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K.C. Johnson: All right, we're here with Matas. We're in Las Vegas Summer League, but I want to start with a look back. I have not asked you what your reaction was to making All-Rookie Second Team. Matas Buzelis: Oh yeah. Honestly, to have your name on something like that, to have the award, is always an honor. It shows the countless hours of working in the gym. Even looking back at playing AAU, sacrificing my childhood life to play basketball. All the memories come flying back — me and my mom driving an hour to go work out, staying there, working out hard three, four hours. It’s honestly a blessing. Hopefully I get more awards soon. K.C. Johnson: Any part of you mad you weren’t on First Team? Matas Buzelis: I'm always mad. I always think I could do better. I wanted that Rookie of the Year, but it's all in God's plan. Second Team All-Rookie is not bad either.
Gilgeous-Alexander was recently named the MVP, and Alexander-Walker is a key reserve for the Timberwolves. They have also been teammates in high school, AAU and on the Canadian national men’s basketball team. But it’s safe to say the brotherly love has taken a back seat during the Western Conference finals. “For both of us to be where we are is special, and to compete against each other is even more special,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But I am trying to take his head off for sure, completely.” On the results he is hoping for, Nickeil Alexander-Walker said: “He gets MVP. I get a ticket to the Finals. To me, that works. If I can get a [championship] ring this year and he can get MVP, we’re all happy.”
LeBron James: I could have averaged 50 points per game in high school but preferred maximizing teammates
LeBron James: I never averaged more than 30 points in high school. I think my highest average was 27, maybe 28. I know for sure. But it wasn’t about that. I could have averaged 50 a game if I wanted to—probably in my junior or senior year. But it was never about that. It was about: How can I maximize my teammates? How can I get the most out of them so we can all be successful? We came to win state championships, AAU tournaments, AAU nationals. And I felt that even in the pros—even at a different level—I couldn't give up the essence of what made me fall in love with the game and how I was taught to play it.
After just one season abroad, with Udoka having played for the UCAM Murcia club in the Spanish ACB League before returning to the States in the summer, he took a trip to the NBA’s Summer League in Las Vegas to support two players who came up through the Portland, Ore.-based AAU team, I-5 Elite, that he coached from 2006 to 2009. Yet while he was there because of Terrence Ross and Terrence Jones, both of whom had been drafted in the first round the month before, it was Popovich who was looking to make a special selection of his own. “Pop grabs me and pulls me up in the stands,” Udoka remembered. “We’re at the top of the stands, and we go sit away from everybody. Then he’s like, ‘Jacque (Vaughn, who was a Spurs assistant coach at the time) is getting the Orlando head job, and there’s a spot open. I want you to think seriously about it. “We’ll hit you in a few weeks. Just think about it, and (decide) if you want to keep playing, or you want to start coaching.”
“First and foremost, I want to thank Mrs. Benson for giving me the honor and privilege to lead the Pelicans basketball operations group,” said Dumars. “As a Louisiana native, this is truly a full circle moment. I grew up as a Saints fan and the first AAU basketball team I played on at 16 years old was based in New Orleans, so this opportunity is very special to me on a personal level. I look forward to being a part of the Pelicans organization, and building a team that proudly represents our fans on the court and in our community.” Dumars added, “There is a lot of talent on this roster. My vision is to build a disciplined team that is built on toughness, smart decision-making and a no-excuses mindset. I am proud to have grown up in Louisiana and know how passionate, resilient and tough we are as a community. Our fans deserve a team that represents that spirit, and those characteristics will be the foundation of our team’s culture.”
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While Paul is listening to his close friends about retirement, he notes that he is keener to the needs of his family. Along with being with his family more, in retirement Paul could also be an NBA television analyst, or spend more time as an ad pitchman, philanthropist, filmmaker and AAU program mentor. “I was with Melo [Anthony] when he found out he was a finalist [for the Hall of Fame],” Paul said. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long [since he retired]. I was talking to my homies in my group chat about Kiyan. That is the thing I am so grateful for. I got the AAU program and all the guys in my league. “I’m so connected to the game. Even when I’m done playing, I will miss it more than anything.”
