He stopped picking his spots, and while those close to him say he sometimes struggled splitting minutes with (and having a smaller salary than) Jose Calderon, Ford felt the duo formed “the best one-two punch in the NBA.”. Ford now runs the TJ Ford Basketball Academy – a youth basketball program – in Houston, Texas. “When you’re an athlete, people just see you on television,” Ivey offered. “I know T.J.’s attitude,” Goldwire said. It’d be more than a year before Ford played basketball again. And Ford filled a leadership role gladly, finally feeling the burden of early expectations lifted from his shoulders. That’s how fast a Texas legend can fall. “Great leader,” Porter said. In a strange twist, the two became close friends. Related Stories A slow sample of Erykah Badu’s “Otherside of the Game.” A constant warning repeats in the refrain: “What you gonna do when they come for you?” Screw’s response to the call still haunts Houston: “Don’t worry about a n— like me. He was a big fan of the Houston Rockets and witnessed the team win back-to-back NBA titles during the 1990s. But they don’t know you as a person. “I’ve never been a big fan of AAU until I met the guy,” said Joe Phillips, the program’s strength and conditioning coach. UNFILTERED IS 30 MINS OUT! A 25-year-old already considered a cautionary tale, a tragic case of what could’ve been. That injury at Gregory Gym was the first time I experienced severity of the condition. Instead, the Bucks took Ford at No. Ford explained in a Twitter video: “Let me tell you how that came about. The Bucks trailed the Timberwolves by 13 points with 4:34 to play when Ford came off a side pick-and-roll, attacking the lane. Ford was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Yet as Houston resident and basketball great Sam Cassell said, Ford “was always the fastest man in the damn gym.”. “Because I knew the kid had a great future. Local legends such as Dwayne Rogers served as playground professors in his early basketball education. “He has such a love and passion,” Barnes said. But behind the scenes, Ford’s body was breaking down. Take the High Road (TV Series 1980–2003) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Screw had a ballad. “After the collision, what happened?” Whitsitt asked. 14 drops at 12:30 p.m. By 2001, Ford already had McDonald’s All-American honors and national notoriety but still needed a signature to silence the doubters. “That’s hard to get out of your mind.”. He won the John Wooden award and was named the Player of the Year by Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, ESPN.com, and CBS SportsLine. And his AAU program so far avoids the stench of many money-grabbing basketball factories. The Ford sometimes spotted on the end of the Pacers bench looked foreign to Texas fans and friends. 8. “He commanded the show the minute he stepped on campus. “As human beings, we are selfish. Ford knew that he wanted to coach when his playing career was over. “Coach, are you sure that’s what you want to do?” Ford asked him. They only remember that Ford never got up to shoot the free throw. Like the time he disobeyed Barnes and gave Brandon Mouton the game-securing, technical free throws on the Madison Square Garden stage, then talked up Mouton’s clutchness to his teammates in the locker room. Then two things happened. … He felt that if it wasn’t his way, it wasn’t the right way.”. “You think it is over.”. “T.J. Ivey calls him a “wizard with the ball.” Cassell says he had a Chris Paul-like vision to make passes others don’t see — and he should know; he’s on the Clippers staff now after his own career as an NBA All-Star point guard. He slid around a screen, pulled up, and from 15 feet, hit the game-winning shot. Ford, once again, could not move. Use your speed, your skills. He’d won the Wooden and Naismith awards as the nation’s best college baller. Ford averaged 12.2 points and 6.6 assists per game that season as the starting point guard. Judge Dan Mike Bird overruled the objection. Don’t let them touch you. “That was a fun time for me that I didn’t have the prior four years in the NBA,” Ford said. changed it all,” former Texas strength and conditioning coach Todd Wright said. The chance that the next time he leaves his legs, he might never get them back. “If you could have that game back,” he’d posit, “what would you do?”. He’ll just shut down on you. And yet Cassell, Ford’s friend and mentor, says the story “isn’t a tragic story; it’s just a story.” A story of the cliché, metaphorical rise and literal fall. We’ll never know. A book with no proper spine, but with pages left to turn. Ford hit the floor. But he also dreamed of doing what they didn’t: making it. Ford –listed at 6-0, but according to Ivey, more like “5’9, with Timberlands on” – crashed into Mark Madsen, 6-9 and husky. “I love him like a son.”