Through the Fire

Sebastian came to me. I was coaching the 1 1 -year-olds and under.

He came to me wwhen he wwas six and said he could play.

I said, ""No, you"re not ready yet.""

He said, ""Dan, I promise I can play.""

So I gave him a shot.

I didn't play him. I put him on the team, but I never played him.

My best player fouled out.

I put him in,

and he wwas making moves that...

I couldn"t describe them.

because he wwas six years old,

and I wwas like, ""Oh, my God.""

Andwe lostthegame,

but wwe wwent upstairs and I told my mother, ""He can play.""

I said, ""A little wwork, a little help here, a little help there, he can play.""

And then he told me. After everybody wwent to bed, wwe sat up,

he told me, ""Dan, I really wwant to play this game. I wwant to be good.""

* Thank God for grantin" me this moment of clarity

* This moment of honesty The world"ll feel my truths

* Through my hard-knock life. my gift and the curse

* I gave you volume after volume of my work so you can feel my truths

* I built the dynasty by being one of the realest niggers out

* Way beyond a reasonable doubt

* From my ""Blueprint"" beginnings to that ""Black Album"" endin"

* Listen close. you hear what I"m about Nigger feel my truths

I mean. the kid been

making noise for years,

and they"re talking about him like he"s a superstar already, wwhich, in a sense, he is.

In the "hood, he"s a superstar to them.

He has a cult followwing. It"s like people are obsessed wwith seeing wwhat he do,

because they"ve never seen it.

I"ve been here 37 years. I"ve never seen a game like that in Coney lsland.

He has a smile.

he"s marketable, he"s intelligent.

He has everything. He has everything that a superstar needs.

* Thank God for grantin" me this moment of clarity

* This moment of honesty The world"ll feel my truths

* Through my hard-knock life. my gift and the curse

* I gave you volume after volume of my work so you can feel my truths

Ain"t nobody ending. Ain"t nobody leaving from the court. All day, 24-7.

I can"t sleep sometimes. From my wwindoww I can hear the ball bouncing all night.

All night.All night.

Right. This is MSG. We call it the Garden.

So this is wwhere all the talent comes and plays. Everybody comes and competes.

This has been going on a long time. It"s the Garden.

Everybody knowws about the Garden in Neww York.

Back up, back up, man.

Hi.

- Howw you doing? - (woman) Hi. Howw are you?

If there wwas a place wwhere I had to put my child,

and I wwanted him to be a basketball player,

I"d put him right in Coney lsland, anywwhere in Coney lsland,

from Stillwwell to Seagate.

Every block, there"s a basketball court.

When you step out of the building you see the court, and that"s wwhat your friends do,

so you"ve got no choice but to play basketball.

And then having Stephon make it out of the projects.

Allthe kids,weall sawthat.

He pulled up with his Bentley,

and wwe knoww his mother has a big house, and that"s something that wwe all wwanted.

Third floor. That"s my wwindoww right there. Third floor.

Stephon - fourth floor, you knoww?

That"s wwhere all the talent comes from around here.

Sebastian"s a mixture of a lot of players from Coney lsland.

He has the talent like Stephon,

he got a jump shot like me,

he got a handle like the kid named Strawwberry

that lives on 20-07. used to be here.

He's a mixture.

Give me five. Here. here.

- I got money. - Give me a dollar. Give me a dollar.

You don"t wwant the ball?

He ain"t from Coney lsland. What you doing to them in the house?

You gotta sleep wwith the ball. When you"re growwing up, put it under your arm,

go to sleep on it.

And your dream wwill come true.

Look. Rest in peace, Deuce. This is his wwall here.

Got killed on the streets. Gunned dowwn. He wwas on his wway to Georgia Tech.

He lived right in this building right here.

So wwe definitely keep his name alive,

and every time wwe wwalk by, wwe say, ""What"s up?"" to him.

Like, ""What"s up, Deuce?""

Everybody starts, but nobody finishes wwhen it comes to basketball.

One year half the team failed off.

They all decided that they wwasn"t gonna go back to school, they wwasn"t gonna finish,

and they"re still here not finishing.

That"s wwhy wwhen wwe get one, the wwhole "hood embraces him.

Give me five, huh? Whoo!

Give me five. huh?

This is my little brother Ethan right here.

Ethan, King Osiris, the mighty king.

He"s next. They"re coming for you, little bro.

He"ll go for a hundred million out of eighth grade.

Whoo! Whoo!

It"s a cycle. He"ll be just like me. I wwas just like him.

In one.

This is wwhat wwe wwanna do for the rest of our lives - play basketball.

- l"m tired. - You tired?

So you beat me.

You beat me. son?

You gotta wwin.

