Which players had to ball make it out of the hood?

[dannysc305]

What players grew up in the hood and would have never made it out if not for basketball?

[JohnMax]

JJ Redick
Kevin Love
Gordon Hayward

[FreezingTsmoove]

D Wade (Southside Chicago)

[Nick Young]

Jimmer Fredette
Kobe Bryant
Steph Curry

[JohnFreeman]

Wades story is pretty sad

[no pun intended]

Caron Butler is the first one that comes to my mind. Anyone who haven't heard of his story should read about it or watch this VICE Sports documentary on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwktUweQOxI

[BuffaloBill]

Rodney

[Quickening]

Kobe must have come from a poor neighbourhood going off the accent he had in his early years

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Jimmy Butler's story is a great one. Like out of a movie.

I think Teletovic grew up in a war-ridden country. So that's something.

Yeah. From his wiki:


I was seven years old when the war started. First you start seeing that there's no food, then grenades come down, the whole city is shaking, and you hear people screaming. Every day, your parents come in and say 'our neighbor died, our cousin died'. Always somebody dying. One day, I asked my mother, 'Is anybody alive?' It was very, very rough for us. It left, I will say, a memory...All my friends and me are playing [basketball] and then you hear the sirens like the grenades start falling down and just run to your house and hide. If I have to die, I die. For basketball, I will do anything.

[JohnFreeman]

Kobe must have come from a poor neighbourhood going off the accent he had in his early years
Mean streets of Italy

[sick_brah07]

Jimmy Butler's story is a great one. Like out of a movie.

I think Teletovic grew up in a war-ridden country. So that's something.

Yeah. From his wiki:

Not saying the hood aint bad or anything

But ive been to mostar in bosnia, my family is from there i cant even begin to imagine the terror of being there while the war was on.... walking through that city in the mid 2000s was a crazy experience never seen a city so beaten down from war and ive been all over serbia amd croatia.... ive got an uncle who was in that war and some of the things he has told me are messed up

teletovics experience would surely be the worst

In terms of the hood hood... telfair and marbury pretty much had nothing outside of basketball ... telfiars doco is pretty cool

[bigkingsfan]

Stephen Curry

[Kobe_6/8]

Dennis Rodman.

[Spurs m8]

JJ Redick
Kevin Love
Gordon Hayward

A rare TMZ post that actually contributes.

Also, how haven't mods changed his display name to TMZ?

[theaussieguy]

paul pierce, inglewood nikka, we grew up hard together, he made it out, im still livin day to day man, strugglin

[Kawhi]

Isiah Thomas, he explains it very well in the 30 for 30 on the Bad Boys.

[Gileraracer]

2Pac also

[masonanddixon]

Rodney.

[aj1987]

I don't really know the life stories of all players, but Wade is up there.

[dunksby]

Any player from the 60's and 70's I guess had to go through a lot to get to the league, from more recent players KD, LeBron, and especially Caron Butler I remember had a great struggle.

[aj1987]

Any player from the 60's and 70's I guess had to go through a lot to get to the league, from more recent players KD, LeBron, and especially Caron Butler I remember had a great struggle.
I though KD had a pretty decent upbringing. Didn't know that he had a rough upbringing. Can you post it?

I agree with you about players from the '60's. With all the civil rights stuff going on. Must've been real tough.

Here's Wade's, BTW (from Wiki):


Dwyane Wade was born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, to JoLinda and Dwyane Wade, Sr. In 1977, JoLinda, at the age of 18, already had two children. Wade has described his upbringing in Chicago as being very difficult. Wade stated that "[his] mom was on drugs and [his] family was in the gang environment, so it was a rough childhood." At a very young age, Wade already witnessed police raids and found dead bodies several times in a nearby garbage can. When he was only 4 months old, his parents separated - and would later divorce. Jolinda was given custody of the two children, and she moved to her mother's house with them. The family struggled financially, and it was around that time when Jolinda started dealing drugs. His mom was addicted to several substances including cigarettes, alcohol, heroin, and cocaine. JoLinda would get high with friends at her home, even in the presence of her children. In an interview with ESPN, Wade said "I've seen the needles laying around the house. I've seen my mother shoot up before. I've seen a lot of things my mother didn't even know I'd seen as a kid." At the age of 6, he recalls police - with guns drawn - raiding his home as they searched for his mother. When Wade turned 8 years old, his older sister, Tragil, tricked him - by telling him they were going to the movies - into living with his father, a former Army sergeant, and stepmother in a nearby neighborhood. Wade would still occasionally visit his mom. A year later, his father moved the family to Robbins, Illinois.[3] After moving to Robbins, Wade didn't see his mother for two years. During this time, JoLinda was able to access a free supply of drugs by volunteering to be a tester - i.e., someone who tests street drugs for impurities before the dealers try to sell them. JoLinda was hospitalized and nearly died after she mistakenly injected herself with LSD. In 1994, JoLinda was arrested for possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell and locked up in Cook County Jail. Wade, at the age of 10, reunited with his mom by talking with her at Cook County Jail through a glass panel over a telephone. JoLinda served 23 months in prison for her crimes, but while serving her second sentence in 1997, she failed to report to prison while on work release.[4]

Wade turned to sports, especially basketball and football, to avoid the temptations of participating in drug and gang-related activities. Wade's mom and dad would often take him to the park to play basketball. He cites one of his older sisters, Tragil, as the individual most responsible for his childhood upbringing and for steering him in the proper direction.[5] As a child growing up in the Chicago area, Wade idolized Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan,[6][7] and has said he patterns his game after him.

[eazyduzzit10]

DRose?

[KobesFinger]

Ibaka and MBenga fled the Congo during war

[ralph_i_el]

JJ Redick
Kevin Love
Gordon Hayward

Lol I'm working around where JJ went to high school. No ghetto.

I know you're joking (obv) but Love grew up wealthy too.

Bronbron balled his way out of the hood. John Wall too.

[DukeDelonte13]

Dion Waiters

[raprap]

Any good documentary about this subject?

[blablabla]

Afflalo is from compton, he actually wrote about his childhood in an players Tribune article, grew up around the same time as kendrick
I believe tyson Chandler is from compton as well

[dunksby]

Afflalo is from compton, he actually wrote about his childhood in an players Tribune article, grew up around the same time as kendrick
I believe tyson Chandler is from compton as well
The correct term is "straight outta Compton".

[theaussieguy]

dam i respect the **** outta wade now

[dunksby]

I though KD had a pretty decent upbringing. Didn't know that he had a rough upbringing. Can you post it?

I agree with you about players from the '60's. With all the civil rights stuff going on. Must've been real tough.

Here's Wade's, BTW (from Wiki):
Well I know his dad left right after he was born, and him and his three siblings were raised by his single mom living in a poor neighbourhood. I don't have the particulars but his story pretty much has all the elements of a struggle.

[HoopologyPhD]

Off top of my head I remember hearing about Gilbert Arenas living out of a car with his Dad for a time.

Lebron also had it pretty bad living from place to place.

[sammichoffate]

Jimmy Butler, Wade, and Teletovic come to mind. Not from the hood, but Duncan lost his mom from cancer shortly after a hurricane hit the Virgin Islands. She told him to finish College before she passed away, which is why he stayed all 4 years at Wake Forest. Chris Paul's Grandpa was also murdered before he went to the NBA. He dropped 61 the next game he played as a tribute for each year of his life.

[Svendiggity]

listen to the first verse of black boy fly by kendrick
he talks about going to school with Aaron afflalo and being jealous of how focused he was