. And there, for the first time, he found a way to blend his alpha dog mentality with his new NBA reality: a bit part, not a big part, of a team’s title dreams. He went down. Up two points late in the game, Courtney told his team to foul. Ford and those close to him agree that the more likely destination pre-pickup game was Chicago at No. … “I believe he would have been struck ( when the SUV backed into Session’s patrol vehicle),” Sosa said. “I was more cautious of using my athletic ability all of the time. He really did. Silence fell over the students watching the Lone Star’s biggest basketball star, paralyzed and prostrate, mere weeks away from the draft. And be they basketball gods or bad medical odds, they came for T.J. Ford. Ford moved to Houston as a freshman to attend Willowridge and play under respected coach Ronnie Courtney. Ford would sometimes fall asleep in Barnes’ hotel room at the foot of the bed or on the floor, film still rolling. “You think your career is over,” Ford said. He has the TJ Ford Basketball Academy, which is a premier youth basketball program for boys and girls in the Greater Houston area. The back injury that Ford suffered during his rookie season forced him to miss the entire 2004-05 season. © Copyright 2021 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. “You didn’t know what your future was,” Ford said. “He’d been pretty good. During the spring of his senior year at Willowridge, Ford started experiencing numbness in his arms and neck. During the draft I wanted the heat to draft TJ Ford thankfully I’m not the one that made the pick — Danny (@DPinoJr) April 9, 2019. You know the stats and accolades: 2003 national player of the year awards (Naismith, Wooden, Sporting News, etc.). An era of mixed drinks that combined codeine and caffeine. He won two Texas Class 5A state titles during his high school tenure as well. If something is missing, please check back soon or let us know. Gotta put that question on your mind, though.”. Robert Lazare, the school’s athletic equipment manager, calls him the “godfather of Texas basketball,” as influential to Longhorn hoops as Roger Clemens was to baseball. He just needed the missing piece. Fearless. He just always played hard.”. They had flare where they didn’t have hardware; some summers, they took down NBA talent. His is no sad story, only a story. He finished his NBA career playing with the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs. TJ Ford’s age is 37. A few years later, Ford would fall. But Ford’s promising debut proved short-lived. Spectators surrounded the court in Gregory Gym, the campus' recreational center, to see the spectacle, free of charge. 1 seed in the 2003 NCAA Tournament. Just a dozen years removed from that senior season, he’d have to retire a dozen days shy of his 29th birthday — the age D.J. At a speech at Tulane University, President Gerald Ford says the Vietnam War is finished as far as America is concerned. Ample time is spent helping the kids with classroom skills. But no basketball breakup goes down so easy. Perhaps that’s the easiest portrait to paint. TJ had to jump off,” Sosa testified. — Royal Ivey. The defense team objected when Whitsitt asked what she thought would happen if he hadn’t jumped. “See if he gets any playing time.”. Their time together, for years, provided fodder for Barnes’ defenders. And on the other, a man shrunken by his spine, held back by his stubbornness, a cautionary tale of what can happen when fear takes hold. According to Courtney, Ford said doctors told him his chances to play again stood at 50-50. Prognoses came in the weeks that followed. I know he can get on a coach’s nerves. And he knew how to run the team in regard to showing them that he’s willing to do what he had to do to make everyone around him better.”. His head hit Ivey’s thigh, snapping back. “It stays there. He tugged at the heart of his jersey and called to the world: “I’m T.J. Ford!”. I want to do something special here.’”. In an article from The Undefeated, Ford talked about how much he valued teaching the game to others. And though he recovered and received the all-clear in the coming days, that first fall, that 40 minutes, might have altered NBA history in its impact on the 2003 Draft. Another remnant of turn-of-the-century nostalgia? A man who lost basketball, but regained what he once was. But like any star that fizzles, like any basketball player that sees his career cut too short, Ford struggled. “It got to me,” Courtney said. One of those coaches was a fresh face in Texas: Rick Barnes, the Longhorns’ new hardwood leader by way of Clemson. You gotta put that question on your mind, though. So Ford carried on. The Bulls had lost Jay Williams to injury after a motorcycle accident a week before the draft. They had a conversation they’d never had, with a simple, but pivotal, conclusion. But Ford’s calling card was his ability to give when he could get. “He would find you,” Ivey said. Before T.J. Ford became the name you hadn’t thought about in years, he was the three syllables on the tip of every Texan tongue. Until this: A regional semifinal against Booker T. Washington, and Coach Courtney’s strange request. Ford only played 55 games in his first season and would have to miss the remainder of the season due to an injury. Ford battled through multiple injuries throughout his NBA career and could never establish himself as an elite NBA guard. 12,074 posts. “You think about a young man’s life.”. Maybe his frame never had the muscle to tussle with NBA’s bigger point guards. Basketball is the last thing on your mind.”, NBA PHOTOS: Greatest Bucks | Greatest Spurs | Raptors' history of dunks. “I could have went to any school in the country,” Ford said. Ford said: "After so many times, I fell hard and nothing happened. An era of Houston when local science measured speed on a four-letter spectrum: D.J. Chris Bosh kinda blessed it. It doesn’t go away,” Ford said of fear. Barnes’ response, according to Ford: “OK.”. 