PressBox: Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars
Donte Green among young hoopsters in new documentary

By Kevin Heitz

When the Beastie Boys’ album "Licensed to Ill" hit the streets in 1986, the big names in this year's NBA Draft weren’t even born yet. And Adam Yauch -- “M.C.A.” to listeners of the Brooklyn-bred rap trio -- had no plans of picking up a camera to shoot high school basketball players. But 20 years after fighting for his right to party, the rapper/director/activist did just that.

In September 2006, 24 of the best players from across the country were dropped into the Mecca of basketball, Harlem's historic Rucker Park, for the mother of all all-star games. The Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic was the brainchild of Kris Stone, associate publisher of RISE Magazine. And Stone's friend, a certain Beastie Boy (with enough gray hair to be considered a Beastie Man), liked the idea so much he decided to follow eight of the players on their way to Rucker Park as they prepared to make a pit stop in college before basking in the bright lights of the NBA.

Donte Greene
(Syracuse University Athletic Communications)

Besides high-flying heroics and a heaping helping of trash talking, the game gave birth to the documentary "Gunnin' For That #1 Spot," which premiered this week in Harlem. But why did a rhyme-spitter and beatmaster who had directed many of the Beastie Boys' videos under the name "Nathaniel Hornblower" decide to turn his camera on eight young men on a path to NBA stardom?

"During that summer [2006], it was really a friend of mine, Kris Stone, who was one of the main organizers of the Elite 24 game,” Yauch said. “He is somebody I play ball with … and he was telling me about this all-star game that he organized and asking me for advice about documenting it, and I just kind of started throwing some ideas at him and ended up agreeing to do it. It’s been fun.”

The game offered fans in hoops-crazy Harlem a chance to catch the best players from across the country regardless of grade or shoe affiliation. It offered two dozen players a chance to ply their trade on the same Rucker concrete that held up street ball legends Earl "The Goat" Mannigault, Connie Hawkins, Nate "Tiny" Archibald and Julius Erving. And it offered Yauch some amazing stories and a perfect backdrop for his documentary that pushes aside the hype and ignores rankings and shoe brands to show these great basketball players for what they really are -- kids.

"At the time we’re getting them, luckily it’s still sort of an innocent time in a way," Yauch said. "The sneaker companies have their sights set, but they’re basically still competing for these kids."

Stone helped Yauch choose eight guys to profile, and the film's stars were chosen well -- Jerryd Bayless, Michael Beasley, Tyreke Evans, Lance Stephenson, Brandon Jennings, Kevin Love, Kyle Singler and Baltimore's own Donte Greene.

All may be stars on the court, but the eight differ like night and day off it.

"The idea was to have some pretty diverse guys from pretty different backgrounds," Yauch said. "I think that’s really a big part of the film, seeing that they come from these completely different backgrounds and then seeing them come together and all of a sudden seeing them hanging out together."

They may come from different backgrounds, but all have the same dream, to play and star in the NBA. But before you can star in the NBA, you have to make a name for yourself -- and if you're really good, have a nickname given to you -- at Rucker Park. "You can break your reputation, or you can help your reputation going there and playing. Hopefully when I go there, I'm helping my reputation," Love said in the film, proving that even a preppie from Oregon knows the importance of bringing his A-game to the historical slab of concrete on the corner of 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

Kevin Love
(Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Since the Elite 24 all-star game 18 months ago, five of the eight players featured in “Gunnin'” -- Love, Singler, Bayless, Beasley and Greene -- moved on to college campuses, Evans and Jennings have committed to Memphis and Arizona, respectively, and Stephenson is still in high school.

Love went to UCLA and guided his team to the Final Four before declaring for the NBA Draft. Singler had a solid freshman year at Duke, and Bayless is expected to be selected early in the first round of this week's draft after spending a year at the University of Arizona. Then there are the two Maryland products. Beasley -- nicknamed "Be Easy" during the game at Rucker -- is widely considered one of the best players in the country, and that includes the NBA. He spent his required year in college at Kansas State, where he was simply a man among boys, averaging 26.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game while racking up a freshman NCAA record 28 double-doubles.

