Good article featuring Justise Winslow

[FerryFor50]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2390901-forgotten-freshman-justise-winslow-may-be-key-to-dukes-ncaa-tournament-hopes

[Channing]

It is a very good article ... but ... perhaps the forgotten freshman is Grayson Allen! The article notes that the current freshman class has 3 McDonalds AA, not 4.

[FerryFor50]

It is a very good article ... but ... perhaps the forgotten freshman is Grayson Allen! The article notes that the current freshman class has 3 McDonalds AA, not 4.

Yea they forgot about Grayson. Hopefully Duke's opponents forget about him, too. ;)

[Chard]

A great read. I was impressed with Steve Trauber and how his family helped shape those kids lives. Also, impressed yet again with the Krzyzewski family and the family they've built around them.

[Billy Dat]

A great read. I was impressed with Steve Trauber and how his family helped shape those kids lives. Also, impressed yet again with the Krzyzewski family and the family they've built around them.

RE: Trauber

It sounds like this guy is on the up and up, but these scenarios always freak me out a little. A Houston multi-millionaire recruits an All-Star team of the best African American players from poor backgrounds, save for his white son who is also on the roster, and spends every weekend flying them around the country and the world, on his dime, where he coaches them against the best of the best AAU teams. It feels a little like (A) he's fulfilling a fantasy of being an NBA owner, GM and coach and (B) his kid gets to live out the same fantasy as a player. Trauber estimates his personal outlay for this team at $2MM!!! But, he seems like he's helped a lot of kids, and it's not the first time that money has bought access so...whatever...it just seems a little weird.

[Chard]

RE: Trauber

It sounds like this guy is on the up and up, but these scenarios always freak me out a little. A Houston multi-millionaire recruits an All-Star team of the best African American players from poor backgrounds, save for his white son who is also on the roster, and spends every weekend flying them around the country and the world, on his dime, where he coaches them against the best of the best AAU teams. It feels a little like (A) he's fulfilling a fantasy of being an NBA owner, GM and coach and (B) his kid gets to live out the same fantasy as a player. Trauber estimates his personal outlay for this team at $2MM!!! But, he seems like he's helped a lot of kids, and it's not the first time that money has bought access so...whatever...it just seems a little weird.

I guess you could go there. I didn't get that at all.


Excessive as the lifestyle may have seemed for a middle school or high school player, anyone associated with Trauber's program knew his intentions extended far beyond molding his athletes into Division I-caliber players. He wanted them to become good people, too.

Other than Trauber's son, every player on Trauber's teams was black, and most came from low-income, single-parent homes that lacked the presence of a strong male role model.

"It was about so much more than basketball," Trauber said. "We wanted to make sure they grew up to be mature young men with a degree of character and integrity."

Trauber paid for his players to attend etiquette classes, where they learned about place settings at fancy restaurants, the proper form for cutting a steak and to "never order spaghetti when you're on a date," Winslow chuckled.

Players were required to wear a button-down shirt and khaki pants during team dinners, and road trips often included outings to historical sites in cities such as Washington, D.C. or New Orleans, where they witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Sometimes there are just good people out there with money. Replace Trauber with K, the private funds with schools funds, AAU with NCAA and it sounds similar.

[gus]

Mother of the year?


"If it were up to me he'd stay in college four years," Robin Davis says. "I wish that was the rule. It'd make life easier."

[Henderson]

I guess you could go there. I didn't get that at all.
Sometimes there are just good people out there with money.

That was my take as well. We need to distinguish between adults who are exploiting players for their own financial gain and those who give but are not doing so.

[subzero02]

It is a very good article ... but ... perhaps the forgotten freshman is Grayson Allen! The article notes that the current freshman class has 3 McDonalds AA, not 4.

Nowadays everybody wants to talk like they've got something to say but nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch of gibberish and sportwriters want to act like they forgot about Gray.

[David Bunkley]

nowadays everybody wants to talk like they've got something to say but nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch of gibberish and sportwriters want to act like they forgot about gray.

****slow claps****

[Billy Dat]

That was my take as well. We need to distinguish between adults who are exploiting players for their own financial gain and those who give but are not doing so.

I found this WSJ article on Trauber
http://www.wsj.com/articles/one-bankers-big-deal-college-basketball-scholarships-1419447356

Looks like Jason King of Bleacher Report borrowed pretty heavily from it. It does sound like he's doing more than living out bizzaro fantasy-league dream - good for him and the kids he helps.

[Indoor66]

RE: Trauber

It sounds like this guy is on the up and up, but these scenarios always freak me out a little. A Houston multi-millionaire recruits an All-Star team of the best African American players from poor backgrounds, save for his white son who is also on the roster, and spends every weekend flying them around the country and the world, on his dime, where he coaches them against the best of the best AAU teams. It feels a little like (A) he's fulfilling a fantasy of being an NBA owner, GM and coach and (B) his kid gets to live out the same fantasy as a player. Trauber estimates his personal outlay for this team at $2MM!!! But, he seems like he's helped a lot of kids, and it's not the first time that money has bought access so...whatever...it just seems a little weird.

There a lot of NICE people in the world and many of them are rich. Maybe he is one?

[MCFinARL]

Nowadays everybody wants to talk like they've got something to say but nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch of gibberish and sportwriters want to act like they forgot about Gray.

But WE will never forget about Gray OR Dre!

Nicely done.

[sagegrouse]

There a lot of NICE people in the world and many of them are rich. Maybe he is one?

Rice A.B., Kellogg School MBA. Head of the global energy practice for Citibank and based in Houston. Son J.T., who was a classmate of Justise's at St. John's in Houston and long-time AAU teammate, walked on for Rice this year. He got only six minutes PT, but he took three shots, all from three, and made every one. He should probably retire with a perfect collegiate record.

[dbcooper]

Justise's Quote from the article...

"I'm realizing now that I'm not ever going to get these college years back," Winslow says. "I'm going to enjoy them as much as I can."

Soooo, you are saying there's a chance???? Well we can still hope.... Right?

Great Kid, Great Player!

Go Duke!

DB ---E