11 Baytown Hoyas jersey had inspired the burnt orange, double-ace on his son’s back. And his coach, Terry Porter, saw value in the intangibles he’d transferred over from Texas. He credits his relationship with coach Sam Mitchell, the team’s chemistry and a free-flowing offense for Toronto’s two-straight trips to the playoffs and his resurgence. “He was a specimen,” Ivey said. Ford retired at 28 in 2012 after a number of spinal-injury scares. The front half got a custom "TJ" pattern that looked like a Louis Vuitton pattern, while the back half was painted gold. Spring tradition at Texas included a pickup game between members of the Longhorn football and basketball teams. “Take this and your All-American guy,” Williams said. Although never a big seller in the home market (with the exception of Post Office Telephones ), it was a big export earner in developing countries, due to its basic layout and specification, and remained in production (for export markets only) until production of Bedford vehicles ceased. Two years would pass before the clock struck midnight and stenosis struck again. Ford answered with a grimace. A condition that has hobbled Mr. Met David Wright ; a condition that forced David Wilson to retire from football and literally run . TJ Ford’s net worth for 2021, estimated earnings, and income is currently under review. Ford would go onto to play in eight seasons in the NBA, with career averages of 11.2 points and 5.8 assists. — TJ Ford (@tj_ford) August 7, 2018. He led the team in steals and minutes per game and became the first freshman in NCAA history to lead the nation in assists averaging 8.27 per game. “That’s when I was really in the zone,” Ford said. But those close to Ford can’t help but wonder. It produced nine All-Stars, a four-time MVP (LeBron James), three scoring champions (James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony) and a litany of steals; David West, Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins, Josh Howard, Mo Williams and Kyle Korver all came off the board 18th or later. A mentality that doesn’t mesh with Chris Owens’ favorite aspect of Ford’s game at Texas: “He never just slouched. This time, he was right. Ford averaged 12.2 points and 6.6 assists per game that season as the starting point guard. TAKE THE HIGH ROAD is considered a Scottish institution and certainly one of our fondest remembered TV shows.. That’s how we arrive at the story of D.J. Maybe his shot never would have caught up with the demands of a league in love with 3-pointers. “When I figured out what I was as an athlete.”. D.J. Ford, frustrated, called his father — the hero whose No. After his short stint with the Bucks, Ford was traded to the Toronto Raptors. After that first year in Toronto, things started to go downhill for Ford. Untouchable. In his return to life as a Longhorn, as an orchestrator of Houston hoops, Ford has recaptured the traits from his Texas days. My most recent was his game-winner against Golden State. That’s the thing about Ford’s legacy at Texas; he didn’t build himself up as much as he built up others – and helped build a program. When every hit can hurt. After his short stint with the Bucks, Ford was traded to the Toronto Raptors. Ford’s NBA career had ended where it started in his days as a draft prospect at Gregory Gym: on the soil of the state that still cherished his past, paralyzed, fearing his basketball future had fallen with him. With a smile. “We knew from the very beginning that he was the guy we wanted to make the face of our program,” Barnes said. Watching from afar while playing for the Hawks, Ivey saw the same hesitance. Ford fell in love with basketball in Baytown, Texas, where his dad played on the Pro-Am circuit. Saw him with TJ Ford and I think there's some major significance there will because that's that's one of the all-time greats and he was not there with Chris Beard so he was after Chris Beard yet TJ very influential in AAU basketball in the state of Texas and then another interesting one. “He took me for an incredible ride. During his freshman year, Ford put up big numbers. And he had plans to transform Texas from a football factory to a basketball powerhouse. Hinrich gave the Bulls solid production in the pre-Derrick Rose era (14.4 points and 6.4 assists per game), but who knows what might have been for Ford had he went to the Windy City. “Could run the team. Ford just unveiled the new 2021 F-150. Ford tells Goldwire he thinks he could still play, but he knows he would still fear. 4 spot. In some ways, Ford came back better. In front of T.J. Ford was the dream: To do what Dwayne Rogers, his dad and some of Houston’s finest hadn’t. To give Booker T. the free throws. Chris Owens, another Texas teammate, said Ford was the reason he came back to school for his senior season, to glean the benefits of an offense led by a first-rate facilitator. Barnes’ first recruiting trip: Houston, to see this sophomore, Ford, who supposedly held in his spindly body the court vision of a coach. The next season, Toronto shipped Ford to Indiana in a package that included Roy Hibbert. NBA point guard who had a standout two years at the University of Texas, winning numerous Player of the Year awards in 2013; drafted 8th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in … Many athletes excel in sports during their high school and college careers. What happened was, me and Chris Bosh were really close - we’re both Texas kids, Texas guys, and we had a really, really good relationship. “How is he?” he asked. Going into the 2003 NBA draft, Ford was one of the top prospects in the class. “He was used to playing 40 minutes in college,” Goldwire said. “I know his mentality. If he could get his back back, what would he become? “All that because he is a competitor. “But I believe in what we’re doing.”. Nobody knew. Goldwire, whose career had been a matter of basketball survival, could help Ford deal with this new roadblock: Confronting basketball mortality. At the end of the season, he was named to the All-Rookie Second Team. He’d make sure you were successful.”. 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