去年11月，杰森·普雷斯顿在与排名第八的伊利诺斯州的比赛中以31分、8次助攻、6个篮板的成绩一举成为全国瞩目的焦点。回到夏洛特，小杰基·格林暗自发笑。
“现在全世界都意识到了他是一名球员，”三年多前在普雷斯顿执教的Truse Prep Academy执行董事格林认为但要等到他们听到他的故事。”
这个故事使普雷斯顿成为周四在布鲁克林参加NBA选秀的最迷人的候选人之一。即使在庆祝年轻篮球运动员成为明星的最鼓舞人心和最不可能的故事的活动上，普雷斯顿的故事也很突出。
奥兰多本地人从他的母亲朱迪思那里染上了篮球迷，朱迪思独自抚养了杰森，并且爱上了底特律活塞队，原因是普雷斯顿仍然不明白。当朱迪思在普雷斯顿高中三年级死于癌症时，这位少年在牙买加的姑姑和叔叔成为了他的法定监护人，但他搬到了佛罗里达州的一位朋友家。
虽然心碎的普雷斯顿继续打篮球，但没有理由相信他的球场生涯会持续到奥兰多布恩高中之后。作为一名大四学生，他平均每场比赛得两分，并且在大四那天打平了他唯一的首发。
“我的第一个想法是，‘我可能是这个国家最糟糕的高中篮球教练，’”Boone的主教练David Martinson在2020年告诉ESPN。他接着说：“有时候我甚至在我的脑子里打球——也许我应该让他打得更多。但是上帝对我们所有人都有一个计划。这就是杰森的计划。”
杰夫·海恩斯/NBA/盖蒂影业
事实上，普雷斯顿缺少高中比赛时间一点也不过分。这位6英尺高的后卫体重只有140磅，在快节奏的青年篮球世界里，他并不需要引起注意。所以他在中佛罗里达大学注册了一个新闻专业的计划。
作为活塞博客PistonPowered的一名撰稿人，普雷斯顿于2017年离开了高中，他在篮球媒体上的知名度超过了比赛本身。
但正如最引人注目的故事经常发生的那样，普雷斯顿的故事即将发生意外的转折。
正如格林所说，普雷斯顿的一个打AAU篮球的朋友在一个周末非常希望得到增援，因为他的球队没有足够的球员去旅行。知道普雷斯顿打高中球，朋友让他跟着。
紧急召唤在他的AAU处子秀中留下了深刻的印象，并在接下来的周末再次穿上。就在那时，普雷斯顿的表演吸引了布拉德·特拉纳（Brad Traina）的注意，他曾是加州大学联合会（UCF）的杰出球员，在欧洲打过职业比赛。Traina刚刚加入Truse Prep的教练组，这是一所成立于2011年的南卡罗来纳州预科学校，正在经历2017年的扩建。特拉纳将从南佛罗里达州带回一些天才到田纳西州，他将普雷斯顿也包括在内。
“我们有88张床位，”格林开玩笑说，他回忆起高中时的情景，当时他有几周的AAU经验，成为了一名预科学校的芭蕾舞演员我们有很多床要填。”
斯泰西·里维尔/盖蒂图像
普雷斯顿从高中到田纳西州雅典时已经长了几英寸，18岁的他很快就开始在球场上以前所未有的方式分离自己。
格林回忆道：“从第一天开始，他就是我们大楼里最好的控球后卫，当时我们有一支高中队和四支研究生队的70名孩子。”他对这场比赛有着这样的憧憬。小伙子们喜欢和他一起玩，因为他总能找到他们。他会得到一个防守篮板，然后大步传球给队友，从而轻松地接球上篮。”
在田纳西州炎热的夏天，普雷斯顿在一个汗流浃背的仓库体育馆传球时，防守不严，由于与当时还是奇诺山高中三年级学生的拉梅洛·鲍尔相像，普雷斯顿赢得了队友和教练的昵称“梅洛”。
普雷斯顿可能有鲍尔那样的头发和长相，但他没有拉梅洛那样的名声。格林记得，一位教练给普雷斯顿买了一双新鞋，因为学校里最不可能的一位成员——他的姨妈在帮他付学费——在球场上和球场下到处穿着破旧的球鞋。
斯泰西·里维尔/盖蒂图像
格林和他的同事们相信教练们认识到了普雷斯顿身上特殊的、未开发的天赋。但他仍然是一名防守队员，缺乏侧向速度，作为一名得分手，他不够有侵略性。他发现自己在全国范围内的成绩也在下降，而他在全国范围内的成绩也在下降。
当布里奇的C队的一名控球后卫调任时，普雷斯顿意识到了一个机会，并要求加入低级别球队。
“有些孩子拒绝为A队以外的任何球队踢球，”担任C队主教练的格林说他们会坐一整天的板凳，但只要他们在与橡树山队和所有顶级球队的比赛中，他们就很高兴谢菲尔德联今晚比赛预测。Jason利用与C团队合作的机会获得了更多的时间。”
格林回忆道，普雷斯顿的逻辑直截了当。
