Ten Days in Atlanta

When he got the call he wasn’t all that excited. You’d think that for any young player to get that call from a NBA team would be excited, but Justin Hammond has been through this before.

It is early February and 23 year old Justin Hammond is making his way down to Atlanta to play with the lowly Atlanta Hawks. He actually likes the Hawks so he is looking forward to it but he’s not thrilled that they want to sign him to just a ten day contract. There aren’t any guarantees with a ten day contract and for those who don’t know what that means, it means that a NBA squad can sign you for ten days. Not ten games, but ten calendar days. You might have one or two games during that span or you might have five or six. Regardless you have to make the most of it and after ten days if that team wants they can sign you to a second ten day deal. If they want you after those ten days then they have to sign you for the rest of the year. That is what Justin is hoping for.

As he arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson International, Justin isn’t allowing himself to get too carried away with being signed to a NBA team. Just two weeks ago the L.A. Clippers signed him to a ten day deal only to sit him on the bench for four out of their five games. They never gave him a chance to show what he could do but hopefully the Hawks will.

In reality Justin shouldn’t even be in the situation. He should’ve been one of those guys that were drafted straight out of college with a multi-year guaranteed deal waiting for him. He was one of those small college phenoms, one of those cats that were featured in Sports Illustrated and whose amazing highlights they showed on SportsCenter. He led his team to the Final Four that year and that’s when he had to endure the end of a horrible year. The worst year of his life.

His year started out with a falling out between he and some music producer friends. He used to produce hip-hop tracks for a couple of guys. Yeah it was illegal as hell but the money was good. When his friends got big and signed with Sony Records they felt like they didn't need to pay him what they owed him. After that his grandfather died. Then when he got back to college he found out that his fiancé had a summer long affair with a friend. Not just any friend but his teammate on the basketball team. Then to make things even worse his long time friend and mentor Jamella Gardner passed away. She left him a chunk of change when she passed but there are some things more valuable than money.

Everything was going to be good with him going to the Final Four. He was going to win a championship and then go and be the top three pick that every scout had been telling him since he showed what he could do the previous summer when he played with USA Basketball. In the Final Four he was the man, scoring at will, showing them what a 6’5” 235lb point guard with a 50” vertical and the best jump shot anyone had ever seen could do. He scored 42 points in the first game and in the championship he ended up with a record 58 points. Two things would define what he did. He would miss the game winning shot and he’d learn after the game that the sprain he thought he suffered in the second half was really a career threatening break similar to the one that Grant Hill had. Because of that break nobody wanted to touch him at draft time. So instead of being drafted he spent his summer rehabbing and then proving that he was healthy down in the NBA’s developmental league.

He arrives in Atlanta and then is whisked away to the arena. They have him go through a physical before he joins the team for a walk through. After that he has to sit and wait in his hotel for game time where he can’t help but think about his fiancé Gia who is in Law School up in DC. He hasn’t been with anyone since her and he’s getting to that point where he has to decide if he is going to forgive her and take her back and move on.

Later that night he arrives for his first game with the Hawks. He quickly realizes that this trip in the NBA is going to be much different than what happened with the Clippers. Not only is he playing but he actually started the game at the point guard, go figure. He plays a good game scoring 13 points and dishing out 7 assists. The coach seems happy and so does his teammates.

Justin thinks that he is going to like Atlanta and after tonight performance he hopes that his stay goes longer than ten days. Atlanta is one of the hottest cities in the country, especially for black folks. If he is going to find someone to replace Gia Atlanta has a lot to offer so he hears. This city is known for a lot of things from the hottest clubs, good shopping, good food, well known churches, and all of the hair salons and barber shops that you could want. Tomorrow the team has the day off and he is probably going spend it doing something