"It always looks to me like he's not really turning it on all the way, like he’s not even giving 100 percent, and he’s still playing as well or better than everybody else out there," Yauch said. "He looks like he has the ability to turn it up as much as he needs to, to win. … It’s pretty wild."

Like Carmelo Anthony before him, Greene, who played on the Team Melo Amateur Athletic Union team, grew up in Baltimore. He dominated the hardwood at Towson Catholic, amassing more than 2,200 points, and went north to Syracuse. He led the Orange in scoring with 17.7 points a game and set a freshman record with 90 three-pointers.

After traversing the country to try out for numerous NBA teams, Greene is in New York this week for the draft and should hear his name called in the middle of the first round. Some experts say he should have stayed in college for another year, while others report that he could be a lottery pick. Luckily, Greene hasn't had time to worry about his draft spot -- he has been too busy updating his Facebook page between team workouts so his friends know what city he's in.

When asked if he was feeling any pressure as draft day approached, Greene deflected it with the same ease with which he drains three-pointers and drives to the hoop.

"I’m just playing, just doing what I do, just having fun,” he said. “It’s cool."

Michael Beasley and Donte Greene
(Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Yes, it is cool. At age 20, Greene is now one step closer to his dream. The years of work and sacrifice are about to pay off to the tune of millions in guaranteed money. Every player in the draft wants to go in the first round because of the guaranteed contracts, and Greene spent eight weeks working out three or four times a day at Syracuse to help his draft stock climb. It worked.

"He’s not even the same player as he was when the season ended for us because he’s worked so hard, and he’s much better," said Rob Murphy, an assistant coach at Syracuse who was keeping daily tabs on Greene in the weeks leading up to the draft. "He was able to take time and tweak some things, work on his game, work on his strength, and he has gotten completely better since the season has been over."

Murphy started making recruiting trips to Baltimore when Greene was a high school sophomore and was quickly impressed with what he saw from the forward who didn't crack the top 50 in rankings at that point.

"Going through the recruiting process here at Syracuse, we don’t get caught up in the rankings," Murphy said. "But when I told Coach [Jim] Boeheim he had to come see this kid, I thought he had a chance to be one of the top 10-15 players in the country when it’s all said and done. He worked hard, and that’s what happened."

It happened because Greene has been relentless in chasing his dream, and he has been surrounded by a strong family every step of the way. His mother, April Anderson Greene, who played professional basketball in Europe, died when Greene was 13, but the extended family -- his father Donald, grandparents, aunts and uncles -- banded together and raised who Murphy says is "one of the good kids."

"He's a fun kid, he’s the life of the party," Murphy said. "From the time I met him as a sophomore up until now, when he’s in a room he lights it up. He’s always the one that the kids love being around, he enjoys playing with kids. He gets along with his teammates, he’s always laughing, trying to make a positive out of a negative no matter what it is, win, lose or draw."

"Family was very important," Greene said. "They were definitely always there for me, and I have a big family, so when you go through a process like this, having your family there definitely helps you stay humble and stay level-headed so everything goes right."

It's hard to stay humble when greatness -- and the drama and demands that come with becoming a millionaire before being old enough to buy a Budweiser, the official beer of the NBA -- is lurking right around the corner. Greene wants to remain modest and use his success to give back to his hometown, especially youngsters.

"I always tell little kids around my way and little kids that play on my youth team and go to my high school, 'You’ve got to put the work in, man,'" Greene said. "It’s not easy. This has been hard work, and hard work is definitely what put me here. I just thank God every day for my abilities, and I look forward to going back home and giving back to the community and definitely giving back to the kids."

The fact that a 20-year-old is talking about "giving back to the kids" -- common in the modern sports world -- is still hard to understand for many. It was one of the things that interested Yauch about the project.

"There is something fascinating about the fact that on the one hand, these are just regular high school kids, and on the other hand, the potential trajectory ahead them is enormous," Yauch said. "So many hopes and dreams of people around these kids are placed on their shoulders."

Issue 3.26: June 26, 2008