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OT: What made Delonte West Delonte West - great article

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:18 pm
by jimmywolfrey
This is OT for the Celtics Board I guess but I had some good Conversations over here about Delonte when he was a Celtic..just thought I pass on this great article about him for those who still follow him in Boston

http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/03/traveling_west_finds_cleveland.html


Traveling West finds Cleveland
Posted by Mary Schmitt Boyer March 09, 2008 17:22PM
Categories: Cavaliers


Image
Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer
With so many tattoos, Cavaliers point guard Delonte West's body reads like a storybook of his life.On a cold and windy November night, Delonte West found himself all alone on a playground with a basketball and a prayer.

The 10-year-old dropped to his knees, placed the ball in front of him and spoke the words in his heart.

"Lord, this is all I ever want to do," he said, referring to playing the game of basketball. "It's all I know how to do. I never asked you for anything. Well, I did ask you that one time to put a treasure chest full of gold coins under my bed, and you never put those under my bed. But just help me get to the NBA. That's all I ask. I'll forgive you for the gold coins."

Up until that time, life had been hard. "A mean story," is how the new Cavaliers guard summarized his youth.

Three things got him through -- faith, basketball and art. A gifted artist who writes poetry and can play music by ear, West used all three to cope with tough circumstances.

His parents divorced when he was young, leaving his mother to care for Delonte, his older brother Dmitri and younger sister Danielle. Despite working two and three jobs to make ends meet, Delphina Addison had to move her family frequently to a series of small, cramped apartments in dangerous neighborhoods around Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Md.

see article for rest!

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:31 pm
by DorfonCeltics
You probably should erase all that text as the link is good enough but this was a great, great article on Delonte. I had no idea he was an artist and musician. My favorite part is this:

"This is no lie," he says, earnestly. "I was 5-8 or 5-10. Overnight, I shot up to 6-0. It happened within two weeks. I would not lie to you. I'd eat two peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches every night, did a couple pushups and some calf raises and went to sleep early, at, like, 10 o'clock.

"In like two weeks, I grew four inches. It was crazy."


If only it where that easy, lol. Delonte West is the man. I hope the Delonte bashers (you know who you are) don't come in and highjack this otherwise enjoyable thread.

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:08 pm
by BillessuR6
Pete, hasn`t posted yet?

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:29 pm
by Scalamental
What a surprise, Delonte West is a likable basketball player.

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:00 am
by Kids Are Alright
hope he makes it with the Cavs, but tattoos are big nowadays, there's always that....his story reminds me of Leon's, cept Leon must've prayed 6" more, if we could only get Glen Davis to say a few, stretch him to 6'10" or so....

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:15 am
by Datruth345
Delonte is the man

i wish him all the success in the world

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:51 pm
by LongTimeFan
It's all about defense. You can see why Seattle loses in it's preference for Watson over West at the point

http://www.82games.com/0708/07SEA2C.HTM

Watson has an average PER on offense, but the the opposing PG has a field day. Net, PG is a loss for Seattle when Watson is on the floor.

http://www.82games.com/0708/07CLE3C.HTM

However, in Cleveland West's offensive production is almost average. But his opposing PG production is way off. Hence, when West is on the floor, PG is a plus for the Cavs.

I'm very happy for West. I've always been a fan. (My wife is getting over her unhealthy obsession with him. Winning cures all I guess.)

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:11 pm
by AlCelticFan
That was an awesome and inspiring article, thanks for posting it :-)

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:20 am
by GuyClinch
http://www.nba.com/games/20080312/CLENJN/boxscore.html

Yeah he is a huge plus for the Cavs. <g>

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:37 am
by Bleeding Green
Oh ****, good point.