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The story I am hopeful he can avoid is
Posted on: May 15, 2018 at 11:23:05 CT
FIJItiger MU
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the one below detailed about Daniel Orton. Big and athletic 6'10 kid who was the #22 player in the class of 2009 that was 1 and done at Kentucky and a late first round selection by Orlando. Ended up playing for 3 NBA teams briefly over the next 3 seasons, 51 games in total. Had a few games in the NBA of double digit scoring.
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Daniel Orton dreams of one day spending summers in Maine and winters in Orlando; he fell in love with the former in the summer of 2015, while clearing up a speeding ticket, and considers the latter a special place because it’s where he began his nomadic career. He longs to talk to family and friends without dealing with a 10-hour difference, to be able to be there for birthdays, weddings, and funerals. When Rasual Butler died in a car accident in January, Orton — who grew close to Butler when they played for the Tulsa 66ers in 2013 — couldn’t make it back for the funeral services or the get-together former teammates held in his memory. Orton was in the middle of switching from a team in Japan to one in Lebanon. “It’s things like that that hurt you,” he says.
Orton craves stability, too. No more hotels in cities he’s never been to. No more new teammates to get used to. Even though his NBA dream has all but ended, the center still can’t quit the game. In the almost eight years since he left Kentucky, the former five-star recruit has played for 17 different teams, traveling to Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean for a roster spot. He’s played for a G League team that no longer exists and international leagues that are tiers below the country’s premier league. He’s been fined for altercations, brawls, and calling out Manny Pacquiao for playing in the same league as him in the Philippines.
“If it wasn’t for basketball, I would have never left the United States,” he says by phone from Lebanon. “Playing basketball abroad, you kind of feel like you don’t have a life. I mean, you don’t have a life. This is my life, essentially. It consumes everything.”
Orton, now 27 years old, was the youngest player on the Orlando Magic roster his rookie season. Unlike at Kentucky, teammates no longer wanted to hang out or get dinner after practice. They had families to see and business to take care of. “Most of the stuff I’d say, they laughed at,” Orton says. “So you’re just on your own a lot. Universal and Disney got old fast.”
After bouncing between the NBA and the G League, Orton followed the money to China in 2014. The transition overseas was even harsher. “In China, they don’t give two ****s about Americans,” he says. Orton, who grew up in Oklahoma City, didn’t know Mandarin or Chinese culture, and he was struck by the speed they played there. He says he soon realized two things: His team, the Sichuan Blue Whales, had only acquired him to shoot and shoot often; and that some players were signed just to go after the “imports.” That, he says, is how he ended up in brawls. Later that season, Orton was set to sign with another team, Shanxi Zhongyu, but was replaced by another American, Jeremy Tyler, before Orton had a chance to play. “At first it was frustrating because you just try your hardest and it’s like, damn, they don’t want me,” he says.
Orton has played for so many overseas teams since, he considers himself a veteran of the international circuit and has seen it all, including the lowest levels of negotiations. In 2017, he thought he had been offered a dream deal by a team in Lebanon, Mayrouba Club. He says he was told he would stay at a five-star hotel and be provided travel to nearby practices and games. When Orton arrived, he found a run-down hotel, that practices were held almost two hours away, and an unresponsive management. There was no internet, so he couldn’t talk to anyone he knew. “You feel isolated,” he says. Orton lasted three weeks before leaving. The club refused to pay him, and he says they released false information about him that kept other teams from signing him. For months, Orton couldn’t find another job. He says he’s still embroiled in a lawsuit with the team. “You have to go through a lot of bull**** with teams in certain leagues,” he says. “It’s tough, finding the motivation.”
Orton is now back in Lebanon, playing for Champville SC for the second time. As long as there are teams that want him, he’s hell-bent on following the thread of his career to the very end. Asked how he’s able to keep pressing on, he pauses and sighs. “At the end of the day, this is my job, this is what I have to do,” he says. “This is what I chose to do, so you can’t be too upset about it. You can’t complain too much, you’ve just gotta go. If I wanted to do something else, I’d quit. It’s just … this is what I want to do.”
