitations don’t mean a thing.

If Jack Buck was there last night, the words would have been ringing in our ears: I don’t believe what I just saw.

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Odd matchups

Give Dwane Casey a bit of credit for looking past horrid defensive matchups to get his best players on the floor.

At one time, third or fourth quarter, I think it was, I looked up to see Linas Kleiza guarding Amar’e Stoudemire and in the whole list of things that Kleiza can do, guarding a big, strong power forward is way down the list.

But necessity being the mother of invention and all, Casey needed to do something and his defensive system is good enough that even undesirable matchups have a way of working out most of the time.

Don’t imagine it’s something they want all the time and if Amar’e had any lift left in his legs – I was astounded at how often his show was blocked and how easy the Raptors blocked it – it might have been troubling but, for the most part, it worked well.

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That final play

Should Jose have been up closer to Lin, taking away a jump shot we knew was coming as the seconds ticked off?

Yeah, probably. He did a good enough job taking away Lin’s right hand – there was no way he was going to be able to get to the rim – but crowding him a bit more in the final five seconds might have made it a bit harder to get that shot off.

Doesn’t matter, though.

No way the kid was missing it. We all knew that.

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A wee bit more

(And sorry I’m late, apparently sleep is a good thing we need every now and then).

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You can have your Beebs or Biebs or whatever; I’m sure there have been other big name celebs at games, too, who are more famous or whatever but, I tell you, Steven Van Zandt made the night.

Check out the solo in this E Street clip.

Oh, and I was trying to find a Sopranos clip for his alter ego Silvio Dante but the, um, use of the language kinda precluded it.

Oh well.

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So, the draw’s been done and Canada now knows its road to the women’s basketball tournament at the London Olympics.

Canada has been put in a preliminary round group with France and Mali at the 12-country event that starts in late June in Ankara, Turkey as they chase one of five spots in the Games.

The top two teams after a group round-robin advance the quarter-finals and the four quarter-final winners get Olympic berths and there’s one more that the four quarter-final losers will play for.

Not quite sure of the relative merits of their first round opponents – I need to do a wee bit more homework over the next little while – except to know that France is pretty good.

The cross-over quarter-final group is Croatia, Korea and Mozambique and I’m sticking with what I’ve said all along:

I really like this Canadian women’s team, they aren’t particularly big but Alison McNeill coaches ‘em really well, and I fully expect to be covering them in London.

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Here’s a treat.

Stevie Boy was the shutterbug on duty Tuesday and here are some of the pictures he produced.

Yes, he is quite good, isn’t he?

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Mail? May as well start it.

Go here, do your thing, keep me busy.

Thanks.

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I got a closeup look at the Dallas Mavericks championship ring before Casey and Tyson Chandler had their little pre-game ceremony last night and …

Wow.

It’s huge, diamond-encrusted, looked like platinum or silver to me and, believe it or not, hardly ostentatious.

I figured, and I’m sure some of you did, too, that Mark Cuban would come up with something gaudy and over the top.

He didn’t.

If a $40,000 ring can be understated, these ones are.

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The Goods On The Game, Knicks vs. Raptors

So, Linsanity, anyone?

Linsanity hits, and they come bearing gifts

 

The gift was a nice touch.

Linsanity and all it encompasses – unprecedented numbers of media, fawning questions, rehashed stories and, yes, a present from a credentialed member of the horde – hit the Air Canada Centre like a whirlwind Tuesday morning, sweeping through like nothing seen before.

More than a dozen television cameras and close to 70 writers and broadcasters from a gamut of international outlets greeted the arrival of New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin like nothing in Raptors franchise history.

“I think it’s a miracle from God,” was the first thing Lin said to describe his incredible ascent from minor leaguer to Knicks star.

The present – a Canada Post Year Of The Dragon stamp set – was the most over-the-top part of an over-the-top proceeding.

“Are we in the playoffs now,” asked New York coach Mike D’Antoni, who himself was ushered to the podium to address the masses.

Lin seemed unperturbed by the attention, calmly sitting through about 10 minutes of questions he’s likely heard several times before.

“I would say it’s a miracle because any time anything like this happens, a lot of stuff has to be put into place and lot of it is out of my control,” he said. “If you look back at my story, it doesn’t matter where you look but God’s fingerprints are all over the place where a lot of things had to happen that I couldn’t control. You can call it coincidence but at the end of the day there’s 20, 30 things that had to happen at the right time in order for me to be here.”

D’Antoni, who knows about a bit about the media circus from his time coaching the high octane Phoenix Suns when they were the darlings of the NBA, also knows about the pressure Lin’s under with the intense glare of a New York media that can be overwhelming.

The coach says Lin’s just “a great story.”

“It’s what’s right with sports,” said D’Antonio “He’s an underdog who came on, does it right, the right way … Probably the biggest point is to be able to step on national TV with all the scrutiny, Madison Square Garden against the Lakers, against Kobe and produce what he did. I mean, to me that’s remarkable, it’s unbelievable that he could do that in that game. Now, we have to see the rest of the season, we have a long way to go yet but that’s off the charts.

“I don’t know if anybody could script that.”

Lin’s crossover appeal is tremendous, which gives the narrative an extra layer. Undrafted, unwanted by two teams, sent to the minors and finally given a chance when the struggling Knicks were at a point of last resort, he knows he’s being held up as a beacon for all underdogs.

“My whole thing as I try to my live my life is have fun, explore your opportunities, your dreams and find some thing you’re passionate about and go after it,” he said.

“I think that’s true for kids whether they want to play basketball, whatever they want to do hopefully I can be an inspiration.”