Three months earlier, Utah State was among 12 Division I schools that answered an email from Gomes offering to donate an automated external defibrillator (AED). The eight-year NBA veteran had become an AED advocate in 2006, when Stanley Myers, an 18-year-old who played for the same AAU team as Gomes, died while jogging on the Morgan State University campus because of sudden cardiac arrest. When Myers died, Gomes was in his second NBA season with the Boston Celtics and beginning to form his foundation. He decided he wanted to combat sudden cardiac arrest and vowed to donate an AED to every NBA city. In 2012, after stops with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the LA Clippers, he expanded his reach to colleges, writing to all Division I schools asking if they needed an AED. Twelve schools responded, among them Utah State.
NDP: What were you trying to express through the color and design on your PE that’s releasing? Paolo Banchero: This color is a shout to the AAU club that I grew up playing with, Seattle Rotary, and the baby blue colors. I didn’t want it to be all baby blue, and I wanted one other color, like a bright green, that would pop out on the shoe. We landed on the Volt color, and I think it looks perfect, with the accents on the cage, how it pops behind the blue.
Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero is excited about celebrating King’s legacy during Sunday’s game against the visiting Denver Nuggets. “MLK Day has been a part of my life forever,” Banchero told Andscape. “One thing I always associate with MLK Day for me is basketball. I’ve always had MLK tournaments. Elementary school through AAU to high school, we’ve had MLK tournaments. So, whenever we’re celebrating Martin Luther King, I always feel like there should be some good basketball being played. And obviously, we know what Martin Luther King did for not only our country, but for the world. “Helping us progress in the right direction and help us love one another, no matter the color of our skin. You see that more than ever now in the NBA and all over. You got guys from all different backgrounds, races, religions, all in this one league, playing against each other, competing. Honestly, none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for Martin Luther King. So, it’s always an honor to celebrate this day and hopefully play some basketball.”
Former OU basketball stars Blake Griffin and Trae Young are joining forces in a move set to shake up the Oklahoma high school basketball scene. Griffin and Young have merged their respective AAU travel teams — Team Griffin and Team Trae Young — to create a new powerhouse program named Legynds Basketball Club.
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Memphis Grizzlies sharpshooting guard Desmond Bane recently re-signed with Nike. The new deal will see his “Baneville Academy” AAU team for middle school players in his home state of Indiana now compete on the Nike Jr. EYBL circuit.
Bryan Freedman, the prominent celebrity lawyer, is no stranger to receiving panicked calls at odd hours of the day. The attorney has represented some of the highest of high-profile individuals at their lowest of lows. But on an early morning in April 2011, the cry for help on the other end of the line did not come from a movie star or broadcaster in a legal crisis. Rather, it belonged to an AAU basketball coach named Ryan Silver, who had just awoken in a Las Vegas hospital after an all-night bender.
On the verge of signing Billups, Mitchell said, Saunders sought counsel from Timberwolves players such as Mitchell, point guard Terrell Brandon and All-Star Kevin Garnett. Mitchell, Brandon and Garnett were confident that the newcomer would do well in Minneapolis, and Billups and Garnett were close friends dating back to their AAU days. The Timberwolves signed Billups to a three-year contract for the salary cap exception, paying $2.25 million in the first year. “Flip was like, ‘They say he’s selfish. They say he’s this, they say he’s that,’ ” Mitchell recalled. “And I said, ‘Flip, I don’t know him. But why don’t you give him a chance?’ So, when he got here, Chauncey told me that when he was in Boston, Toronto and Denver, they gave up on him as a point guard and they just told him just come in and try to score. So that’s what he did. “And then when he came to Minnesota, I said, ‘Dude, if you really want to learn how to play the position, and if you really want to change how people think of you, you see that guy right there, Terrell Brandon, watch everything he does and talk to him. He’s a pure point guard …’ Chauncey told me, ‘I want to play the position. No one has ever taught me the position.’ ”
I've been fortunate to be teammates with both Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. Well, "teammates" in that we've been on the same TV set doing "NBA Today" together. Whenever Vince or Tracy were on, we'd refer to them as cousins. Because they are related, and it's delightful that both will be in the NBA Hall of Fame now. What you might not know is that they found out they were cousins only when McGrady was a senior in high school and Carter at North Carolina. According to McGrady, they grew up playing for the same AAU team and traveled in many of the same circles. But it wasn't until McGrady visited Chapel Hill to play in a pickup game that the familial connection was made. "No one was letting me use their locker," McGrady recalled. "So Vince was like, 'Yo man, you can use my locker. Just because of our times on Team Florida together, I guess."
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