Gary FranklinII

Basketball has lost a bit of her mystery. We bring cameras to open gyms and black tops to capture what’s supposed to be sacred wars with no fatalities. Smack talk and bragging rights maybe for every play, every shot made, a stop or for winning the day but no exploitation of what’s supposed to be intimate and sacred.

Now I won’t sit here and tell basketball how to dress or tell her she’s worse for wearing a little less but I can reflect on the private times and say I miss her. I appreciate the unseen hours and that’s what this game was for me.

Unseen hours came to light @kyrieirving and I competed as high schoolers from two different sides of the country. It was always love and mutual respect because we competed without the cameras on in gyms with the best of the best and there wasn’t a shooting drill, one on one, 3 on 3 or 5 on 5 we could take off because we weren’t just competing for our name but we were the best our state had to offer at that time. Our ones looked like this Kendall Marshall, Brandon Knight, Ky, Josh Shelby, Corey Joseph, Marquese Teague, Me, Tommy Mason Griffin, John Wall, Deron Lamb,Deon Waiters and a few more over and over and over. You had to be there to understand that feeling and even though I know more respect would be put on my name if cameras were to be in those gyms I appreciate the bond and sacredness it’s created for moments like this where not having seen each other in years when wolf sees wolf it’s respect.

Lastly I’ll say this, shout out to Ky for still being Ky. Proud of you for embracing your true self and not being afraid to walk your walk in this world. Inspiring to say the least and that’s just man to man and in the name of keeping it competitive you definitely have more grays than I do lol 🤞🏾 #hélátribe #brotherhood