Chapter 185: Late night hoops at the park

The sound of 808s bouncing and high hats clapping in the background filled up the park as someone blasted their music with their speakers.

Jason was on the court with four other guys who had been lucky enough to win the first round of rock paper scissors to decide who would be his teammates.

Compared to everyone else on the court Jason was on the shorter side. But the height discrepancy wasn't as bad as Jason was used to seeing.

Now that Jason had grown a few inches and his frame was now a willowy 5'7 (1.7m) the height difference was no longer as bad as it was before.

The tallest person on the court currently was one of Jason's teammates. An older man with a bald shining head who seemed to be around 6'4 (1.93m) with a bit of a potbelly. 

Everyone else was in the range of about 5'8 (1.72m) to 6'1 (1.85m). But one thing that they all had in common was that they were all smiling in anticipation of playing with and against Jason.

Since Jason by himself was a bit of an advantage it was decided that the opposing team would get first possession.

One of the opposing players passed the ball over to Jason and said "Check" Jason then passed the ball back to him.

The guy then began to dribble the ball quickly as he crossed over from left to right, mixed in a few hesitations, and added in a few dribbles between the legs.

Some of the people in the crowd around them began to ooh and ahh as they hyped the player up.

But as Jason watched on he wasn't as impressed 'The speed is pretty good but that's really all there is to say.

The rhythm isn't there, the moves don't really have a purpose, and the ballhandling itself is kinda sloppy.

Even without me doing anything there were a few times where it looked like he was about to lose control of the ball.'

Jason let the guy do his dancing but he just stood his ground and kept his hands up and to the side.

Finally when the guy decided to try and drive by Jason he just reached his right hand out and poked the ball free. 

Jason chased after the ball. Once he managed to gain control of the ball he began to run down the court as he pushed the fast break.

The entire audience started to clap and cheer after Jason got the steal. He had one defender on him as he made his way down the court.

As they got closer to the basket Jason picked up his dribble as he got ready to make his move. His defender saw this and prepared himself to defend the shot.

Jason jumped up as he gently carried the basketball in his right hand while he used his left arm to guard himself slightly from his defender.

The defender saw Jason jump and instantly followed him as he extended his hand outward in an attempt to block the shot.

Jason just smiled as he pulled his arm back and with a flick of his wrist he turned his shot attempt into a over the shoulder pass that was aiming slightly to his left and to the back of him.

The player that was defending Jason watched on in surprise as one of Jason's teammates caught the pass and tried to go up for a layup.

Unfortunately for the young man the entire audience began to laugh after seeing him botch the wide open layup.

Luckily Jason's large teammate was there to grab the rebound as he easily put the ball back into the basket.

Jason walked over and high fived him "Nice rebound Uncle Shaq." Uncle Shaq just laughed as he patted Jason on the back.

Before the game everyone introduced themselves. Uncle Shaq's real name was Reggie. But because of his size and age everyone was used to calling him Uncle Shaq.

As Jason grew in height his arms grew as well. With a longer wing span Jason's already suffocating defense was taken to another level as his longer arms allowed him to go for steals that he wasn't able to before.

Not only did his ability to go for steals improve with his longer wing span. But his ability to block and contest shots did as well.

With his improved wing span Jason could utilize his knowledge and understanding of angles and timing to further improve his ability to contest and block shots.

Because the majority of the competition was composed of casual hoopers and weekend ballers the actual level of competition wasn't too high.

There were a few people who had either played on a team in high school or who played more often to stay in shape but they were solid basketball players at best.

The biggest advantage that they had against Jason was their strength. Although Jason had grown a few inches in height his thin frame still made it hard for him to deal with the strength of stronger players.

But with the lower level of competition this just allowed Jason to showcase a little more flash than he would normally.

On one play Jason was driving to the right when one of the defenders left his teammate on the right corner in order to double team him.

Jason faked a pass to the teammate in the right corner. But then he used his wrist to redirect the ball as it then ended up bouncing through the legs of his initial defender.

Jason ran past the defender as he then laid the ball up. On another play Jason threw the ball hard at the ground as it then bounced up and turned into a lob pass.

After playing and winning three games that went to 21 points Jason decided to take a break "You guys keep playing. Ima take a sec to catch my breathe."

