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Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution - Hardcover

Abrams, Jonathan

 
9780804139250: Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0804139253 ISBN 13: 9780804139250
Verlag: Ballantine Books Inc., 2016

Inhaltsangabe

The definitive, never-before-told story of the prep-to-pro generation, those basketball prodigies who from 1995 to 2005 made the jump directly from high school to the NBA.
 
When Kevin Garnett shocked the world by announcing that he would not be attending college—as young basketball prodigies were expected to do—but instead enter the 1995 NBA draft directly from high school, he blazed a trail for a generation of teenage basketball players to head straight for the pros. That trend would continue until the NBA instituted an age limit in 2005, requiring all players to attend college or another developmental program for at least one year.
 
Over that decade-plus period, the list of players who made that difficult leap includes some of the most celebrated players of the modern era—Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady, and numerous other stars. It also includes notable “busts” who either physically or mentally proved unable to handle the transition. But for better or for worse, the face of the NBA was forever changed by the prep-to-pro generation.

In compelling, masterfully crafted prose, Boys Among Men goes behind the scenes and draws on hundreds of firsthand interviews to paint insightful and engaging portraits of the most pivotal figures and events during this time. Award-winning basketball writer Jonathan Abrams has obtained remarkable access to the key players, coaches, and other movers and shakers from that time, and the result is a book packed with rare insights and never-before-published details about this chapter in NBA history. Boys Among Men is a thrilling, informative, must-read for any basketball fan.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

JONATHAN ABRAMS is an award-winning journalist who has covered the NBA for  ESPN’s Grantland, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Heis a graduate of the University of Southern California.

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Bucky Buckwalter carefully placed the pile of hundred-­dollar bills on the orange crate that doubled as a dining room table in Mary Malone’s living room. A room in the broken-­down home belonged to her son Moses. A sizable hole in its wall allowed water in whenever it rained. The money for improvements and a better life had been placed before them by Buckwalter, a pro basketball executive. Buckwalter empowered Moses Malone with a choice. He offered Malone riches over poverty. Malone just had to forsake the rest of his childhood.

Moses Malone was an unassuming, gangly teenager from the South. He lived in Petersburg, Virginia, in a duplex off St. Matthews Street. The city was once a major Civil War conflict zone. In 1974, it hosted Malone, a teenager who happened to be basketball’s greatest recruiting prize since Kareem Abdul-­Jabbar. The sport came easily to Malone. He competed in playgrounds against adults. The kids received orange juice for winning. If they lost, they rounded up spare change to give their elders some beer money. “We’d beat them so bad, they thought they were already drunk,” Malone recalled with a hearty laugh. College recruiters arrived in droves to watch Malone at Petersburg High School, where he steered his team to 50 straight victories and back-­to-­back state championships, forsaking their families and checking into hotels for months. One day, a representative from Oral Roberts pledged that a higher power would cure Mary Malone’s bleeding ulcer should her son bless the school with his basketball abilities.

His talent traveled by word of mouth in an era when college recruiters routinely circumvented NCAA rules of amateurism. A wink could mean a new car for a recruit and a turned head could result in the transfer of a handful of money. “It was like the Wild West,” noted Howard White, then an assistant coach at the University of Maryland. Recruiters found Malone a reluctant listener. When they drove him in their cars, he feigned being asleep. When they came to his house, he pretended that he was not home. He had heard so many pitches that they had blended together by the time he finally committed to stay close to home and attend Maryland. When Maryland’s coach, Lefty Driesell, learned of Malone’s pending intentions, he camped outside the Malones’ home. Malone awakened at about 7 a.m., wiping the sleep from his eyes. Driesell, at his bedside, came into focus. Malone signed the offer before rolling over and returning to sleep.

Then, Buckwalter, his money, and the American Basketball Association came along. The upstart league was widely viewed as inferior to the National Basketball Association’s purer, more technical brand of basketball. The 11-­team ABA originated in 1967 and predicated itself on showmanship, with its red-­and-­white ball and three-­point line. The league existed in the NBA’s shadow, but exploited a crack in luring talent by accepting players with remaining college eligibility. The NBA finally relented, following Spencer Haywood’s antitrust lawsuit, and allowed players to leave college early and join their ranks if they could prove a financial hardship. But no high school player had ascended straight into basketball’s major leagues. (The Detroit Pistons had drafted Reggie Harding out of high school in 1962, but he first played in basketball’s minor leagues before joining the NBA.) By chance, Buckwalter, the director of player personnel for the ABA’s Utah Stars, had stumbled upon one of Malone’s high school All-­Star Games. He marveled at Malone’s blend of height and quickness. A hard wind would have blown Malone over. He stood 6 feet 11 inches tall and weighed just over 200 pounds. But his feet danced like those of a boxer. They never stopped moving on the basketball court. The colleges wanted the best basketball players. Buckwalter did, too. The Stars drafted Malone in the third round of the ABA’s 1974 draft. Most viewed the selection as little more than a publicity stunt, although it granted the Stars the ability to negotiate a contract with Malone.

Buckwalter had heard rumblings about the envelopes stuffed with money that one of Malone’s uncles requested just to let a recruiter meet with the teenager. Buckwalter had to sneak under a fence and narrowly avoided the jaws of a dog simply to knock at their front door. Mary Malone answered the door. Buckwalter glanced at the scarce furnishings. Mary Malone had four pictures on her mantel: one each of Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King Jr., John and Jackie Kennedy, and her son Moses.

Buckwalter knew that Moses Malone had heard every possible spiel. He discussed being a pioneer with Malone. Malone stared and mumbled. Buckwalter offered to build the family a new house.

“This is yours,” Buckwalter said after he put the money on the crate. “This is for you and your friends. This isn’t like Maryland, where you never really see anything.”

Malone nodded and mumbled some more. He left the room and phoned Lefty Driesell. “Coach Buckwalter is over here and he’s got $25,000 in cash lying on my table,” Malone told Driesell. “He wants me to sign this thing. Should I sign it?”

Driesell did not miss a beat. “Tell them to leave,” he said. “And if they don’t, call the police. Now, if he puts a million dollars on your table, then call me back.”

Driesell’s enthusiasm could drown out the voices of the hundreds of other coaches who lusted after Malone. Driesell was a marvelous, relentless recruiter. He had told Malone that they could start counting their national championships together. He planned to pair Malone with John Lucas, a talented guard, and purchase him an insurance package should an injury derail his future professional career. Driesell sold the university to Malone. More importantly, he sold himself to Mary Malone. She supported herself and Moses, first as a practical nurse and then as a meatpacker. Moses’s father had left the family before his son turned two. Driesell told Mary Malone that he was a God-­fearing man and Maryland was a Christian-­based program.

He was not going to lose Moses Malone without a fight. Driesell had successfully and skillfully fended off the other college recruiters. He now planned on struggling for Malone all over again. He preached the sanctity of college. He told the Malones that he had their best interests at heart and recommended that the Malones talk to an agent acquaintance, Donald Dell, and his partner, Lee Fentress, before making any decision.

The Malones agreed to the meeting. Dell found Malone to be aloof—­as all the college coaches had. He wanted his attention.

“Moses, have you ever heard of slavery?” Dell asked.

Malone’s head snapped up. “Well, this contract you’ve been offered is slavery.” The contract, Dell said, ran for 16 years. Utah only guaranteed the first four years, with a team option for the next dozen years. “I hated the contract they offered him,” Dell recalled. “I thought it was chickenshit that they arrived at their house and put all that money on the dining room table of a poor person’s home. The whole thing smelled.” Dell wearily agreed to represent Malone in the negotiations. “I was very, very worried that he wouldn’t make the team or he would turn into something less than he wanted to be,” Dell said. “A young eighteen-­year-­old with no education. That’s what I was really worried about and I really didn’t sleep for a couple of weeks thinking about it.”

But Malone’s decision had been made long ago. At 14, he had scribbled...

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Verlag
Ballantine Books Inc.
Erscheinungsdatum
2016
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0804139253
ISBN 13 
9780804139250
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
326
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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