Dr. J by Julius Erving

Author:Julius Erving
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-09-24T05:00:00+00:00

27.

As soon as the season ends, Irwin tells me, I need to get out of Virginia, literally across state lines, just in case the Squires subpoena me in an attempt to prevent me from leaving. We pack up the Mark, and Freda, Barry, Keith, and I drive down to Atlanta. I’m excited about the move to the NBA, and the Hawks are loaded with talent. Besides “Pistol” Pete Maravich, they have Walt Bellamy and Lou Hudson. This team has some serious capital. I have my new Jaguar, the $250,000 signing bonus in the bank, and the paid-for town house in East Point. Atlanta is a real city, was one of the centers of the civil rights movement, and has an active and visible black community. I feel like I could put down some roots. And it’s not far from Batesburg, South Carolina, where my people are from. And Freda likes it there, says she never felt comfortable in that old suburban A-frame.

Putnam and the Atlanta Hawks figure they aren’t going to waste a first-round pick on me because they already have me under contract. They figure they’ll wait until the second round to pick me. The Milwaukee Bucks, however, have two first-round picks that year, and GM Wayne Embry, who knows me from Shamrock Basketball Camp, decides to take me with his second pick in the first round. I’m now signed to two different contracts with two different teams in two different leagues, while my rights are held by a third team, a team that happens to have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as their star. When I ask Irwin about that, he says we don’t want to play with Kareem.

“Why not?”

“Because he’s the star. We need for you to be the star. That’s how you make the big money. And they have Oscar Robertson, another star, so you would get their third billing.”

I think about my situation with Charlie, about how it seemed my success started to wear on him and may have contributed to his leaving the team. If I got into that situation with Kareem, who do you think would be the guy who would have to hit the road? And with Oscar Robertson already there, Irwin’s right, I would be the third option.

“Let’s make it work in Atlanta,” I tell Irwin. That’s where I’m living anyway.

I drive the Jaguar back up to New York, where I’m going to play the Rucker League again, stop off to see my mom and Mr. Dan and pay a visit to Marky’s grave, where I tell him about all that’s happening with me. I choke up thinking about Marky and how excited he would be about all this. He would just be starting college himself.

But I’m grateful to have Barry and Keith in my life, and to be able to be a father figure and big brother to them all at the same time.

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