As Jason went to one of the benches to sit down and rest a bunch of people came up to him and asked to take pictures and to get autographs.

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He ended up spending over twenty minutes to satisfy all of his fans as more and more people kept on joining in.

By the time he was done he felt even more tired than when he had been playing the five on five games.

Just as Jason was about to finally sit down and rest he felt his phone ringing in the pockets of his joggers.

He pulled it out and saw that it was Tyreek that was calling "Yo Young Buckets! How you doin man?"

Jason laughed as he responded "I'm doing good Tyreek. You been real busy huh? I tried to get a hold of you to say congrats on your state title but you been MIA."

Tyreek laughed "You know how it is man. I was happy bout winning the state title but my focus was still on the big prize.

This was my last year in high school so I wanted to make the most of it. Too bad me and the boys ended up losing before we could get to the finals."

Jason wiped some of the sweat that was on his forehead off with the back of his hand "Shit man, you guys still did good.

It's still crazy to think that you and the rest of the guys managed to push Newberry to be one of the top four teams in the country.

You guys outplayed some real powerhouses like Sierra Canyon and Chino Hills. But anyways, not that I mind talking with you but is there a reason you called me?"

Tyreek smiled as he looked at Jason "I heard that you was in the park playing some late night hoops.

I know that you a hoop fanatic but this don't seem like you. Somethin on your mind?" Jason thought about how to respond.

At first he was hesitant to talk about his family problems with someone that wasn't involved. But then he remembered that Tyreek wasn't just anybody.

Tyreek had been there whenever Jason had needed him. Whether it be questions about playing ball or just questions about life in general Tyreek had always made himself available to Jason.

"Well actually..." Jason ended up telling Tyreek about how he had gotten an invitation from Nike to attend their middle school training camp.

He also proceeded to tell Tyreek about how happy his parents were when they first found out and then how his mom had reacted when he had told her that the training camp would take place in New York.

Tyreek went silent for a moment before speaking "Ay Jason. I know that we always say that ball is life. And that is pretty true for hoopers like you and me.

But we always gotta readjust ourselves and take another look around us. Realistically speakin we only gon be hoopin till our early to mid thirties. Maybe late thirties if your lucky.

What you gon do after that? Basketball can be a big part of your life and that's okay. But you should never forget about what's really important.

As much as I love hoopin and playin ball in front of big crowds I would drop it in a heartbeat if it meant getin my bro out the system and bringin him back home to Shania.

Yeah your mom might have gon a bit overboard. But from what I've heard and from how she's been it don't seem like she the type to just put her hands on you for no reason.

Go home and try to work things out man. Everyone makes mistakes. I ain't sayin that you need to unconditionally forgive her and act like nothin ever happened.

But giver her a chance to make things right. If she still don't want to talk about it or try to fix things between you two then that's on her. But at least you can say you tried right?"

Jason thought about what he had said for a few moments before sighing as he nodded his head "You're right Tyreek. I'll head on back home and try to talk things out again."

Tyreek smiled "That's what I like to hear. Good to see you got a good head on your shoulders. Don't stay out late man. Peace."

Tyreek hung up the call as Jason then put his phone away. He thanked everyone for the fun time as he said his goodbyes.

Everyone was sad to hear that he was leaving but they all cheered him on nonetheless. It was clear that they were all big fans of his. 

After what seemed to be a long thirty minutes Jason found himself back at the apartment complex.

Jason took a deep breathe as he stood outside the door to his apartment 'Don't think about it. Just dive right in.'

Jason scanned his keycard as the door then unlocked. As soon as he stepped in to the apartment he felt something crash into him.

"Jaya! I am so sorry. I should have never hit you!" Jason could feel his mom trembling as he silently stood in her embrace.

A few moments later he could feel her tears dripping on to the top of his head. He sighed before hugging his mom back.

"It's okay mom. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have kept on pressing you about the training camp."

She shook her head "No Jaya. Me and your dad raised you to understand why you should and shouldn't do things.

I was the one in the wrong for trying to have you not go to the training camp without telling you the reason why."

Jason looked at his mom "Does that mean I can go to the training camp?" She took a deep breathe before taking a step back.

"Get inside first baby. There's something that me and your dad have to tell you." For some reason Jason felt nervous. He gulped as he walked further into the apartment.

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