Green, Villanueva, and Stoudemire Fight Type-Casting Demons
Don’t call Green another you-know-who: “I don’t know who started this ‘he’s another TMac’ stuff, but it sure wasn’t me,” Green shakes his head. “Hey, I wish. There’s only one Tracy McGrady. Only he’s got those excellent moves. Sure, I try to emulate him a bit -- and one day, maybe I’ll be a little like him. But right now? No way.”
Don’t call Villanueva still a you-know-what: “Maybe I was a party animal but that was like ages ago,” he says. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I was a child. Let me tell you, there is nothing like two years playing under (hard-driving UConn coach) Jim Calhoun to make you grow up and mature you as a person.”
Don’t call Stoudemire just a you-know-what: “Sure, I’m a shooter,” the 6-foot Arizona stun-gunner stresses. “But I’m much more than that: a scorer, for one. And, yes, a point guard. Anyone who says I can’t run a basketball team doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
In that case, a lot of people don’t know what they’re talking about -- but Green isn’t one of them. The 6-8 high school super-duper from Houston is a thinker with prospective: “It’s historic,” he smiles when asked what it is like to be a member of the last group of players entering the NBA straight out of high school. “We may end up as the sorriest-derriered bunch of basketball players ever. But we still made history.”
Villanueva strongly considered the same leap of faith a couple of years back -- but now he’s glad he chose the Huskies. “Man, I so wasn’t ready,” he smiles. “It was the best decision I ever made to go to UConn. I mean, two years ago, I was a 17 year-old kid. I was skinny, 215, now I put on some weight and muscle. I’m a good 240 now. But mostly, I just didn’t know what it takes. I didn’t know how to work hard.”
“With Coach Calhoun, nothing is given to you no matter who you are,” he adds. “He drives you hard to do the right thing. From that point of you, it’s almost a professional situation. I came in, I thought I was hot stuff -- so he played me off the bench. I didn’t have a good practice -- so he didn’t play me at all.”
“Back then, I thought I knew it all. But Coach Calhoun is a great teacher of basketball -- and of life. He’s an example, too, going through cancer, the way he dealt with everything. He’s a powerful guy. If two years with him do not mature you, nothing will.”
While Villanueva, 6-10 with extra-long arms, is a legitimate three-position player, Stoudemire is fighting the perception of being one-dimensional. “The only reason I didn’t play point guard at ‘Point Guard U’ is because my team didn’t need me to. We had Mustafa (Shakur). And, before that, Jason Gardner.” Sometimes when you’re that good at your one dimension, can it work against you? “Exactly,” the dead-eye-est of all deadeye lefty shooters, who gunned it at incredible 50.4 per cent from three-point range last year, nods. “You got it.”
What Salim’s got is serious NBA genes -- he’s the trail Blazers’ Damon Stoudemire’s cousin -- and a stroke so natural it should be outlawed. “I make it a practice NOT to look at other shooters,” he says. “Not even Damon. Shooting, to me, is about a state of mind. It’s all about confidence -- and attitude.”
Gerald Green was considered the best high school ballplayer in the country this past season.
MSG Photos |
“But yes, I think the new (you can’t play until you are19-years old or had a year of college) rule the league has just passed is actually a very good thing.”
“Like I said, I’m not sure if I’m ready. But I’m comfortable in my decision (to enter the NBA) because I know I’m a hard worker. I’ll give it all I got -- and whatever team takes me, I’m sure the coaches and the veterans will show me the ropes.”
“I’m very athletic and I can shoot,” adds Green. “My mental and physical toughness -- those are the things I still need to work on.”
Green would love to be a member of the Knicks, “a historic franchise I always admired”. Stoudemire thinks “playing for (President, Basketball Operations) Isiah (Thomas) would be awesome -- he was a small scoring point guard himself, so he understands me.” But Villanueva, he’s from Elmhurst, Queens. “If the Knicks pick me Tuesday, I don’t even know what I’d do. I grew up a Knick fan, naturally. And to have a chance to play in front of my friends and family…I’d probably break down and cry. For real.”
