E:60 on the life-long development of Tyreke Evans

4 months ago Ziller 38 comments 2 recs |

Comments

I might be alone in this

But, this whole hysteria of the drive by seems to be taken more out of context every day. ESPN knew about it a year ago when he was being recruited. One of the funniest things is that his agent is in fact Arn Tellem.

Hopefully his brothers keep him on track. Chester PA is one thing. The NBA is entirely another.

Evil Cowtown Inc: Screwin' Suckaz over since Nineteen Eighty-Five.....

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Jun 29, 2009 7:33 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

watching this and the video of Omri Casspi

helps remind us fans that for the players, the investment in playing in the NBA is many things to many players They love the game, but that love is a multi-faceted concern. It is more than the game and more than the money; family, country are just two of the highlights for these two (Evans and Casspi) new Kings.

Good Stuff. rec’d

by betweentheeyes on Jun 29, 2009 7:45 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

For all you nay sayers......

Tyreke Evans is going to be a beast in this league!! im just excited the Kings got him, and were not going to be scrambling trying defend his big ass!

by slamson on Jun 29, 2009 8:44 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

This makes up

for the loss of team dime.

by babasin on Jun 29, 2009 9:55 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

The guy has some great brothers

thats the way family should look out for one another… Go Tyreke

by kwill on Jun 29, 2009 11:38 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm sorry

But I really don’t buy the supportive brothers with no ulterior motives spin. My brother loves me, but he doesn’t manage every aspect of my career. Did the older brothers act as managers for Pooh when he began his career at the vending company?

You don’t duct tape a six year old’s arm behind his back to make him happy, you do it to force him to develop his basketball skills. They’ve done a good job to get Tyreke to the NBA. Now he works for the Sacramento Kings, and has a full staff of professionals at his disposal who are much more qualified to oversee his development. It seems to me that they could most help him now by going back to being brothers, rather than managers. If you love Tyreke, set him free Reggie, Pooh, and Doc.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 11:52 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I think his bros understand that

I think Tyreke is a good kid and he has his brothers as a mechanism for keeping him in check making him realize his goals. I think Tyreke will play well for the Kings and should be a major contributor next year for the Kings.

BOOK IT!

by kingme18 on Jun 29, 2009 11:56 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

Tyreke’s a great talent and he shouldn’t have any trouble at all becoming a success in Sacramento. I just worry about the danger of having too many cooks in the kitchen. Hopefully Team Tyreke realizes that it has become a subsidiary of Team Sacramento Kings.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 12:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I look at this differently

I see a kid who has had a non traditional support system. That is all I know – don’t see Aunts and Uncles, wives, cousins – I see a cohesive family group with experience in their environment and the ability to help mold this elite athlete into someone and in some respects something, that keeps that family together. There are so many voices coming at these gifted kids, Team Tyreke narrows down the chatter and it seems to work.

I won’t demean their intentions – with all the pollution that clogs our media of bad and worse, let’s take a chance that this is the unthinkable – that this is truly a good story. Let’s wish them all continued success to beat the odds (five brothers working together?) and continue on the path of “a happy ending”. They seem smart enough to understand that path has plenty of potholes in the way, avoiding them isn’t so easy but so far, so good.

by betweentheeyes on Jun 29, 2009 12:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'll definitely hope that you're right

But this piece only made me more wary of their influence. I guess that makes me a cynic.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 2:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think

for any one of us to think we know what’s best for Tyreke in terms of his relationship with his brothers is straight silly.

by Ziller on Jun 29, 2009 12:35 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

Wait

You mean one size doesn’t fit all???

With the 4th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings select Tyreke Evans, STUD out of Memphis.

by otis29 on Jun 29, 2009 12:47 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree

we’ll a know within a year wether the brothers are good guys or not. Why do we to judge them now?

by ElRonToro on Jun 29, 2009 12:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I certainly don't purport to know that

I’m just concerned that there may be a difference between what’s best for Tyreke’s relationship with his brothers and what’s best for the team.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not sure if someone else has already fanshotted this

But this is, in my opinion, a more balanced profile from around the same time as this E:60 piece.

I’m not sure if you take requests, TZ, or if you’d be in a position to honor this one even if you did, but I’d love to hear Henry Abbott’s take on “Team Tyreke” and William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley. Also, does anyone know the story behind American Christian’s closing immediately after Tyreke’s graduation?

Just to clarify, I’m not skeptical of Tyreke Evans – he seems like a good kid and a great player. I just worry about his associations. Sorry to act the turd in the punchbowl.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 3:30 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

And the search for a choir boy to take us to the promised land continues...

With the 4th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings select Tyreke Evans, STUD out of Memphis.

by otis29 on Jun 29, 2009 4:22 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd say he's a perfect parallel to a choir boy

Good kid, morally corrupt mentors.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 6:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

EXACTLY, Z!

We’re not even close to knowing what it’s like to be in Tyreke’s or his brothers’ shoes. I’m actually more comforted by the fact he has a strong family to support him mentally and emotionally in his rookie year.

by JETisKing on Jun 29, 2009 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Seems silly, but you forget there is an endless amount of scumbags circulating those basketball camps looking to get their hooks into an elite talent. OJ Mayo got caught up with a few of these people and paid for there scams. According to stories Lebron’s family had to shake them off constantly too. I guess the point is each young prodigy needs someone in their family to look after their best interest. Young math wizes aren’t visited by petty thugs each day.

by bignerd on Jun 29, 2009 1:12 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

"Young math wizes aren’t visited by petty thugs each day."

