kwyjibo Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Almeda Bob mentioned Justin Love's summer league play. Here is a nice SF Chronicel article: HEADLINE: Love, SF City capture crown BY: Jorge L. Ortiz Justin Love is thoroughly enjoying spending the summer back home in San Francisco after some peripatetic years. The only problem is, he was supposed to be in Beijing right around now. Love has taken his basketball talents to Canada College, Saint Louis University, a couple of NBA summer leagues, the USBL, France, Italy and China since graduating from Sacred Heart Cathedral in 1996. Along the way he has made occasional stops back in his old haunts, and on the latest one helped S.F. City claim the Bay Area ProCity championship. After averaging nearly 26 points in four regular-season games, Love scored only seven on Wednesday, but his teammates made up for his off-night. Dwayne Fontana scored 25 points and Marek Ondera 22 as S.F. City held off a late rally to defeat Bay Pride 96-93, earning its second straight title in the pro-am tournament at Kezar Pavilion by taking the championship series 2-0. Ali Thomas made two clinching free throws with three seconds left after Raymond King missed the second of two freebies that could have tied the score with 13 seconds to go. While some players view the pro-am as an audition for a possible professional job, Love considers it more of a chance for his relatives and friends to see him play. "I'm not using this as a stepping stone, like 'I'm playing good here, hopefully this is my way into something else,' " said Love, 24. "I'm just here having fun and seeing a lot of people who I haven't seen in a while because I haven't been back in San Francisco. I've spent most of my time playing overseas and in St. Louis." His latest pro team, the Beijing Aoshen (Olympians), was pleased enough with Love's performance last season to sign him to a two-year extension. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged a club-high 26.4 points and earned All-Chinese Basketball Association second-team honors. Then things got a little weird. According to Love, the Aoshen decided they were paying him too much, so they discouraged him from attending training camp, which began early this month. So Love's immediate pro future hangs in the air while his agent, Ben Pensack, checks out his options. They expect to have something in place by the end of August, a few weeks before the start of the Chinese season. "He could go back to China. It's just a matter of which team he'd play for," Pensack said. "He had a real good season there, so he has good market value." As well as a better understanding of some of the challenges inherent in playing abroad. One of them is getting exposed to food that may not seem appetizing by Western standards. "They eat everything that has a heart back there," Love said. "I just stuck with eating chicken. I guess I couldn't go wrong with that." Love's two brief stints playing basketball in Europe did not quite prepare him for living in China, where he had only one American teammate, forward Kaniel Dickens of Denver. Even in the capital city of Beijing, Love said he stood out so much that people sometimes approached him and touched his arm or hair, as if to verify that he was real. "When I was walking down the street, they'd stare at me and wonder why I was there," he said. "A black guy in China doesn't happen too often." It's also rare for a top-notch scorer to become better known as the player involved in another one's injury, but that has been Love's fate. Despite averaging 18.2 points as a senior at St. Louis, his name conjures up memories of Kenyon Martin breaking his leg. The Cincinnati All-American sustained the injury in an accidental collision with Love during the 2000 Conference USA tournament, which the Billikens won as the eighth seed to earn an NCAA invite. The travels and career ups and downs have given Love a renewed appreciation for being back among his loved ones. "I'm going to play basketball," he said of his upcoming plans. "Where that is, I don't know. It's not a big issue with me. It's something I want to settle, but I'm happy being home and seeing my family. That's more important than me playing basketball." E-mail Jorge L. Ortiz at [email protected]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Nice article, thanks for posting it. I am still hoping JLove gets another shot at the NBA. I know he is better than some of the guys I saw out there last season...he just needs to catch a break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alameda bob Posted October 10, 2003 Share Posted October 10, 2003 I called Ben, JL's agent to ask where he was. The China team did not honor their contract the way we do in the USA, so Justin has a tryout with a team in Turkey and he's negotiating a contract for him. He said the PG is Kalid al Amin (U. Conn) and they need a #2. He said JL is a bit short for a #2 in the NBA and I agree they sometimes put too much emphasis on size rather than desire in their evaluations. Check www.eurobasket.com to follow the game in Europe. Jaha Wilson (USC) also has played in Turkey for several years, also one of my favorite summer league players. Right now the Blue Angels are buzzing SF practising for the Fleet Week airshow this weekend. The vibrations as they fly by at that low altitude make me glad we are not under attack. Go USA!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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