格林记得普雷斯顿当时说：“我来这里是为了拍电影。”我高中时常坐板凳。这就是我平均得两分的原因。我需要玩。”
这个不寻常的要求按计划进行了。普雷斯顿作为C队的一员，在他的第二场比赛中取得了三双。自始至终，这位18岁的球员一直是福利斯A队的一个进步的组成部分，该队在那个赛季赢得了全国冠军，普雷斯顿担任了双重职务。
在普雷斯顿的准备活动进行到一半的时候，他得到了一份二级联赛的报价，这将是一个令人难以置信的结局。年轻的后卫很激动，但他并不满意。在宾夕法尼亚州的一次展示赛结束后，普雷斯顿要求使用他的教练用来记录球队比赛的iPad。
普雷斯顿花了通勤时间剪辑自己的精彩片段，然后把它们寄给奥兰多的一位朋友，由他把它们编辑成一盘混音带。然后，他请求允许在Truse Prep个人资料的推特上发布该汇编。混音带获得了吸引力，朗伍德和俄亥俄州的第一分部报价紧随其后，普雷斯顿承诺后者。
尽管普雷斯顿在球场上取得了一切成就，但格林对他在球场外的表现记忆犹新：他是一个年轻人，有着超凡的智慧和同情心。
格林的父亲在2018年初被汽车撞死，教练从未忘记普雷斯顿不断伸出援手提供支持。
“我知道失去父母是什么感觉，如果你需要谈谈，我就在这里，”普雷斯顿会提醒格林对于那个年龄的年轻人来说，他太成熟了。”
问杰夫·博厄尔关于普雷斯顿的事，普雷斯顿是他在俄亥俄州后卫队最后两年执教的人，他回应了格林的场外赞扬。
“第一，他是一个非凡的人和伟大的队友，”博阿斯说如果你看看他一生的经历，他克服了所有的逆境，他成为了一个人，这一切都是令人惊讶的。”
这并不是要剥夺普雷斯顿作为一名运动员的任何东西。毕竟，他的故事之所以在全国引起轰动，是因为人们期望NBA球队会在周四晚上邀请他加入球队。
博厄尔说：“在这个国家，没有多少人能够全速向左行驶，腾空，用右手直接传球到对面的角落进行空投。”他称普雷斯顿是选秀中最好的传球手和传球手。
图标Sportswire/Getty Images
“他会在练习中表演，这会让我跟他开玩笑说，他和我是健身房里唯一能看到那场比赛的两个人。”
博厄尔还赞扬普雷斯顿的好奇心和与同龄人不同思考比赛的能力，显然是有偏见的。但不可否认，普雷斯顿拥有NBA技能。
在2021年的职业生涯中，很少有持球人能像普雷斯顿那样稳重、精准地完成挑球和滚球。他是一个电动的中场组织者，他的传球在让球迷离开座位和让队友更轻松方面同样有效。他还掌握了一种在现代比赛中变得越来越重要的漂浮物。他也是一名出色的后卫篮板手首尔FC赛事分析预测。
他缺乏速度有时会妨碍他，他的上拉投篮和犯规抽签在大学里落后了，他的罚球投篮也不稳定。但是他的防守和在选秀联合体上的射门引起了如此多的关注，可能的第二轮选手现在成为了潜在的第一轮选手——这一区别伴随着至少两年的合同保证。
孟菲斯灰熊队前篮球运营副总裁约翰·霍林格（John Hollinger）在他的大董事会中排名第24位。
普雷斯顿作为一个组织核心比作为一个得分者更舒服，但是博厄尔斯记得在普雷斯顿的大二赛季早期有一个突破，这是博厄尔斯第一次担任他的教练。艾奥娜一直紧盯着俄亥俄州的射手们，在普雷斯顿的带领下，带球出局，让这位年轻的后卫早早犯了两次失误，从而使普雷斯顿敢于投篮。博厄尔在下一次暂停时解释说，如果俄亥俄州要赢，普雷斯顿必须努力得分。
普雷斯顿在他最初的32场大学比赛中，没有一场能拿到前16分。接下来是俄亥俄州一场27分的胜利。
尽管普雷斯顿的引体向上投篮仍然令人怀疑，但他是一名优秀的接球和投篮威胁球员，在他三年的NCAA职业生涯中，2分球命中率为55%。在他最后的两个大学赛季中，他还将近40%的3分尝试转化为场均16.4分、7.4次助攻、6.8个篮板和1.4次抢断。他在大二和大三的时候都获得了全国前六名的助攻成绩，在博厄尔的带领下，他平均每场比赛不到37分钟。
普雷斯顿几乎控制了比赛的方方面面，很少离开球场，难怪俄亥俄州赢得了2021年MAC锦标赛，从而获得了九年来第一个NCAA锦标赛席位。在比赛期间，普雷斯顿帮助13号种子山猫队击败了4号种子弗吉尼亚队。
本·所罗门/NCAA照片/Getty图片
