I AM CHICAGO BASKETBALL Mag JAN/FEB 2017 | Page 11

10 something in me would just stay on me . I was under guys like Rico Hill , Britt , I grew up with Quentin Richardson . I started to see like this stuff is for real . My elementary school didn ' t have a team . I was only playing on the blacktop - just when we ' d go to the park . I ' d play in little neighborhood leagues and stuff like that . I just didn ' t have the organized setting . J4 : How was it for you when you got to Julian and there were guys ahead of you as far as having been playing organized basketball for a lot longer . Did you see certain guys and feel like you had to play catch up ? WM : From an ability standpoint I felt like I could keep up with anybody . It was just a matter of me believing in my self . Guys saw things in me that I didn ' t see in myself . Early on I didn ' t take it that seriously but I remember it being easy for me . The turning point for me was when I went to ABCD camp . I went from being not ranked at all to being in the top 60 players in the nation . I went out there and I was killing . I was doing things on the court where I surprised myself . I ' m dunking on cats and it ' s all these top ranked guys with names . Zach Maubary , Kenyon Dooling , Matt Barnes , Rashard Lewis , Steve Blake that played at Maryland ... all these dudes that you hear about and I ' m matching up with them and I ' m as good if not better . I held my own at the very least and outperformed most of them at that camp . They were so far gone in their rankings and such that it would have taken me more than one more camp to pass them up , but I came out top ranked and that ' s when I started to take things more seriously . J4 : So when you were at tournaments like that making a name do you think it was your natural athleticism , that Chicago heart , or something else that gave you the ability to compete on this high level ? WM : First and foremost it ' s Chicago . We just breed them . The way we grew up playing at the park , it just breeds a different kind of person and player . Also we don ' t have that fear of just going anywhere and playing against anybody . Second was Coach Jackson . He had us doing college drills and workouts in High School . We were doing pool workouts , sand runs . Stuff that most high schools weren ' t doing . I can remember fighting that stuff . Getting up at 6am on weekends , but all of that stuff just prepared us mentally and physically for the next level . It was the good coaching and I was around some guys that just loved basketball . J4 : Who were some guys in the city you remember going to war with ? WM : Janero Pargo , Paul McPherson , Joel Bullock , Bobby Smith , Bobby Simmons , Cordell Henry , Nick Irvin ,.... the city was loaded . The Bailey boys that went to Westinghouse . Ced Banks . It was loaded when we were coming out . We did the Pro-Am ' s every Summer where we got to compete against the pro guys . During that time you could go to any park in Chicago and find two guys that could just go . J4 : How was it having a premiere big man like Lance Williams on your team ? WM : It was a luxury like no other . You don ' t what you got until you don ' t no more . Going from having a big that could get it done to Tulane where we didn ' t really have a dominant big man like Lance was tough . Plus Lance was just my guy . I still talk him to this day . It was just great all around the board . My time at Julian was just great ! I wouldn ' t trade that for nothing . The relationships , the players I played with all of that . We had a hell of a team . In my estimation Lance was the best of the best as far as big men go in the city . GB : Going to school with them , I didn ' t realize how good they were until we ' d go play at different parks and they would straight control the park . Then word would get out in the neighborhood that those two guys from Julian are up at the park . We ' d go take over other peoples parks but it was nothing they could do about it . From Morgan Park to Ada Park they ' d know that both of them Watson ' s and those guys from Julian come to take over peoples parks and it ' s nothing they could do about it . J4 : During your era playing at the