On the fourth day before Christmas, the children from the “boys and girls” club were very excited because they received gifts from Pelican star CJ-mccolum, and CJ was also very moved to see this scene. During his career as a Portland pioneer, CJ has made many contributions to the local community. After being traded to New Orleans in February this year, CJ has had a great impact on the community.
But among all these charity activities, CJ likes Christmas arrangement best because he has the opportunity to spend time with teenagers, play bowling, chat, laugh and talk about life together. In Thursday’s victory over Spurs, CJ played a career Representative World War I, contributing 40 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and 7 out of 14 points. But on Wednesday night, CJ stayed with the teenagers of the “boys and girls” club. The original plan was to go to the construction site for on-the-spot investigation.
What surprised the children was that they were greeted by a bowling alley and Pelican star CJ. After the two-hour activity, the children opened the gift box one after another. They screamed for at least five minutes because everyone received an iPad, two tickets and a CJ jersey.
“We started bowling, spraying rubbish. If we didn’t hit all of them, we would have to make up for them. But then you can communicate with them at another level, talk about life and school with them. This period of time is just the end of the semester, with Christmas holidays and new year.” CJ said in an interview with Andscape website.
“It is a very special experience to talk about life with children. I feel very moved when I see the smile on their faces when they open the gift. You can understand the influence you have on them, and you can realize what these things mean to them.” CJ added.
Besides being a Pelican star, CJ is also a husband, father and a new resident of New Orleans. He and his wife Elis also own a winery in Oregon. He is also the chairman of NBA players association and recently finished his first show in ESPN’s blog. The 31-year-old star is least worried about the success of himself and pelicans, because he believes that this season will usher in changes.
Dream chasing, Carter, Trey Young, van frit, Fox, connenham, Wiseman and Josh Jackson all participated in the diary before Andscape. CJ plans to share his feelings about life and competition every month this season. The following is CJ’s diary this month.
You will see the Zion you expect in the future. Before I came to Pelican, I didn’t see him playing so closely. I don’t think we have seen players like him in the past, the way he plays, his strength and impact, his feeling of ending under the basket, he recently cut 30 + in 9 consecutive games, I feel that it is not difficult for him to score.
Interestingly, he didn’t play for a year before, so he was studying how to adapt himself. He is feeling the game, new teammates, new employees and a new offensive system. Now he has adapted to the take-off and landing during the breakthrough, and his body has returned to the state of playing the game. He has now entered his own rhythm and can find the right position on the court. He will shoot two three points when needed. He can break through and kill.
Obviously, people are watching the highlights of his offensive end. But on the defensive side, he will also make a lot of efforts. He would take the initiative to defend. There was a cap at the bottom corner before that reminds me of his outrageous fan Cup at Duke University. You will see a full-fire Zion. I think he has not reached the peak yet, because he is only 22 years old and he will make progress in the future. He will give full play to his potential, realize his talent and make use of all skills.
The 360-degree dunking that he ended in the game against the sun is undoubtedly the icing on the cake. He played for 37 or 8 minutes. He defeated bag clip. All kinds of dunks hit jump shots in the face of defense. This fully demonstrated his game status, and the last dunk showed his athletic ability, explosive power, and the ability to drive fans to celebrate.
People have been saying: give fans a show. They bought tickets to watch the ball and worked hard to make money. Zion gave them a performance. We collectively brought a show to the fans, while Zion gave the children a topic to talk about when they came home. When they return to school, they can say to their friends, “Have you seen the dunks of Zion?” As a child and a live audience, you want to see such moments of competition, and you want to see those moments that surprise you.
Previously, Zion could not play because of injury. This round was absolutely memorable. Before that, he must have done a lot of psychological construction. I have never seen the smoothness and explosive power of this dunk before. Listening to the sound is like a Jack hitting rim, before he jumped, he was very slow, but he still had the strength to buckle the ball into the basket. His sight was almost flat. It was so crazy that he was very angry and very angry.
I knew Lillard would become the scoring king of the pioneer young pioneer team history. I recorded a video for him a month ago. We recorded it in the theater, and I want to praise him, because this achievement is very important. I think many people may not understand that a player can play for a team for so long, which is a test of health, because keeping healthy also requires a little luck.
You must take good care of your body, you must be an extraordinary scorer, you must ensure efficiency, you must be the leader of the team. It is very difficult to stay in a city for so long. Brother alphabet and I were the only players in the 2013 rookie who chose our team at the beginning. Now there are only brother alphabet, but I am happy for Lillard.