博厄尔说：“从他出生的地方——6英尺高，只有140磅，作为一名高年级生，每场比赛平均得2分——到他现在的位置，需要对自己有一种特殊的信念。”我相信很多都是因为他妈妈抚养他的方式，还有他姨妈丹尼斯去世后接手他的方式。
“他16岁时经历的事情，有些人一辈子都不会经历。他真的必须创造自己的道路。这是一个惊人的故事。”
2021年的NBA选秀不会是这个故事的结束，普雷斯顿和他的支持者们当然希望它甚至不会达到高潮。但是在放弃了他在俄亥俄州的高年级生涯之后，作为一个合法的NBA球员来到这里，更不用说听到他的名字叫“星期四晚上”了，这已经是一个鼓舞人心的故事——并且是一个在普雷斯顿四年前所取得的不可估量的成就。
“这是一笔苦乐参半的交易，”博阿斯说，当时他正在反思自己的一名学生运动员站在NBA的悬崖边你为杰森即将在选秀之夜实现他的梦想而欢欣鼓舞，但痛苦的是你不能再和他共度一年，因为他是一个有趣的孩子。他是一名伟大的队友，显然是一名伟大的球员。”
一支NBA球队即将发现这一点。
约瑟夫·卡斯基亚罗是该书的资深作家
原标题：
NBA blogger to NBA prospect: Jason Preston's inspiring journey to the draft
原文：
Jason Preston catapulted himself into the national spotlight with a 31-point, eight-assist, six-rebound performance against eighth-ranked Illinois last November. Back in Charlotte, Jackie Green Jr. laughed to himself.
"Now the world's realizing the player he is," thought Green, the executive director of Believe Prep Academy who coached Preston there just over three years ago. "But wait until they hear his story."
That story makes Preston one of the most fascinating prospects entering Thursday's NBA draft in Brooklyn. Even at an event that celebrates the most inspiring and unlikely tales of young basketball players on the cusp of stardom, Preston's story stands out.
The native of Orlando caught the basketball bug from his mother, Judith, who raised Jason on her own and loved the Detroit Pistons for reasons Preston still doesn't understand. When Judith died of cancer during Preston's junior year of high school, the teenager's aunt and uncle in Jamaica became his legal guardians, but he moved in with a friend in Florida.
Though a heartbroken Preston continued to play basketball, there was no reason to believe his on-court career would continue beyond Orlando's Boone High School. As a senior, he averaged two points per game and drew his only start on Senior Day.