Sure they are, how do you think athletes get through school?

by STH114 on Jun 29, 2009 1:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Definitely so

The more I learn about this system (and I still know little), the more dangerous it seems to me. There are countless stories of families contributing to the success of an elite talent by insulating him against the devious influences. This one just rubbed me the wrong way.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 2:16 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

My questions arise from production integrity

Something fishy about it. Too many posed head shots with the three brothers looking off in the distance. The questions seemed geared to let the brothers specifically address how Tyreke overcame the problems of inner city youth and the basketball recruitment machine and how the brothers themselves will respectfully handle Tyreke under the management of others. Then there was the staged board room meeting in dramatic lighting at the end of the film. This piece seemed less like a journalistic bio-pic and more like a sales pitch to a conservative fan-base like one of those real estate sales movies for a new housing tract with the pitch: “Meet the Evans family and welcome your new neighbors.” Maybe they hoped we’d watch the piece and think, “If they moved in next door to me, I’d bring them a plate of brownies.”

I’d be curious to know more about who funded this production.

by BrooklynFan on Jun 29, 2009 12:46 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It was an ESPN E:60 feature. ESPN produced the story, selected the shots and put their own spin on it.

by bignerd on Jun 29, 2009 1:05 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

most college players declare before their senior season. Evans did not and was a huge prospect

that was like #2 or at least top 5 in the country who had not commited to a school. ESPN then did a story as to why he hadn’t and discovered this family structure that Evans had around him.

by KingsForLife on Jun 29, 2009 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting

Thanks for the input, same to you bignerd.

by BrooklynFan on Jun 29, 2009 1:58 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's what struck me too

If Tyreke is a basketball player that most of ESPN’s audience has never heard of (as he hadn’t entered college at the time of production), then why is the story about his brothers? If it’s just an organic story about a unique situation, why did it seem so rehearsed? It seemed totally disingenuous to me.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 2:53 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Do you watch much ESPN?

They love the “athlete human interest” stories. They seem to be constantly trying to one-up eachother on drama, manufactured or otherwise. T

It is one of many reasons that ESPN is no longer watchable. I can handle a sappy human interest story now and then, but they turn over every rock to try to find them and bombard them on the audience.

I can understand being cynical, but it isn’t rehearsed. Look at or read any other stuff done on Tyreke over the years outside of ESPN.

by TheRaven on Jun 29, 2009 6:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Honestly, I stopped watching anything but games for this exact reason

I know what you’re saying. E:60 isn’t exactly a paragon of investigative journalism, but I don’t think that it’s a coincidence the story that ESPN and “Team Tyreke” decided to do together centered around the brothers’ positive influence. It seems to me that they could have the same positive impact while allowing the full spotlight to shine on Tyreke himself.

And the stuff I’ve read outside of ESPN only further arouses my suspicions about them (since every article seems to at least mention their influence). I’m not saying that it’s rehearsed in the sense that the influence isn’t really that important. I’m saying that it felt rehearsed in the sense that every question seemed to have an official answer that had been agreed upon in advance to give the most innocent impression possible. It was like watching a Bush White House press conference.

My concern is really this simple: What will happen when the Kings organization and the Evans brothers disagree about what’s best for Tyreke? Hopefully Tyreke will be prepared to make the correct decisions about his career for himself. Unfortunately, it seems to me that his brothers have prepared him to do everything but that.

by furious.d on Jun 29, 2009 9:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Amick

I think Amick did some seriously irresponsible reporting when he twittered or posted that story about the drive by. He made it sound as if Tyreke was an accomplice. He obviously hadn’t researched at all and I think that is a pretty big journalistic sin, especially considering the implied accusation.

The NBA: "Where 27 free throws happens"

by lodisacfan on Jun 29, 2009 1:36 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Inherently flawed nature of Twitter as a journalistic outlet

by BrooklynFan on Jun 29, 2009 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Totally agreed................

But Sam is so good so often, It’s forgiven……

by Devastation Co. MMA on Jun 29, 2009 2:27 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree

I didn’t see that at all. I saw that as an incident Tyreke got caught in which it was simply wrong place, wrong time.

BOOK IT!

by kingme18 on Jun 29, 2009 3:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

When I read it

I initially thought “holy shit, i really hope the kings dont pick this guy now”

The NBA: "Where 27 free throws happens"

by lodisacfan on Jun 29, 2009 3:37 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

team tyreke > team dime

but will any sloshed knuckleheads will want to “accidentally” spill beer on them at the applebees? time will tell.

by fire_voisin on Jun 29, 2009 3:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

my only hope

is that this doesn’t become some sort of jackie christie situation. love is one thing. micromanagement is another.

i have to say i agree that there’s something a little spooky about this feature, but i’d point mostly to the fact that, as a journalistic entity, espn (and, more specifically, e:60) is a sad joke. it’s funny; as furious.d alluded to earlier, this is a tyreke evans profile that revolves around but doesn’t ever really settle on the subject of tyreke evans.

the fact that rachel nichols and peter gammons work in the same building makes me want to barf.

by beevenator on Jun 29, 2009 4:24 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

God

I hope he plays PG! 6 foot 5 PG with a 6 foot 11 wingspan…..Jesus i hope he plays PG

by shadowchicken on Jun 29, 2009 5:32 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I think we all do...

and hope that Tyreke is really successful at it.

I have no doubts this kid is going to change this team in a very good way. Patience is key.

by JETisKing on Jun 29, 2009 6:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

A-Freakin-Mazing

Quite impressive. It will be an interesting interview to see their take at the end of the grueling season. Bibby (team dime) mentioned how having a posse took some of the distractions away but at some point he’s got to man up and go his own way if he hasn’t already. Looking forward to the show. Go Reke!

by Dwaynewayne on Jun 29, 2009 8:42 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs