02-02-2006, 09:07 AM
|
#1 (permalink)
|
|
dis me to my face!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Age: 25
Posts: 15,896
|
The Raptors ruin Paul Shirley's ABA career
Quote:
As we finished our conversation/cautionary tale, I noticed a basketball player I had known from a previous career stop walk into the locker room. I sidled over and asked why he was there. He told me that he was going to try out for the team the next day. I thought that was strange as our quota of three Americans was filled at the time and so passed along my confusion to him. He informed me that the team had told him they thought I had a job lined up with the Toronto Raptors, and would be leaving them soon. I chuckled inwardly.
One of the saddest aspects of the minor leagues is the attention paid by the players to the potential of a visit from an NBA scout. A week earlier, my coach had relayed to me that someone from the Raptors had called inquiring about me and wanted to come watch us play. He seemed excited about the prospect; because he is new to the scene, I didn't want to tell him just how unlikely it was that such an event would ever come to pass.
Rumors of the attendance of scouts infect the minor leagues like mold in a high school locker room. A few random eyes might be watching over the course of the season, but in the case of Beijing Aoshen Olympian, that scenario would unfold only if the scout in question had a "Judgment Night"-type experience and found himself wandering through East L.A. on Slauson in the early evening. That is, it's unlikely.
Anyway, it was obvious that this piece of hearsay had grown over the course of a few days, to the point that I likely could have convinced someone that I was going to be boarding a helicopter immediately following our game with the SoCal Legends to be whisked to the Raptors' next destination, where a starting role would await me.
|
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...aul&id=2311612
|
|
|
The Raptors ruin Paul Shirley's ABA career
Linear Mode