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I don't know Jontay, but he strikes me as the type of kid who would find that kind of story a very difficult life experience. Its the polar opposite of the way he has lived the first part of his life.
___________________________________________________________
Daniel Orton dreams of one day spending summers in Maine and winters in Orlando; he fell in love with the former in the summer of 2015, while clearing up a speeding ticket, and considers the latter a special place because it’s where he began his nomadic career. He longs to talk to family and friends without dealing with a 10-hour difference, to be able to be there for birthdays, weddings, and funerals. When Rasual Butler died in a car accident in January, Orton — who grew close to Butler when they played for the Tulsa 66ers in 2013 — couldn’t make it back for the funeral services or the get-together former teammates held in his memory. Orton was in the middle of switching from a team in Japan to one in Lebanon. “It’s things like that that hurt you,” he says.
Orton craves stability, too. No more hotels in cities he’s never been to. No more new teammates to get used to. Even though his NBA dream has all but ended, the center still can’t quit the game. In the almost eight years since he left Kentucky, the former five-star recruit has played for 17 different teams, traveling to Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean for a roster spot. He’s played for a G League team that no longer exists and international leagues that are tiers below the country’s premier league. He’s been fined for altercations, brawls, and calling out Manny Pacquiao for playing in the same league as him in the Philippines.
“If it wasn’t for basketball, I would have never left the United States,” he says by phone from Lebanon. “Playing basketball abroad, you kind of feel like you don’t have a life. I mean, you don’t have a life. This is my life, essentially. It consumes everything.”
Orton, now 27 years old, was the youngest player on the Orlando Magic roster his rookie season. Unlike at Kentucky, teammates no longer wanted to hang out or get dinner after practice. They had families to see and business to take care of. “Most of the stuff I’d say, they laughed at,” Orton says. “So you’re just on your own a lot. Universal and Disney got old fast.”
After bouncing between the NBA and the G League, Orton followed the money to China in 2014. The transition overseas was even harsher. “In China, they don’t give two ****s about Americans,” he says. Orton, who grew up in Oklahoma City, didn’t know Mandarin or Chinese culture, and he was struck by the speed they played there. He says he soon realized two things: His team, the Sichuan Blue Whales, had only acquired him to shoot and shoot often; and that some players were signed just to go after the “imports.” That, he says, is how he ended up in brawls. Later that season, Orton was set to sign with another team, Shanxi Zhongyu, but was replaced by another American, Jeremy Tyler, before Orton had a chance to play. “At first it was frustrating because you just try your hardest and it’s like, damn, they don’t want me,” he says.
Orton has played for so many overseas teams since, he considers himself a veteran of the international circuit and has seen it all, including the lowest levels of negotiations. In 2017, he thought he had been offered a dream deal by a team in Lebanon, Mayrouba Club. He says he was told he would stay at a five-star hotel and be provided travel to nearby practices and games. When Orton arrived, he found a run-down hotel, that practices were held almost two hours away, and an unresponsive management. There was no internet, so he couldn’t talk to anyone he knew. “You feel isolated,” he says. Orton lasted three weeks before leaving. The club refused to pay him, and he says they released false information about him that kept other teams from signing him. For months, Orton couldn’t find another job. He says he’s still embroiled in a lawsuit with the team. “You have to go through a lot of bull**** with teams in certain leagues,” he says. “It’s tough, finding the motivation.”
Orton is now back in Lebanon, playing for Champville SC for the second time. As long as there are teams that want him, he’s hell-bent on following the thread of his career to the very end. Asked how he’s able to keep pressing on, he pauses and sighs. “At the end of the day, this is my job, this is what I have to do,” he says. “This is what I chose to do, so you can’t be too upset about it. You can’t complain too much, you’ve just gotta go. If I wanted to do something else, I’d quit. It’s just … this is what I want to do.”
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I don't know Jontay, but he strikes me as the type of kid who would find that kind of story a very difficult life experience. Its the polar opposite of the way he has lived the first part of his life.
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The story I am hopeful he can avoid is - FIJItiger MU - 5/15 11:23:05