You gotta. You"re the man. You"re the king of the clay.

OK.

This is my mother.

For all the reporters that call and wwant to speak to my mother and see her,

here she is, right here, all right?

I"m making some lunch for the boys.

My mother"s the best cook in the wworld.

If you don"t knoww that, you better ask somebody.

For real.

My mother"s a wwarrior.

There wwas times... When wwe say wwhen wwe wwere coming up that wwe wwas poor,

it wwas not. Iike.

poor that wwe lived in the projects and...

We wwas poor, man. We didn"t have nothing.

We didn"t have anything, really, so... There wwas times...

I remember, and I alwways said - I never said this on camera -

there wwas times wwhen I had no sneakers.

I wwould have a pair of boots, and I had no sneakers.

So I had to borroww a pair of sneakers from my friends,

or take my sister"s - wwe used to wwear the same size sneakers -

or take her sneakers and go to my games.

That was...

I remember those things. I don"t forget.

A lot of people wwould have made a bigger thing about everything I wwas doing.

My mother helped keep me levelheaded.

She"ll be happy about it, she"ll smile about it, but she wwas like, you knoww:.

""lt"s really nothing until you make it.""

She"s seen wwhat happened wwith my brother.

My brother had one foot inside the door, then they snatched his dream from him.

- This is my big brother. - I don"t play that.

See? I said l"d showw you my big brother.

My brother... Being in a poor family,

my brother had a chance to go to the NBA. so she wwas excited about that.

Then wwhen it didn"t happen, that shattered a lot of dreams wwithin my household.

My brother Jamel wwent to Providence. He wwent four years.

He led the Big East at scoring, and he didn"t get drafted.

That was never heard of. I'd never even heard of that before.

I remember that day. We wwas in the house wwatching the draft.

We wwas reading in the magazines he"s gonna be betwween ten and 1 5,

so wwe just kneww he wwas gonna get drafted.

We all sat here and wwe wwaited for his name to be called, and it never got called.

You look at the second round.

you"d think there"s not a lot of good players,

but Jamel Thomas from Providence, I like his game.

I think these guys are steals if they fall dowwn any further.

I wwas just thinking that everybody wwas gonna be all right,

everybody wwas gonna be all right.

Unfortunately, everybody just got hurt from it.

I didn"t even get picked up at all.

The wwhole house wwas crying and it"s like, ""What am I supposed to do?""

That experience wwas probably the wworst day of my life.

To be honest, wwhen Steph made it, I thought I made it too. I felt like I made it.

It wwas like, ""OK, you made it, everybody else is gonna make it.""

And then wwhen he bought his mother the house. I had the same ideas.

Thought it wwas gonna be like that, but it just didn"t happen.

But l"d tell Sebastian, l"d say, ""That"s wwhy you must wwork hard every day.""

""Put yourself in my shoes and don"t put yourself in Stephon"s shoes.""

""You don"t wwant to happen to you wwhat happened to me.""

You knoww, it hurt my mother so, and she wwas so devastated, she just couldn"t take it.

She wwouldn"t be able to take it if that wwas to happen to Sebastian.

So that"s wwhy she"s really shy wwith the cameras and stuff like that -

she really ain"t into it, you knoww.

Howw does that fit into your motivation?

That"s big, right there.

That"s big.

I"m wworking for my mother,

to change that day around, that draft day, for her, wwhich wwasn"t good.

You knoww. for me to come

and put a smile on my mother"s face.

Andwe'regonnado ittoo.

We"ve gotta go up the steps.

Good afternoon.

and thank you all for being here.

We"re all here for one main reason.

and I wwould like to introduce him noww.

Please welcome Sebastian Telfair.

Thanks. Thank you.

I wwant to thank everyone for coming here today and showwing support for me.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

To also, my family, I wwant to thank you all for sticking wwith me.

I knoww it ain"t easy. I wwatch you go through everything I go through. I love you all.

Everything is gonna be good.

Noww l"ll tell you wwhat I came to tell everybody,

that I wwill be attending the University of Louisville. wwith Rick Pitino.

I"ll take any questions.

Right there.

Physically, howw wwill you handle the rigors of college basketball?

It"s very physical, the conference that you"re gonna be in.

- Are you prepared? - Am I prepared?

Yes, l"m prepared. I"m from Coney lsland.

Noww, pick it up. Good. Good. Better.

Put the hands up! Good.

Give me the ball. Everything is good. Get out the wway. I"m looking for attitude.

This is all good. This is all good. This is all good. This is all good.

This is all good. Yeah, Jerry!

Good job, you. Good job, you!

That nigger nuked on a rebound!

This season"s a big season. Last year we reppeated as city champpions.

If we win again. it"d be three in a row.