[情報] Lost in transition

看板C_Anthony作者airnark (煮咖啡小弟 N )時間20年前 (2005/01/17 17:24)推噓1(1推 0噓 1→)

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Article Published: Sunday, December 19, 2004 nuggets Lost in transition By Marc J. Spears Denver Post Staff Writer http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~90~2606999,00.html On the night of Dec. 2, the weight of several months of drama became too heavy for Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony. After a nationally televised blowout loss against Cleveland at the Pepsi Center, Anthony went home to his Denver mansion, thought about all that had gone wrong in the previous weeks, and cried. "I was like, I can't take all this," Anthony, 20, said. "I sat back and cried. Sat back and thought that I can't believe all this is happening to me." When Anthony arrived at the arena earlier that night, he was besieged by media asking about an underground DVD, "Stop Snitching," that was circulating in his hometown of Baltimore. The DVD glorifies drug dealing, and Anthony was pictured hanging with friends from his old neighborhood. Anthony isn't alone among his NBA peers in struggling with the transition from growing up without to the good life: a multimillion contract, first-class travel and luxury hotels. Though few would reject the fame and fortune that come with being a professional athlete, that world is not without its pitfalls. Several current and former NBA standouts said Anthony's travails the past few months mirror problems they've experienced: learning the hard way the rules of a new lifestyle, wondering whom to trust, whether they can still hang with their old friends, how to handle money and finding the right way to say no. Said Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who grew up in Chicago: "Probably the best way to describe it is, if you look at all the people that won the lottery, the first thing they do is quit their jobs and four or five years later figure out how to live with money, fame and celebrity. There are very few people that can deal with fame, celebrity and poverty. ... And when you're 20, you're going to make some mistakes." Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson grew up in the projects in Hampton, Va., and had an even bumpier start off the court early in his pro career. "It's crazy being poor all your life and now all the sudden being a millionaire," Iverson said. "You're moving so fast and you're so young." Anthony added, "People think people taught us how to prepare for this. Like people prepared me for this life. I was thrown to the wolves." Growing up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Baltimore, Anthony said he saw drug dealing, prostitution and murder. Asked what he remembered most, Anthony said: "Murders. A lot of murders. Drugs. That sticks out a lot. Stuff like that makes you wonder who is next. You see people get shot. Get killed. You wonder what is going to happen next. Who is next? If this can happen to him, this can happen to me." Anthony's troubles of late are far less grave: a feud with Olympic coach Larry Brown, a fight in a New York City club, a marijuana possession charge (later dismissed), a $3 million extortion plot against him and most recently, the infamous DVD. The mounting problems brought him to tears after the Cleveland loss, during which he did not play well. He went home, turned on the TV, and started flipping channels. His face was everywhere, on ESPN's "SportsCenter," CNN and even "The O'Reilly Factor," a political show. "My biggest thing was not that it happened but it all came down one after the other," Anthony said. "The Olympics. The marijuana thing. Back to back to back to back. Who can handle all this and still go out there and perform on the court?" Careful of hometown ties NBA players say they often learn the hard way to be careful of their hometown ties. "I'm a positive cat and I need people to be honest with me," said Washington forward Antawn Jamison, who grew up near a rough neighborhood in Charlotte, N.C. "When you become successful, a lot of guys are saying, 'Way to do this, way to do that,' instead of being honest. I don't like dishonesty and negativity surrounding me. So, I cut about 10 to 12 (friends) off. "Some were selling drugs and drinking. If we were driving, I'd say, 'Dog, you can't come here with no drugs. It's not going to be on you. It's going to be on me.' Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes you hear, 'Antawn's changed.' But you have to do those things." Anthony said he isn't about to stop visiting his old friends but he has tightened his circle. "It's got a lot smaller. I realize you can't mix friendship with business. So, I got my friends in one circle and my business people in another circle. ... (But) I'm still going to go back. I'm still going to show love." Anthony just wants to make sure they know not to take advantage of him. He accepts the blame for appearing in the DVD. He said he forgave the person who filmed him. "He knows he put me in a compromising situation," Anthony said. "I don't like him saying he's sorry because it's already done. He felt bad about it. He was going to do whatever to help the situation out. I just told him to stay out of it and let me handle it." Former NBA player Adrian Dantley, a Washington, D.C., native who is now a Nuggets assistant, said players are tempted by wrong choices at every turn. "I went to a friend's house and there were all good-looking women there," Dantley said of an incident early in his NBA career. "They had weed and snuff (cocaine). I walked in, saw that and said, 'I'll see you later.' Some people asked, 'What is wrong with your friend? Is he a cornball?