That the business of basketball is getting younger and younger is no secret — the attendant sneaker wars, however, are the stuff of Cosa Nostra novels. In the last NBA draft, Lincoln High School's 5-11 Sebastian Telfair became the smallest schoolboy player to ever go pro. Ian O'Connor's "The Jump" (Rodale, 2005) drags readers through the muddy courtship of Coney Island's latest point guard.
We meet the extended Telfair family, which includes supportive adopted brother Jamel Thomas and emotionally distant star cousin Stephon Marbury. Thomas, an All-Big East forward at Providence who went unselected in the 1999 NBA draft, was an albatross to the Telfair brood, their anticipated "ticket out" who became a professional player in Greece.
Starbury is the looming presence, the bling-laden Coney Island baller they feel didn't reach back to assist them as did Thomas. Proud dad Otis Telfair, a Vietnam vet who has served on a murder rap, and uber-mom Erica, never saw the diminutive Sebastian as an instrument of wealth, and still stung from the Thomas disappointment. The extra something Bassy possessed was boyish appeal.
O'Connor illustrates how summer league coaches were early suitors — Thomas "Ziggy" Sicignano being the Christopher Columbus of the gold mine that was Bassy. Ziggy gained powerful hoops connections steering strippers to pro playaz at Atlanta's infamous Gold Club. Telfair's high school coach Dwayne "Tiny" Morton developed enmities with both Ziggy and sneaker kingmaker Sonny Vaccaro in the war to obtain Telfair's summer team services and eventual shoe contract signature.
The author offers detalied profiles of school principals, sneaker execs, agents, NBA scouts, and an enigmatic Providence College priest named Father Lacombe. LeBron James, Jay-Z, Spike Lee, and Rick Pitino are more than cameo participants, as prospective agent Andy Miller, and the hopeful Telfair's live out The Great Small Hope's senior year of high school. The narrative is as rollercoaster as Coney Island's Cyclone, the ups and downs provided by the kid's game performances and draft projection.
The ride is as much horror castle as twister, with revelations about cash gifts, phony SAT scores, and flashy sports cars at every turn. O'Connor provides fly-on-the-wall access to high school all-star affairs, pre-draft workouts, and draft day cell phone calls. Telfair is equal parts player and played.
To his credit, O'Connor observes without inserting an instructive or moral tone. Judgments are left to the reader; "The Jump" explores the cast without preaching the state of the game. One comes away with insight as to NBA commish David Stern's mixed feelings concerning high schoolers that forgo college, and a grasp of the many characters that shape such decisions.
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