"My first thought is, 'I might be the worst high school basketball coach in this country,'" Boone head coach David Martinson told ESPN in 2020. He continued: "Sometimes I even play in my head - maybe I should have played him more. But God has a plan for all of us. And that was Jason's plan."
Jeff Haynes / NBA / Getty Images
In truth, there was nothing outrageous about Preston's lack of high school playing time. The 6-foot guard weighed only 140 pounds and didn't exactly demand attention in the fast-paced world of youth hoops. So he enrolled at the University of Central Florida with a plan to major in journalism.
As a contributor for Pistons blog PistonPowered, Preston left high school in 2017 having made more of a name for himself in basketball media than in the game itself.
But as the most remarkable of stories often do, Preston's was about to take a serendipitous turn.
As Green tells it, a friend of Preston's who played AAU basketball was desperate for reinforcements one weekend because his team didn't have enough players available to travel. Knowing Preston played high school ball, the friend asked him to tag along.
The emergency call-up impressed in his AAU debut and suited up again the following weekend. That was when Preston's play caught the eye of Brad Traina, a former UCF standout who played professionally in Europe. Traina had just joined the coaching staff at Believe Prep, a South Carolina prep school founded in 2011 that was undergoing a 2017 expansion. Traina was to bring some talent from South Florida back to Believe Prep in Tennessee, and he included Preston in that group.
"We had 88 beds," Green joked as he reflected on a high school afterthought with a couple of weeks of AAU experience becoming a prep school baller. "We had a lot of beds to fill."
Stacy Revere / Getty Images
Preston had already grown a few inches since high school when he arrived in Athens, Tennessee, and the 18-year-old soon began to separate himself on the court in ways he never had before.
"From Day 1, he was the best point guard in our building at a time when we had about 70 kids across a high school team and four postgrad teams," Green recalled. "He just had such a vision for the game. Guys loved playing with him because he would always find them. He'd get a defensive rebound and throw a pass to a teammate in stride that led to an easy catch and layup."
Picking defenses apart with his passing in a sweaty warehouse gym in the heat of the Tennessee summer, Preston earned the nickname "Melo" from teammates and coaches thanks to his resemblance to LaMelo Ball, who was still a Chino Hills High School junior at the time.
Preston may have had Ball's hair and looks, but he didn't have LaMelo's fame. Green remembers a coach at Believe buying Preston a new pair of shoes because the unlikeliest member of their school - whose aunt was helping pay his tuition - was hooping in worn-out kicks he wore everywhere on and off the court.
Stacy Revere / Getty Images
Green and his fellow Believe coaches recognized the special, untapped talent within Preston. But he was still a defensive liability who lacked lateral quickness, and he wasn't aggressive enough as a scorer. So while Preston made the school's A team that competed nationally, he also found himself falling down the squad's depth chart.
When a point guard on Believe's C team transferred, Preston recognized an opportunity and asked to play on the lower-level squad.
"There were some kids who refused to play for any team but the A team," said Green, who served as head coach of that C team. "They'd ride the bench all day, but as long as they were on the team that played against Oak Hill and all the premier teams, they were happy. Jason used the opportunity with the C team to get more minutes."
Preston, Green recalls, was blunt in his logic.
"'I'm here to play and get film,'" Green remembers Preston saying at the time. "'I used to ride the bench in high school. That's why I averaged two points. I need to play.'"
The unusual request went according to plan. Preston dominated as a member of the C squad, recording a triple-double in his second game. All the while, the 18-year-old remained an improving component of Believe's A team, which won a national championship that season with Preston pulling double duty.
A Division II offer came Preston's way midway through his prep campaign, which would've been an incredible capper to an already stunning story. The young guard was thrilled, but he wasn't satisfied. On the ride back from a showcase tournament in Pennsylvania, Preston asked to use the iPad on which his coaches recorded the team's games.
Preston spent the commute clipping his own highlights, then sent them to a friend in Orlando who edited them into a mixtape. He then asked permission to post the compilation in a tweet from Believe Prep's profile. The mixtape gained traction, and Division I offers from Longwood and Ohio followed, with Preston committing to the latter.
Despite everything Preston accomplished on the court during his meteoric, one-year rise at Believe, Green remembers him more for who he was off the court: a teenager wise and empathetic beyond his years.
