Things slip by you when you try and cover the entirety of this league. There’s this just so much to go on, so many stories, so many unbelievable events, personalities, and stories. Like the fact that Nets guard-forward Gerald Green is missing a significant portion of the ring finger on his right hand.
Wait, what? From the New York Daily News:Green was in the sixth grade when a freak accident left him with half of his ring finger. Wearing his mother’s class ring, the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk champion tried to jam on a makeshift hoop attached to a doorway. The ring caught on a nail and his finger was ripped to the bone.
Amputation was the only option.
“All you saw was nothing but white bone, like a skeleton,” Green said. “They said my tendons, all my ligaments were ripped out.”
via Gerald Green puts insecurity over childhood injury in the past as he develops into a top scoring threat for the Nets - NY Daily News.
What’s the word I’m looking for? Oh, yeah. GAH!
That’s just horrifying.
Now, the crux of the Daily News’ article is how Green has really struggled through his life with the impediment and doesn’t like to talk about it. That’s totally understandable. But I’m really glad that he came forward and was willing to talk about it with the Daily News. There are other kids out there with conditions like that, people with similar impediments. Having someone being willing to talk about it helps. It just does. Good on him for taking that step.
The league seems like a brighter, more hopeful place with Green in it. He’s not a star, not a heavy-minutes player. But he’s producing and living up to his potential after being bounced from the league and having to spend time in the D-League. A player of that potential translating to production through hard work is the kind of story we need to talk about more. As opposed to, you know, Dwight Howard and whatever nonsense he’s going through this week.
In conclusion, if you need me, I’ll be wearing protective mittens and rocking in a corner crying for the rest of the day.
