Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Where Are They Now: Basque Country

They say that to make it in the NBA you need to be able to do one thing phenomenally well, be it shooting, rebounding, defense, or (in Collins' case) friendship.

Remember Quincy Lewis? Of course you do. He played only three, mostly uneventful, years with the Jazz. The highlight of his career was when he went berserk in the 2001 against the Kings, scoring 4.3 points per game in the four-game series! Those types of numbers temporarily earned him the 6th spot in the coveted "Jazz Greats" feature on TCG. Unfortunately, they did not earn him a new contract. But don't worry about ol' "Q"; he landed on his feet. He went to play ball in Europe before playing ball in Europe was the cool thing to do. Last summer he signed with Bilbao Berri in the Spanish league.

Recently, I found an interview in which Quincy describes his role on his new team. Don't watch the whole thing, it's sinfully boring. Quincy is an impeccably polite fellow, but he makes a dreadful interviewee. But you don't have to wait long for the money quote, it comes early on: Quincy drops a line that might just explain his all-too-brief NBA career.

"I'm not great at anything."
He goes on to list passing, shooting, ball-handling, and post play as aspects of the game at which he does not excel. Not exactly "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE," but then Quincy never made you think of Kevin Garnett.




Note: The video has subtitles for TCG's vast Spanish-speaking fanbase.

For an example of an athlete that was able to convert excellence in only one aspect of the game into success, look no further than Joe Montana (via Freedarko). In fact, Montana's one skill was so excellent, that he was able to propel a team with nothing but Karl Malone and Hakeem Olajawon over a team with Jayson Williams and two old dudes. Now that is talent.



Remember when L.A. Gear was cool? Yeah, me neither.

2 comments:

Tucker McCann said...

GO BASQUES! Euskal Herriko hiririk jendetsuena da.

"These Basques are swell people." Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises)

Orlando said...

The coach of Bilbao is named Txus. Pronounced: "Texas"