Chapter VI: Chasing The Natty
It's been a few days since the conference games wrapped up. The world has been blowing up about the whereabouts of yours truly. Just about every sports outlet, social media, the newspaper, if people even still read those. People around campus would bump into me, ask me what's going on, why I'm not playing, and I couldn't give an answer. I knew why, but I wasn't going to make a story, or at least it wasn't a story that needed to reach the press. Unlike some people, even if I'm all about myself, I don't jeopardize others. So, all who needed to know what was going on was Coach Shrewsberry and my-self. And if anyone else knew, I know for a fact that I wasn't the source. Nevertheless, some things could've been avoided, but I found myself in the midst of an heated argument with Jalen. And it wasn't his fault, I just wasn't trying to create anymore friction...
"Why can't you just tell me, bro? How big of a deal this is for it to be a secret? What? You got some shady shit going on?" Jalen interrogated.
"Nah, it ain't nothing like that. Trust me, I'd tell you, but right now isn't a good time to be bothered with it. "
"So, you just going to bang out this crazy ass freshman year, pull up to March and just go AWOL on us? You just going to abandon the team like that?"
"I'm not abandoning anyone, I promise you that... There's a lot of crazy things that were said, a lot of things that could be true or hot air, and right now, it's just not the time, bro. Right now is the time to focus on winning the conference."
"So you going to play with us in the tournament?"
I hesitated on answering at that moment, "... I don't know. That's up to coach."
Jalen paced back and forth for a moment or two, trying to figure out his next statement. I could see how puzzling it is to him, but I couldn't and wouldn't create that mess, no matter the frustration. At this point, for myself, I couldn't trust anyone on the team, not even Jalen. Despite him being here trying to find out what's going on, just speaking on it would probably magnitude it-self to make headline drama for the school. Not that I cared personally, I just didn't want to have any attachment to it.
"Anyone else on the team asking about me?"
"Honestly? No. I'm the only one that came to find out from you."
"(And there's your answer)."
"Should I be asking why?"
"Nah, nah, don't worry about it."
"So... What are we going to do Hakeem? I need you back on the team. Like, look how close we are to running through the tournaments? Yeah, sure, we won the last two games without you, but shit is about to get real. One-game eliminations, ain't no coming back from that. It's all or nothing, and we need you out there to give all we got, bro."
Jalen's plea warmed my heart knowing I'm needed. It honestly did, but at the end of the day, it wasn't my call. I didn't make the boneheaded decision to pull me. I'm not the one who gives doesn't give a fuck about me. At the same time though, I also wanted to play, it's what I'm here for.
"Hey, what's all the fuss going on in here?" Asia interjected as she and Keri walked in curiously.
"Yeah, we could hear the commotion all the way down the corridor, what's the problem?"
"I'm trying to figure that out myself." Jalen responded. "Hakeem ain't been with the team, nobody knows why, nobody is saying anything. I'm trying to figure out what's up."
"Yeah, I noticed you weren't at the last couple games, is everything okay 'Keem?" Asia asked.
"Everything is peachy, just dandy."
"See, that's all I've been getting out of him, just these bullshit ass responses. He's not thinking about no one but him-self."
Asia makes her way over to me, sitting next to me at the foot of my bed. "Hakeem, what's up? Talk to me. It's me."
"It's nothing. It's nothing that no one in this room can do or fix. What's done is done."
"Fix what, sweety? What happened?" Everyone listened intently as Asia asked that question.
I let out a big sigh, knowing that this wasn't going away, I may as well tell them something. "I don't think I'll be here next year. I'm either going to put in my transfer for another school or enter the draft, I don't know yet." And with that a brief silence fell over everyone.
"... Okay, but what does that has to do with now? We still need you bro, season ain't over."
"I hear you, JP. It's just not my call. That's up to Shrewsberry."
"Is there something that happened between you and the coach?" Keri asked.
She was right on the money, but I couldn't respond to that truthfully, but I wasn't going to lie either. "However Coach want to see fit with the team, is on him. I won't ask no questions."
"Nah, nah bro, this ain't right. Fuck this shit, get up fam, we going to talk to Coach about this. Ain't no way in hell you sitting up in here on a free scholarship."
Part of me didn't want to be bothered with this anymore, but another part wanted to see the confrontation with the Coach, just to see how he'll respond to Jalen's approach. 25 minutes after we left the girls, Jalen and I made it to Coach Shrewsberry's office. Practiced was apparently called off for today, perhaps something was going on, who knows, none of my business.
"Hey, coach, you got a minute?" Jalen asked as we entered. Coach looked at us both nonchalantly as he finished his call moments later.
"Pickett, Marion, what can I do for y'all?"
"Coach, you got to let Hakeem run with us. I don't know what's going on, why he isn't playing, but I'm sure the school ain't handing out free rides through school for no particular reason. Whatever it is that's going on, we gotta put it aside and look at the big picture here. Ain't nothing bigger than winning the conference and chasing that natty. We need Hakeem... You know we do, I know we do...."
Jalen wasted no time laying it on thick. I knew he was a senior, but I wasn't expecting him to go this hard. I guess when you can only go as far as the team, you got to be the fuel to keep the team going. But we stood there silently, staring at the Coach as he looked back and forth between me and Jalen, like he was gathering his response before saying so.
"Okay..."
"Okay?" Jalen reconfirmed.
"Yeah, okay. You're right, there's nothing bigger than what's at stake right now." Coach Shrewsberry uttered with eyes leering my way. I stood there without a word to say, masking my shock as I figured things would go down hill, but who knew that I could be wrong.
"The ball is in Marion's court, if he wants to play ball, I'll reinstate him back at starter, if he's ready."
"I'm always ready, that's never been questioned with doubt." I said confidently.
"Alright then, welcome back to the team, Marion. See you boys tomorrow afternoon for practice. We got a lot to do."
And just like that, I was back on the team actively... Un-fucking-believable. I can't put my thumb on this guy, nor make heads or tails of him. One thing was for certain, I got to get up out here. But like Denzel said in that interview, "I'm leaving here with something"...
I'm picking up what you're putting down
he should be a projected top-3 pick imho. I only compare his freshman run to that of the great michael beasley who went #2 as one of the leading scorers in college basketball. Marion's statline has eclipsed his. Will be interesting what the lotto looks like.
(random guess)
what kinda weed is coach smoking anyways to do this to the hottest prospect since Ty Crane. Feels like coach carter putting a lock on the gym. #LetKeemBall
