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Their backgrounds are different — Green was raised in Fresno, Calif. and Whitmore an East Coast kid hailing from Odenton, Md. But their similarities are clear: Young, talented athletic players who could jump out of the gym. For each, it was like seeing a mirror image. “It was nothing but love,” Whitmore said. “We just clicked. We’re boys in general when we play basketball, so the chemistry off the court is always there.”
The hardwood at Hoover High School in Fresno was busy Saturday morning as former San Joaquin Memorial star and Houston Rockets Guard Jalen Green hosted his third annual basketball camp.
Green happy to give back to the place he calls home, hoping to inspire young basketball players along the way. "This is where I'm from. This is where I grew up," Green said. "I know it's hard to make it out of Fresno when you're chasing a dream of yours. No matter where you're from, no matter what your situation is -- if you can put your mind to it, you can chase your goal and ge to where you want to be."
There’s rarely quiet around Jalen now: the buzz of a nearby phone, the clicking of cameras, the throngs of fans can be incessant. The unhinged Instagram comments on casual pictures with friends from people he doesn’t know, the constant judgements on his behavior, the cold shoulder when he comes back home to Fresno. "Fresno's like a small city, so it’s real small minded. It’s like a crab bucket,” Jalen admits, dropping his head back underneath his hoodie. “You've got a bucket full of crabs. They all pull on you when you try to get out. You can fall into crime there, all that type of stuff. If you don't have the right home, right surroundings, right people around you, that shit can lead you down the wrong path.”
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“My year with the Bulls (2017-18), me and Robin played together,” said veteran NBA guard Quincy Pondexter, who played with the Lopez Brothers at San Joaquin (CA) High in Fresno before the Lopezes went to Stanford University. “And all the time you would hear (opposing bigs say) ‘Hell naw,’ or something like that,” Pondexter said. “And it would go in. Even to the point where I was like, ‘Man, is he about to make that?’ Because he’ll hit it from kind of far out. And you’re like, ‘is he about to hit it?’ But then, after a while, it becomes so repetitious and so normal, hearing the chatter in the background, it’s kind of quiet. Because he’s so good at it. With no expression at all. Just runs back like it’s the normal game of basketball.”
Robin Lopez: I'm driving Fresno to Portland, windows down, jammin to "Human Nature" & my ballot just flew out the car somewhere around Mt. Shasta. Who do I tag to send somebody to pick it up, preferably by Bald Eagle? What's the Postmaster General's handle? #SorryAmerica
Green, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Fresno, California, will serve as the face of this unique new pathway to the NBA. The G League is also offering Green a full scholarship if he wants to obtain his college degree. “I wanted to get better overall and prepare myself for the NBA because that’s my ultimate goal,” Green told Yahoo Sports. “Everything was planned out right and set up for me to succeed. I think this was a good decision at the end of the day. I’m still going to be able to go back to college and finish school. So, it’s not really that I’m missing out on college because I can go back and finish whenever I need to. School is a big thing in my family.”
Former San Joaquin Memorial High star and NBA veteran Quincy Pondexter and world-ranked tennis player Sloane Stephens came home Christmas Eve to help Fresno families with a shopping spree at the West Shaw Avenue Target.
Jeff Goodman: Fresno’s Deshon Taylor told ESPN he will withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to school.
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There are few things Brook Lopez cherishes more than his cat Poupin. With the Skirball Fire threatening his Bel Air Crest neighborhood and Lopez needing to leave home for four games on the road this week, he was not about to leave his beloved feline behind. Lopez loaded Poupin, a 10-year-old Maine coon mix with an Instagram account, into his carrier and loaded him into the car, hired through a limousine service. Little did the driver know that his responsibilities would not be limited to delivering Lopez to the Lakers team plane. Poupin needed to go to Fresno, where he could stay with Lopez’s mother and be out of harm’s way. “I had a car service for my cat,” Lopez said.
However, he broke his silence Tuesday, speaking to local television stations in his hometown of Fresno, California, promoting his upcoming youth basketball camp. “It’s been unbelievable the last two years being hurt, and injured,” Pondexter told ABC30’s Tommy Tran. “We haven’t explained a lot, and a lot of that news will come out in the next few months about what’s happened and what’s transpired. But I’m working my tail off to get healthy and I’m looking forward to this next season and looking forward to redeeming the last two seasons that I’ve missed. I want to go out there and just play the game I love again.”
Chris Haynes has left his position with the Cleveland Plain Dealer to join ESPN covering the Golden State Warriors as well as the NBA in general. Haynes covered the Cavaliers for two seasons after previously covering the Portland Trail Blazers. "This move will bring me closer to home (Fresno), something I never thought was possible," wrote Haynes. "My wife and kids are thrilled to be headed back to California. This role also places me in front of another historical team in the Warriors. It's going to be interesting, but y'all know I'm up for it."
Twin brothers and NBA players Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez of Fresno donated $25,000 to the rebuilding effort at Storyland/Playland, the family and child amusement park in Fresno’s Roeding Park that’s focused on literacy and education. The Lopez brothers graduated from San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno before going on to play college basketball at Stanford and being picked in the 2008 NBA draft. Robin Lopez currently plays for the New York Knicks and Brook Lopez for the Brooklyn Nets.
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