The Mis-Education of Noah Baldwin (2027 - ???)

[chosenone58]

[chosenone58]

[chosenone58]

Making of a Menace

As I dribble out the clock in the Smoothie King Center, I look for my family in the stands and blow a kiss to my grandmother. I turn my attention back to Will Conroy, Jr. and just shrug my shoulders. Not only was it a big win, but I had a big night stat wise. So did my teammates. Everybody ate tonight. When the buzzer sounds he tries to rush off without shaking my hand, but I block his path. I bring him in for a one armed hug.

“All you had to do was stop by for dinner. My grandma is a huge fan of the team.”

He didn’t respond, he just gave a tight nod before heading to the bench. I noticed Doris Burke waiting to do a postgame interview.

“Noah Baldwin, you put on quite the performance tonight in your hometown.”

“It’s always good to be home, Doris. We got the players from my alma mater, Isidore Newman, here tonight, so I wanted to put on a good show for the young guys.”

“Double-doubles for you, Chet Holmgren and rookie Sam Hendricks. What can you attribute to that success?”

“We were just able to get into a rhythm early. I was able to feed my guys in the post, they were dominating the glass. We just did all the little things tonight.”

“It was another intense matchup between you and Pelicans rookie Will Conroy, Jr. If you can share, what were you guys discussing after the game?”

“I, uh, just told him good game.”

Suddenly cups of water get dumped on my head, causing me to shiver and back away from Doris Burke.

“Well I’ll wrap this up as your teammates look ready to celebrate with you. Enjoy your night, Noah.”

“Thanks, Doris.”

##################

The night before…..

“You sure you wanna do this?”

“I’m good, man. I’m not here for the mind games and shit.”

“It’s just dinner.”

“I’ll pass.”

The call is disconnected. I look over at my uncle and shrugged.

“He said he was good.”

“Too good for my mother’s gumbo?”

“Will you two cut it out?” My aunt said. “What’s with the Jedi mind tricks?”

“No mind tricks, Auntie. We invited him over for dinner and he turned us down. I feel a little insulted.”

“You should,” Uncle Derek chimed in. “He’s new to the city, we asked him to come and break bread.”

She rolls her eyes. “The two of you are ridiculous.”

We left Charlotte immediately following our MLK Day loss and made our way down to the Big Easy. Nobody wanted to be in Charlotte longer than necessary. The flight was short, so it allowed us to get a full night’s rest and a day to relax before our game on Wednesday night. We had played the Pelicans a month ago and while the game got heated at moments, we had gotten the best of them. They had come a long way since that night and had moved from the bottom of the Eastern Conference to being one of the top teams. Although they’d only won two of their last six games of the new year, they were still in a good spot. Right in the mix with Brooklyn and Boston.

My entire family was in town for this game. My uncle managed to convince his wife to let Jordan miss school. We visited our old stopping grounds, heading to Brother Martin and Newman that morning, then we took the kids to the Aquarium of the Americas. It was a good family day and just what I needed to unwind and put that loss behind me.

I reached out to Will Conroy, Jr. to invite him to dinner tonight, but he opted against it. And to be honest, it’s not the first time that the invite has been rejected. But rookies usually jump at the chance.

It was a tradition that I was starting to pick up from my uncle. He used to invite Anthony Davis over whenever the Bulls or Clippers played in New Orleans. Granted, at the time, AD lived like two blocks away and would just walk over. Soon enough, he started showing up for dinner at my grandma’s house with our without an invitation from my uncle.

My aunt always said it gave off mafia vibes, but my uncle shrugged it off. “This is a brotherhood, babe.”

I went into the kitchen to get another bowl of gumbo. My uncle came in shortly after.

“You know what you gotta do.”

“Unfortunately,” I said with a fake sigh. We both broke into laughter.

[chosenone58]

[Agent]

Will Conroy Jr said HE GOOD

[chosenone58]

Will Conroy Jr said HE GOOD

Not quite good enough

[chosenone58]

[chosenone58]

[Agent]

Zimmerman gave Chet the biz

[The JZA]

Pictures says a thousand words, and looking punked is one of them