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm going to cornball right on out of here.' You have to walk away from that kind of stuff." Sixers guard Aaron McKie grew up in a North Philadelphia neighborhood nicknamed "The Badlands" because of its high crime rate. He said he maintains a circle of friends from high school, as well as his playing days at Temple University, but remains wary of outsiders. "Don't get me wrong, if I have a little event and someone wants to bring a friend, that's cool," McKie said. "But I think simplicity is always the best. I try to keep life so simple where I don't have to worry about that." McKie supports Anthony going back home but advises caution. "If those are (his) friends, those are his friends. He has to be smart enough to say there are certain places we just can't (go). We can kick it and hang out, but because of what you do and I do, it's going to be tough on me. "They have to respect him enough where they say, we can't bring certain things around you." One of Anthony's personal advisers, Robert "Bay" Frazier, believes it may be in Anthony's best interest to have bodyguards with him when he visits Baltimore from now on. Anthony has used bodyguards in Denver and in some other NBA cities. Washington Wizards guard Juan Dixon grew up in Baltimore not far from where Anthony did, and often returns home. He said making it big in the NBA can create ill will despite a player's best intentions. "You have people that hate you," Dixon said. "They don't like what you have. They hate the fact that we drive around in nice cars. You've definitely got to be aware." Iverson has long spoken out about being true to his roots. Like Dixon, however, he said it isn't always appreciated. "You got so many people wanting everything from you," he said. "Then you got so many people that are mad that you got it and hate the fact that you are doing something positive in your life and they're trying to tear you down." At age 17, Iverson spent four months in jail for his part in a bowling-alley brawl. He was released after Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder granted him a pardon. Iverson said the older prisoners tried to help him. "The old heads used to grab me and say, 'C'mon man, you don't need this. You're going to go out here and do something positive with your life. They didn't want me around those guys because of where those guys were taking me." Dealers had power in the 'hood Most youth admire parents, teachers, coaches or church leaders. Where Anthony and Iverson grew up, it's the drug dealer who is the one with the most money, the nicest car, the power and the pretty girl. "(Drug dealers) were the people I and people in the 'hood looked up to," Anthony said. "Back then, we didn't know nothing about Fortune 500 companies." The drug dealer Anthony said he knew best was a man he referred to only as "Woody," who told him to stay away from drugs and the street life. Woody was murdered in February of 2002. "He was a drug dealer, but at the same time he didn't want anybody doing what he was doing," Anthony said. "He saw something in me, and it wasn't even basketball. He saw something in me as a person. He told me, 'Don't ever do what I'm doing regardless if I'm living.'" McKie said he received similar advice once his basketball talents became known in North Philadelphia. "You have those guys that come up to you and say, 'Stay away from this, man. This ain't you. This ain't your life,' " he said. For young, suddenly wealthy players such as Anthony, the toughest part of going back home is often saying no to family and friends wanting favors. "I had a problem with saying no because I was afraid of hurting people," Anthony said. "But I had to learn. I got to say no to my mother, my family and friends. People take my kindness for weakness." McKie said his college coach, John Chaney, taught him the importance of saying no. "When you're from the inner city and you come from nothing and your family has nothing, you're always going to be in (compromising) situations because everybody always going to have problems," he said. "It's a blessing and a curse. It's almost like you're handicapped. They know when they get in a jam or in some kind of bind, they can turn to you." For Dantley, saying no became easy after loaning money that never got repaid. He estimates he's lost $50,000. "You get to the point where you just learn how to tell people no or just avoid them," he said. Making big money for the first time can overwhelm young NBA players, though the league does offer assistance through the Rookie Transition Program, created in 1986 to offer rookies help in several areas, including money management. Anthony remembers staring at his first NBA check. "I just kept looking at it. This can't be real. You're seeing numbers you never thought you would see." Anthony's management agency, BDA Sports, now has him working with a financial adviser. But initially, the kid who cleaned car windows and pumped gas for pocket change was clueless on what to do with money. "I was always hot with money anyway. Get it and spend it," Anthony said. "Some people are taught how to sign checks, read checks and look at checks. People in my situation? We had to learn how the hard way." Players say the learning never stops. "I'm still adjusting and this is my seventh year. This is a crazy life," Jamison said. McKie and Iverson said NBA players know how fortunate they are. Anthony said he does, too, but said fans should understand there will be growing pains for most young players thrown into a new environment. "They don't understand that I'm trying to adapt to them. Adapt to what they want," he said. "We didn't know nothing about this where I was from." 以上轉錄自nba官網 ---- 呼這篇文章超長有看沒有懂=.= 如果有翻譯魔人看到的話幫忙翻一下吧 -- 50cc的小黑..66塊的油錢..348公里的路程..1000元有找的大鎖... 一個任性的我...一個離開的你... -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 220.134.42.106 ※ 編輯: airnark 來自: 220.134.42.106 (01/17 17:38)