Yesterday I had breakfast downtown with my man Scott Perry, the GM for the Detroit Pistons and it was good seeing him and having a chance to catch up. Scott P was one of my assistants during my Cal days and went on to coach at Michigan (Assistant) and Eastern Kentucky (Head Coach) before becoming a scout with the Pistons and moving up the ranks. He's a Pittsburgh Steeler fan (his father played for them back in the day) so you know you have to hear some s#*t about that damn towel, especially during football season! :) I also got a chance to meet Joe Dumars for the first time (President of the Pistons, former All-Pro and future Hall of Famer) and see my main man Chauncey Billups. I recruited Chauncey out of high school and got really close to him during that time. I hadn't seen him since my days as an advance scout with the Toronto Raptors and he wasn't doing very well and was actually on his way out the league. We talked in the hallway of the Orlando Magic's arena and "Smooth" was having a tough time. He hadn't found his groove in the league and that had to be tough for a cat that was all state for 4 straight years in high school, was a college All-American and a top 5 NBA draft pick. Well, you know what happened next, he found a team, found his groove and became a world champion, finals MVP and an All-Star. I hadn't seen him since then and was glad I had a chance to tell him how proud and happy I was for him that he hung in there to really live out his dream!
We laughed about the time I went to see him play and a gang fight broke out causing total chaos! That was my introduction to gang violence in Denver, Colorado. Yes Denver! Well, we exchanged numbers and I wished him well as they boarded the bus for practice. I love that dude and thought he and Shareef Abdur-Rahim were going to play together (at Cal). I got the big fella (and he made History at Cal) but my man stayed home and went to Colorado (he did great things there too). One of my favorite things in life is to see people reach their dreams and goals cause in the end...that's all that matters!
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