Buck Harvey: Next Parker: Another son of the world rises to a title
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA040306.1D.harvey.81c7a03.html
Web Posted: 04/03/2006 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
INDIANAPOLIS — He speaks French, just as
Tony Parker does. But you couldn't tell by his English.
His mother is European, as Parker's is. But she's from Sweden, not the Netherlands.
His father is from Cameroon, not Chicago. And his father played a sport professionally in France, but it was tennis, not basketball.
He likes Bob Marley more than rap. He's almost 7-feet tall, not 6-foot-2. He doesn't know Eva Longoria or Chip Engelland but, going by the look of his jumper, he needs to know the latter.
Otherwise, the Florida kid, Joakim Noah, is just like Parker.
And he could be tonight, too.
As it was with Parker, the mesh of cultures has produced a unique package. Noah, the son of beauty, fame and the world, has been the best player in this NCAA tournament.
This started when Joakim (pronounced JOE-kim) was born. Then, Patrick Ewing, a friend of the family, presented the baby with a basketball.
Ewing assumed what everyone did. The kid would have to excel at something, right?
Joakim's grandfather was a soccer star in Cameroon, and Joakim says his grandfather is still a dance-floor legend there. Joakim's father, Yannick, was 12 when Arthur Ashe spotted him in Cameroon, bringing him to France to attend school. Yannick went on to win the 1983 French Open, while also popularizing the inherently dangerous between-the-legs tennis return.
Add his mother's bloodline (she was 1978 Miss Sweden), and this gene pool overflows. NBA scouts know that. Some see Noah as the No.1 pick in the draft if he leaves Florida this spring, and they love his hands and feet and athletic ability and length.
But they love his mind, too. "He's a complex individual," said one scout. "I wouldn't call him sophisticated, but worldly. He's different, but in a good way."
That's why Noah isn't Parker or anyone else. He was born in New York, moved to France when he was 3, then returned 10 years later. He tried tennis ("I quit in about two days"), then fell in love with basketball.
He was a McDonald's All-American but somehow wasn't one of the top 100 recruits in the country. A college coach who did talk to him early was UCLA's Ben Howland, who was at Pitt at the time.
Despite success at a New Jersey prep school, Noah was thin and awkward looking. Just a year ago, as a Florida freshman, Noah played just two minutes in the NCAA tournament.
What followed said a lot about him. He went back to New York, but this time to the streets. Living in Harlem with a mentor, he played in the Rucker League to get tougher.
"If your swagger isn't there," Noah said Sunday, "those people will smell blood. I didn't have any swagger, but I had to act like I did."
He said he earned what he was looking for there, as well as a nickname. Noble One.
Fitting. Noah comes across as opinionated and sharp, the kind of person who doesn't mind arguing everything from politics to the role of the media. He will disagree with his coach, Billy Donovan, and he can be blunt.
When told that a UCLA player from Cameroon had been talking about eating viper and boa, Noah rolled his eyes. "He's a clown," he said.
But Noah isn't a rebel when it comes to the game. He wants to "seize the moment," and he does so by absorbing everything. When Donovan talks about how attentive and eager his players are for information, he is talking about Noah.
That's why Noah has emerged from sub to superstar this season. He needs some strength to play in the NBA, just as Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge does, but the core is there.
How he handles the pressure of the title game is indicative, too. His parents, divorced, are here, and his father tries to help his son.
"Pops is like my best friend," Noah said. "But he's always telling me to calm down and take a deep breath. If anything, he stresses me. I tell him to chill and go get a couple of beers."
Noah says the worst part is waiting for these games. He can't sleep because he goes over everything in his mind. Then, when he steps on the court, he relaxes. All he has to do is play.
Parker coped with the NBA as a teenager with similar calm. And that's why these international hybrids could have something else in common.
Noah, too, could win a championship.
啊哈,
看来夏花又没好日子过了。
不客气,不客气。。。