Green's father died after being hit by a car early in 2018, and the coach has never forgotten Preston constantly reaching out to offer support.
"'I know what it's like to lose a parent, and if you need to talk, I'm here,'" Preston would remind Green. "He was just so mature for a young man that age."
Ask Jeff Boals about Preston, whom he coached during the guard's final two years at Ohio, and he echoes Green's off-court praise.
"No. 1, he's a phenomenal person and great teammate," Boals said. "If you look at his whole life story, all the adversity he's overcome, who he's become as a person is just amazing."
That's not to take anything away from Preston as an athlete. After all, the reason his story has become a national sensation is the expectation that an NBA team will invite him to join its organization Thursday night.
"There's not many people in the country that can drive hard, full-steam going left, jump up in the air, and fire a right-handed, direct-line pass to the opposite corner for an open shot," said Boals, who calls Preston the best passer and pick-and-roll player in the draft.
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
"He would make plays in practice that would have me joking with him that he and I are the only two people in the gym who could see that play."
Boals, who also praised Preston's inquisitive nature and ability to think the game differently than his peers, is obviously biased. But there's no denying Preston has NBA skills.
Few ball-handlers in the 2021 class orchestrate a pick-and-roll with Preston's poise and precision. He's an electric playmaker whose passing is as effective at bringing fans out of their seats as it is at getting teammates easier buckets. He's also mastered a floater that's become increasingly important in the modern game. He's a tremendous rebounder for a guard, too.
His lack of speed hampers him at times, his pull-up shot creation and foul-drawing lagged in college, and his free-throw shooting has been inconsistent. But his defense and shooting at the draft combine garnered such attention that the likely second-rounder is now a potential first-rounder - a distinction that comes with a guaranteed contract for at least two years.
John Hollinger, the former vice president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, has Preston 24th on his big board.
Preston is more comfortable as a playmaker than a scorer, but Boals remembers a breakthrough early in Preston's sophomore season, Boals' first as his coach. Iona was daring Preston to shoot by staying glued to Ohio's shooters and rolling out of Preston-led pick-and-rolls, leading the young guard to commit two early turnovers. Boals explained at the next timeout that if Ohio was to win, Preston had to look to score.
Preston had failed to top 16 points in any of his first 32 collegiate games. What followed was a 27-point outburst in an Ohio victory.
Though his pull-up shooting remains suspect, Preston is an elite catch-and-shoot threat who shot 55% on 2-pointers during his three-year NCAA career. He also converted nearly 40% of his 3-point attempts over his final two collegiate seasons while averaging 16.4 points, 7.4 assists, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.4 steals. He finished top six in assists nationwide as both a sophomore and a junior, and he averaged just under 37 minutes per game under Boals.
With Preston controlling nearly every facet of the game and rarely leaving the court, it's no wonder Ohio won the 2021 MAC championship to secure its first NCAA Tournament berth in nine years. During the tournament, Preston helped the 13th-seeded Bobcats upset fourth-seeded Virginia.
Ben Solomon / NCAA Photos / Getty Images
"To come from where he came from - 6 feet tall, only 140 pounds, averaging two points per game as a senior - to where he is now, it takes a special belief in yourself," Boals said. "I'm sure a lot of it is just the way his mom raised him, and then the way his aunt Denise took over when she passed away.
"The things he went through at 16 years old, some people don't go through that in a lifetime. He's really had to create his own path. It's a phenomenal story."
The 2021 NBA Draft won't be the end of that story, and Preston and his supporters surely hope it won't even be the climax. But just getting to this point as a legitimate NBA prospect after forgoing his senior year at Ohio, let alone hearing his name called Thursday night, is already an inspiring story - and an unfathomable accomplishment given where Preston was four years ago.
"It's a bittersweet deal," Boals said as he reflected on having one of his student-athletes on the precipice of the NBA. "You're elated that Jason's about to achieve his dreams on draft night, but the bitter part is you don't get to spend another year with him because he's a fun kid to be around. He's a great teammate and obviously a great player."
One NBA team is about to discover that for itself.
Joseph Casciaro is a senior writer for theScore
