Man why can't the Pacers ever pick up a 2nd round gem like Daniel "Boobie" Gibson?
http://www.mlive.com/pistons/stories...l=2&thispage=1
http://www.mlive.com/pistons/stories...l=2&thispage=1
Rising rookie
Mary Schmitt Boyer
Touted for his infectious smile and work ethic, first-year guard Daniel Gibson can now add Eastern Conference finals hero to his Cavaliers' resume
You could hear LeBron James coming before you could see him.
“Out of the way for the superstar,” he bellowed as he left the Cavaliers locker room for the interview room after the team knocked off the Detroit Pistons, 98-82, Saturday night to advance to its first NBA Finals.
“Let the superstar through.”
He was talking about Daniel “Boobie” Gibson.
While the spotlight never leaves James, it has widened to include the player he calls his “little brother.” Gibson stole the show Saturday with a career-high 31 points as he tied a Cavs' playoff record with five 3-pointers in the second half. When he hit four in the fourth quarter, the crowd, already filled with risqué signs using his nickname, erupted with the improbable chant “Boo- bie, Boo- bie.”
“Boobie is unbelievable, what he's done, how he's grown,” James gushed. “I'm at a loss for words right now.”
Indeed. That response came to a question about Detroit's Rasheed Wallace.
“I'm so excited, I'm not even answering your question at all,” James said, laughing. “But you guys know how I feel right now.”
The admiration is mutual.
“He's the best,” Gibson said of James. “I really look at him as a big brother, just the way he handles it. I love everything about him. The way he tells you things, you really don't get down on yourself. It's all motivational. Just everything about him is great. It's amazing to see how he's such a great player and a great person all in the same package.”
James has been touting Gibson's abilities since the Cavs selected the Texas underclassman in the second round of the 2006 draft, the 42nd player taken.
“When we got Daniel in the second round, I believe it was a blessing in disguise,” James said. “I believe we got a steal. I just knew how good of a basketball player he could be, and once I saw his work ethic during practice, after practice, before practice . . . I get to the gym early, he's there before me.
“We’re shooting after practice every single day. I just saw his drive and his passion.
“One day we had a sit-around in the locker room when we were struggling, and Daniel said, ‘Man, if every guy in this locker room just plays as hard as I want to play on this basketball court, we’re going to be something special.’ And for a rookie, a guy that really is not even supposed to say something or say nothing at all, I remember that . . . and I stayed on him from there. I just knew he was going to be something special.”
Back home in Houston, where he became the city’s all-time leading prep scorer as well as a straight-A student at Jesse Jones High School, no one is surprised at Gibson’s emergence in the Cavs’ lineup. He always was ahead of his time. Even his nickname is a result of playing over his head.
“It’s something that my mom gave me,” he explained. “When I was little, I liked to play with the big guys, and I used to get beat up a lot, and I used to come in the house crying. So she kind of called me ‘crybaby booby,’ it all kind of ran together.”
As the youngest of four, Gibson was spoiled by his older brother Byron Jr. and his two sisters, Taneccia and Tashona, his mother said. Cheryl Gibson and her husband, Byron, were high school sweethearts who have been married 27 years. Byron Gibson played basketball at the University of Houston, but marriage and a young family precluded his NBA career. Byron Jr. was a football player, and Taneccia and Tashona were cheerleaders, so Daniel Gibson grew up around sports.
He tried football — once.
“He ran the length of the field and scored a touchdown the first time he touched the ball, but he said he felt like he’d been punched in the chest, and that was it for football,” Cheryl Gibson recalled.
Basketball was different. He’d play anywhere, anytime, all day. In the summers, he’d show up at the legendary Fonde Recreation Center at 7 a.m., watch the pros in town play, take the trolley to Wendy’s for a lunch of chicken nuggets, take the trolley back, then watch the local college stars play in the evenings. His mother, a sales manager at a lumber company, even got a part-time job at the concession stands, which meant free hot dogs or chili dogs for her son for dinner.
Seeing her son’s devotion besides his talent, Cheryl Gibson called James Clayton, who ran the prestigious Houstonian AAU basketball program out of Fonde. Clayton asked how good her son, then 9, was.
“I’m his mom,” she said, laughing. “I think he’s great.”
Clayton went out to a playground to see for himself.
“He was so gifted,” Clayton said during a telephone interview before Game 5. “I told her, ‘Please get him off the concrete and bring him to Fonde,’ and he never looked back.”
A national AAU title followed, as did a high school Class 4A state title. Despite that success, Gibson remained a tireless worker, shooting outside in the dark after a game if he wasn’t pleased, or working out in the summers with former Cavs coach John Lucas.
“He always played beyond his years,” Clayton said. “That was one thing you could see about Daniel right away.”
Said his high school coach, Jessie Shelton, “Anything he does is no surprise to me. I saw him play in eighth grade and I knew he’d play varsity for me. It was not so much that he dominated the game by shooting but that he stayed within the concept of the team. In the four years he played for me, he never scored 50 points in a game. He averaged about 30, and then came out when we had a big lead. He set a standard for everyone else.”
So impressive was Gibson in setting the Houston high school scoring record of 3,102 that Jesse Jones High School is discussing officially retiring his uniform number and naming its gym after him. Gibson was equally impressive in the classroom, where he finished sixth in his class of 212 and made the National Honor Society. His mother recalled that he was devastated when he received a B that took him out of the running for class valedictorian. She also talked about his good heart. Gibson volunteered to pay for a senior trip for a classmate who couldn’t afford it — even though it meant Cheryl and Byron would end up footing most of the bill.
Of course, by this time, Gibson’s basketball skill overshadowed all that. Where once he’d spent the day at Fonde watching players like Hakeem Olajuwon and Kenny Smith, now they were watching him.
“He was the guy everybody was saying was the next guy,” said Smith, now a TNT announcer. “He always had that reputation. He was such a prolific scorer in high school, it was hard not to know who he was. So I knew who he was. I’d seen him. He was where it was supposed to be. It doesn’t get better than that place. He came to where it was.”
Texas coach Rick Barnes also made trips to see Gibson.
“We recruited him as hard as any player since I’ve been at Texas,” Barnes said during a recent break in his summer camp. “We’ve all been watching. We’re all excited for him. We always thought he could do what he did for us. He was such a phenomenal young talent. As good as he is in basketball, that pales to what a good person he is and what good parents he has.
“We had a tough year his sophomore year. He held us together — as a sophomore. What I loved about him was that he was never moody. He always had a smile on his face. I used to kid him about his hair when he had different designs cut into it. But he has a great smile. Everybody who comes in contact with him loves him. He takes time for everybody.”
Indeed, before the biggest game of his life, Gibson walked off the court after warming up, signed dozens of autographs and posed for half a dozen pictures. His smile was polite, though — no where near the explosion of joy he was wearing during his fourth quarter outburst and after the game.
“Oh, man, it’s hard to describe,” he said of the fourth quarter. “I was excited, feeling good, and happy for my team, happy that we had put ourselves in the situation to win the game because that was our main focus, just getting out there and giving it everything we got, and bringing home a victory.”
Gibson admitted his phone has been ringing off the hook with his stellar play against the Pistons. Asked if he thought about turning it off so he could concentrate, the 21-year-old giggled and said, “No, I like it ringing.”
Some of those calls are coming from a proud dad, who shared his dream, and a proud mom, who always knew he’d make it.
“I’m so happy to see him doing what he wanted to do,” she said. “I can hear how happy he is in his voice. This was his dream, and he was going to do whatever it took to make it in the NBA. Once he says he’s going to do it, you can believe it will get done.”
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mschmitt@plaind.com, 216-999-4668
Mary Schmitt Boyer
Touted for his infectious smile and work ethic, first-year guard Daniel Gibson can now add Eastern Conference finals hero to his Cavaliers' resume
You could hear LeBron James coming before you could see him.
“Out of the way for the superstar,” he bellowed as he left the Cavaliers locker room for the interview room after the team knocked off the Detroit Pistons, 98-82, Saturday night to advance to its first NBA Finals.
“Let the superstar through.”
He was talking about Daniel “Boobie” Gibson.
While the spotlight never leaves James, it has widened to include the player he calls his “little brother.” Gibson stole the show Saturday with a career-high 31 points as he tied a Cavs' playoff record with five 3-pointers in the second half. When he hit four in the fourth quarter, the crowd, already filled with risqué signs using his nickname, erupted with the improbable chant “Boo- bie, Boo- bie.”
“Boobie is unbelievable, what he's done, how he's grown,” James gushed. “I'm at a loss for words right now.”
Indeed. That response came to a question about Detroit's Rasheed Wallace.
“I'm so excited, I'm not even answering your question at all,” James said, laughing. “But you guys know how I feel right now.”
The admiration is mutual.
“He's the best,” Gibson said of James. “I really look at him as a big brother, just the way he handles it. I love everything about him. The way he tells you things, you really don't get down on yourself. It's all motivational. Just everything about him is great. It's amazing to see how he's such a great player and a great person all in the same package.”
James has been touting Gibson's abilities since the Cavs selected the Texas underclassman in the second round of the 2006 draft, the 42nd player taken.
“When we got Daniel in the second round, I believe it was a blessing in disguise,” James said. “I believe we got a steal. I just knew how good of a basketball player he could be, and once I saw his work ethic during practice, after practice, before practice . . . I get to the gym early, he's there before me.
“We’re shooting after practice every single day. I just saw his drive and his passion.
“One day we had a sit-around in the locker room when we were struggling, and Daniel said, ‘Man, if every guy in this locker room just plays as hard as I want to play on this basketball court, we’re going to be something special.’ And for a rookie, a guy that really is not even supposed to say something or say nothing at all, I remember that . . . and I stayed on him from there. I just knew he was going to be something special.”
Back home in Houston, where he became the city’s all-time leading prep scorer as well as a straight-A student at Jesse Jones High School, no one is surprised at Gibson’s emergence in the Cavs’ lineup. He always was ahead of his time. Even his nickname is a result of playing over his head.
“It’s something that my mom gave me,” he explained. “When I was little, I liked to play with the big guys, and I used to get beat up a lot, and I used to come in the house crying. So she kind of called me ‘crybaby booby,’ it all kind of ran together.”
As the youngest of four, Gibson was spoiled by his older brother Byron Jr. and his two sisters, Taneccia and Tashona, his mother said. Cheryl Gibson and her husband, Byron, were high school sweethearts who have been married 27 years. Byron Gibson played basketball at the University of Houston, but marriage and a young family precluded his NBA career. Byron Jr. was a football player, and Taneccia and Tashona were cheerleaders, so Daniel Gibson grew up around sports.
He tried football — once.
“He ran the length of the field and scored a touchdown the first time he touched the ball, but he said he felt like he’d been punched in the chest, and that was it for football,” Cheryl Gibson recalled.
Basketball was different. He’d play anywhere, anytime, all day. In the summers, he’d show up at the legendary Fonde Recreation Center at 7 a.m., watch the pros in town play, take the trolley to Wendy’s for a lunch of chicken nuggets, take the trolley back, then watch the local college stars play in the evenings. His mother, a sales manager at a lumber company, even got a part-time job at the concession stands, which meant free hot dogs or chili dogs for her son for dinner.
Seeing her son’s devotion besides his talent, Cheryl Gibson called James Clayton, who ran the prestigious Houstonian AAU basketball program out of Fonde. Clayton asked how good her son, then 9, was.
“I’m his mom,” she said, laughing. “I think he’s great.”
Clayton went out to a playground to see for himself.
“He was so gifted,” Clayton said during a telephone interview before Game 5. “I told her, ‘Please get him off the concrete and bring him to Fonde,’ and he never looked back.”
A national AAU title followed, as did a high school Class 4A state title. Despite that success, Gibson remained a tireless worker, shooting outside in the dark after a game if he wasn’t pleased, or working out in the summers with former Cavs coach John Lucas.
“He always played beyond his years,” Clayton said. “That was one thing you could see about Daniel right away.”
Said his high school coach, Jessie Shelton, “Anything he does is no surprise to me. I saw him play in eighth grade and I knew he’d play varsity for me. It was not so much that he dominated the game by shooting but that he stayed within the concept of the team. In the four years he played for me, he never scored 50 points in a game. He averaged about 30, and then came out when we had a big lead. He set a standard for everyone else.”
So impressive was Gibson in setting the Houston high school scoring record of 3,102 that Jesse Jones High School is discussing officially retiring his uniform number and naming its gym after him. Gibson was equally impressive in the classroom, where he finished sixth in his class of 212 and made the National Honor Society. His mother recalled that he was devastated when he received a B that took him out of the running for class valedictorian. She also talked about his good heart. Gibson volunteered to pay for a senior trip for a classmate who couldn’t afford it — even though it meant Cheryl and Byron would end up footing most of the bill.
Of course, by this time, Gibson’s basketball skill overshadowed all that. Where once he’d spent the day at Fonde watching players like Hakeem Olajuwon and Kenny Smith, now they were watching him.
“He was the guy everybody was saying was the next guy,” said Smith, now a TNT announcer. “He always had that reputation. He was such a prolific scorer in high school, it was hard not to know who he was. So I knew who he was. I’d seen him. He was where it was supposed to be. It doesn’t get better than that place. He came to where it was.”
Texas coach Rick Barnes also made trips to see Gibson.
“We recruited him as hard as any player since I’ve been at Texas,” Barnes said during a recent break in his summer camp. “We’ve all been watching. We’re all excited for him. We always thought he could do what he did for us. He was such a phenomenal young talent. As good as he is in basketball, that pales to what a good person he is and what good parents he has.
“We had a tough year his sophomore year. He held us together — as a sophomore. What I loved about him was that he was never moody. He always had a smile on his face. I used to kid him about his hair when he had different designs cut into it. But he has a great smile. Everybody who comes in contact with him loves him. He takes time for everybody.”
Indeed, before the biggest game of his life, Gibson walked off the court after warming up, signed dozens of autographs and posed for half a dozen pictures. His smile was polite, though — no where near the explosion of joy he was wearing during his fourth quarter outburst and after the game.
“Oh, man, it’s hard to describe,” he said of the fourth quarter. “I was excited, feeling good, and happy for my team, happy that we had put ourselves in the situation to win the game because that was our main focus, just getting out there and giving it everything we got, and bringing home a victory.”
Gibson admitted his phone has been ringing off the hook with his stellar play against the Pistons. Asked if he thought about turning it off so he could concentrate, the 21-year-old giggled and said, “No, I like it ringing.”
Some of those calls are coming from a proud dad, who shared his dream, and a proud mom, who always knew he’d make it.
“I’m so happy to see him doing what he wanted to do,” she said. “I can hear how happy he is in his voice. This was his dream, and he was going to do whatever it took to make it in the NBA. Once he says he’s going to do it, you can believe it will get done.”
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mschmitt@plaind.com, 216-999-4668
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