As a former teammate and good friend of Lillard, I am happy for him to accomplish such an achievement. I know there are more honors waiting for him to unlock. I told him, I said, “you will not be grateful for that moment until you become the young pioneer team history scorer, because you are always in the process of hard work.” He averaged 27.28 points in the game. You know it’s only a matter of time before he becomes the scoring king. We all expected this day to come. But when it really happens, you should celebrate it.
As a member of the NBA Social Justice League Committee, I also work on the board of directors of the social change fund. As chairman of NBA players association, I think it is important for me to solve some specific things I have seen in this market, in Louisiana and in New Orleans. The important thing is that I also want to talk about some things I saw in my life and when I grew up in Canton, Ohio.
As a black man who almost made some wrong decisions when he was a child, fortunately there are right people around me to guide me. I just want to share my personal story and explain what it looks like. However, there are still many ways to continuously improve the community: for example, how to improve the judicial system, how to improve the prison reform, and how to improve the situation that ethnic minorities are affected by the youth system.
When we lived in Portland, our focus was different. Different regions have different concerns because of different markets and geographical locations. When you come to the south, there is an angora prison with a different population base. There are different types of crimes and crime rates. I want to pay attention to those areas that need help. I also participated in a fund-raising activity called “people’s fund-raising. They cooperate with the public prosecutor to help support the families of current and former prisoners during holidays.
This is an area that I will pay special attention to, because I know it is necessary for my growth mode. I have family members who have been in prison, and I have family members who have been locked up for their mistakes. Everyone has done something they are not proud of, but it makes it difficult for them to return to society. They are labeled as criminals. They face many obstacles. I think it is appropriate to go to jail for a period of time, but I don’t want this to become a dead cycle, I want them to have appropriate resources for their use so that they can overcome their mistakes and correct them.
Because we play locally, I think it is very important to have areas of concern. The league has 30 teams and 30 different cities. We have players from all over the world and all over the United States. Each of us has something to deal with, but we will also pay attention to the problems in the region. I think it is very necessary for players to obtain information, let themselves get education and try to make the world a better place.
We do charity sending tablets from the perspective of education, because you can use it to write homework, check materials, study, write and play games. In terms of functionality, you can do a lot of things through the tablet. In the process of children’s growth, this can help them learn how to use computers and the Internet. This is a very important tool, and I hope they can use it correctly.
The most wonderful part is that children will remember this moment in the future. Obviously, we will take photos as a souvenir, but I will try my best to avoid the media in such activities. Because I didn’t do it for the media, I am for children, to experience this process of giving. I think it is cool to leave memories for myself and children.
When I was young, the professional player who inspired me to grow up was Eric Snow, a former NBA defender who worked for supersonic, 76 and Knight, in 03, he was selected as the second best defense array). In a sense, you will worship people from the same place as you. I always heard how successful snow was. He rewarded the local community by holding a children’s training camp. When I was young, I liked sports very much and worked in the community sports center. I also work for the city league and am a member of the Boys and Girls Club. If you want to compete and become a professional player, you must be with professional players. Snow is one of the earliest professional players I contacted.
Iverson and snow
Snow holds children’s training camp every year. The most important thing he teaches us is the importance of training, respect others and what kind of life we want in the future. His training camp is not free. He will charge everyone 10 dollars. He will say at that time, “the reason why I charge is that nothing in life is free. You must motivate yourself to work. I see that some of you wear Jordan basketball shoes. Since you can afford Jordan, you can also get these 10 dollars.”
Obviously, if some children can’t afford 10 dollars, snow will pay out of his own pocket. But he was the first NBA player I contacted when I was a child. He was a teammate of Iverson at that time, but he still spent time holding training camps. From 9 to 13 years old, I can always learn from him, ask him questions, and want to have the same figure as him. I don’t think so to beat him on the court. Although he is only 1.9 meters, he has 100 kilograms and is not the same size as him, but he is very good and trains very hard.
I want to say that for teenagers, this is a moment that I still remember. I will return to the community with the same mentality. I am also doing training camp. When you talk with children in the stadium, it may affect their whole life. I remember that when I was 12 years old, I chose James one by one. Some things you will never forget when you grow up. I think the memories I brought to my children are also memorable.
Compilation: Fontaine
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Player autographed