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On this particular day, Pritchard hosted a 1-on-1 basketball tournament at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury. Afterwards, we caught up, and I began to broach the topic of the year ahead. When I said the word “Gap Year,” Pritchard’s face quickly changed. He looked at me in the most matter-of-fact way he could, his eyes widening. “It’s not a gap year,” he said firmly. “It’s a year to prove something, take a step, and show people that we are still that team.”
"That was all over the Dominican press, too. You know, we feel really proud when people recognize our country," said Hector Piña, the owner of Merengue Restaurant, a Dominican restaurant in the city's Roxbury neighborhood. Piña, who is from Baní, said Horford, who was born about five hours away in Puerto Plata, is like family to him and his staff.
Hayward and his wife Robyn organized a clinic at the Tobin Community Center in Roxbury for about 50 Boston-area girls as part of the NBA’s ‘Her Time To Play’ initiative. Hayward and Celtics employees helped teach some fundamentals, and Hayward spoke to the elementary and middle school students about basketball and life.
Boston’s prep basketball reputation is not as storied as other cities’. Players such as Trail Blazers guard Shabazz Napier, another Roxbury native, and Wayne Selden carry fierce pride in their hometown. Selden not only wants to pump at that tradition but reach out and help kids in his community. “Coming from Roxbury, I always wanted to play here and get on this floor,” he said. “I’ve been here for plenty of games, been here for the high school championships, so I always wanted to come here and play on this floor. I feel like I’m an example, me and Shabazz are examples of being able to achieve and being able to make it out and get to this level . . . motivation for kids coming up in Roxbury, kids coming up in the neighborhood. I feel like we’re a good motivation to see that somebody has done it and somebody can do it and they can do it. That’s a big thing because we were at the Tobin [Community Center] just like them.”
