Mon, March 30th, 2020

Recruiting in Africa — Kemp vs. Gatling — Harrison Barnes’ promise

March 30, 2020

Monday, March 30th, 2020

This is our 200th edition of The Grip.

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  The Opening Tip

  • A 60 minutes piece that ran yesterday opened the window into the shady world of basketball recruiting in Africa

  • We have a burning question about one of Shawn Kemp’s famous dunks 

  • James Dolan has coronavirus…

  • Is Harrison Barnes going to address his December promise?

1. The Lead: The scummy business of recruiting in Africa

(West Virginia’s Blessing Ejiofor was told she’d be attending a school in North Carolina upon leaving her native Nigeria, but was instead brought to a high school in New Jersey.)

Last night, 60 minutes ran a piece on the shady, under-the-table business of funneling African teenagers to American high school basketball teams, often resulting in visa nightmares, gross mistreatment, overcrowded living conditions and a sham education. 

  • The operation: A middleman seeking to make connections in the lucrative underground college recruiting world will sell the American dream to a naive teenager in Africa, supplying him or her with an I-20 (a “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status”) to a fraudulent school, often bringing the person to a completely different school. 

  • An example: Blessing Ejiofor, from Nigeria, was promised a spot in the Evelyn Mack Academy in Charlotte. When Ejiofor landed in the U.S., she was brought instead to a high school in Paterson, N.J. She eventually returned to Nigeria and, now, somewhat miraculously, plays and starts for West Virginia’s basketball team.

(The Evelyn Mack Academy was found to have given out 75 bogus I-20s. Its founder, Evelyn Mack, is currently in federal prison.)Tacko Fall was another victim. He bounced from Texas to Tennessee to Georgia to Florida after coming to America from Senegal at 16.Fall’s story worked out, of course. More concerning is the vast majority of cases that don't. 

“There's been many times where I feel like some people have been taken advantage of where they bring them here then that's it,” Fall told 60 Minutes. “Then they're just left for their own. And if things don't work out, then it's -- they -- they are pretty much screwed.”

2. The Grip asks: Is this the most disrespectful dunk in NBA history, or the most respectful dunk in NBA history?

The dunk above, one of the iconic slams of Shawn Kemp’s career and of all-basketball-time, happened during the 1992 NBA playoffs.The sequence: A Supersonic throws up a floater, which is skillfully swatted by Warriors big man Chris Gatling. The problem is, Gatling’s block lands right in the hands of Shawn Kemp, who was the basketball-playing equivalent of a man whose thumb was perma-quivering over a big red button that was linked to a pound of dynamite.Once the ball is secured, Kemp takes one echoing step, and destroys Gatling with a poster, seeming to elevate even higher after absorbing contact in mid-air. When Kemp lands, he stares down Gatling, who proceeds to dap up the man who just put him on the NBA’s eternal highlight reel.So, the question: Is this the most disrespectful dunk in NBA history, or the most respectful dunk in NBA history?The case for disrespect: Gatling is kissing the ring. There’s a reason why this has never happened before or since. When you get dunked on, you look the other way and simply pretend it didn’t happen, like a proud general admitting defeat.The case for respect: This exchange is, by definition, one of absolute respect. An olive branch was extended. And, by Kemp, it was graciously accepted. On this day, game truly recognized game.Reply to this email and share your thoughts/theories/hate mail.

3. James Dolan has coronavirus  

Come on, how could you think that is funny? This is a serious subject. NOTHING is funny about the worst, least self-made owner in sports, who has taken the league’s marquee franchise and turned it into a slithering PR disaster for two decades, contracting the coronavirus.Shame on you.Unfortunately -- sorry, thankfully -- he has “little to no symptoms.”(Now he can avoid physically seeing Charles Oakley in a settlement program arranged by the courts after Oakley sued him regarding his Madison Square Garden ejection two-and-a-half years ago. How convenient…)

 4. Coronavirus Updates

5. Last night’s witching hour thought

(Harrison Barnes, not seen above, opted not to show his face on Danny Green's recent video-podcast.)

Harrison Barnes made a promise to the world back in December that he wouldn't cut his hair or shave his beard until either the Kings reached .500 or the season ended.As of today:

  1. The Kings are 28-36.

  2. The season is still not technically over.

So, is Barnes a man of his word? Can we get a visual on this guy? On March 13, he told someone on Twitter that he still plans on holding strong through the hiatus, but do we believe him? Most suspiciously, when he joined Danny Green's video podcast nine days ago, he had his camera off…We reached out for comment -- specifically, we requested a selfie -- and will update you if he responds. In the meantime, a retweet by you will go a long way in supporting this very important question.

6.  Podcast pick