Dream Come True
JaMychal Green and Tom Hager
In partnership with Athletes For God
I didn't raise any quitters.
That was what my mom said to me when I was playing basketball in Europe, during one of my low points. I didn't raise any quitters.
She was right too. I might have been away from my mom, my girlfriend, and my daughter, but she was right. I'm not a quitter. But if I'm being honest, that period of my life was the closest I came to quitting.
It was the 2013-2014 season, and I remember the feeling of just wanting to be comfortable. I was chasing after my dream of playing in the NBA, but instead of actually playing in the NBA, I was playing over 4,500 miles away from home in France.
Playing overseas can be tough for any player, but it's definitely a lot tougher when you're a dad. My daughter had been born just weeks before I headed out to France, and the entire time I was out there I never got to see her. My girlfriend was able to visit one time, but I never got to see my daughter. I was doing this whole basketball thing for her, and yet the only time I was seeing my daughter was on a phone or laptop.
Here's the thing about chasing dreams: the harder it is to achieve them, the more you question why you're even chasing after them in the first place.
I think one of the reasons my mom wouldn't let me quit was because she knew I was stronger than I was giving myself credit for. That's because my strength didn't come from within...It came from God.
Philippians 4:13 is my favorite verse from the Bible and it says “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
That verse was true when I played at Alabama, and it was true when I was playing in France, and it was still true when I decided to come back home to the United States. If I ever wanted to play in the NBA, I would have to go through the D-League first.
When I was at Alabama, I didn't think my career would become so complicated. After my junior season at Alabama I was named a first-team All-SEC player, and it seemed like the NBA was a logical next step. I quickly realized, however, that if I was ever going to make it to the league, I was going to have to earn it the hard way.
My numbers took a slight drop my senior year in Tuscaloosa, and I was a second-team All-SEC player in 2012. I didn't get drafted that summer, so I decided to play with the Spurs' D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros. I played well there, but not well enough to get called up to San Antonio.
I played the next summer for the Clippers' Summer League team, but couldn't land a spot with the NBA roster, so that was when I headed off to France.
It was a difficult time for me, because I knew what was being said about me. I think that people thought I was capable of so much more. Plenty of people back in the south knew about the numbers I had put up in college and the accolades I had received, and I was falling short of all the expectations people had for me. Even though I was never a failure in God's eyes, I was feeling like one. To make matters worse, I was an ocean away from my family.
My daughter was born in America and I didn't want her to grow up overseas. Instead, I used my daughter as motivation to play harder and get that NBA job back in America.
When my daughter was born, it was the best feeling in the world. She matured me, and made me look at life differently. I had somebody that was now depending on me, and I knew I had to step up my game on the court if I was going to give her the life that I was capable of providing. At the time I was playing in France's second division and desperately wanted to make the jump up to the league.
I remember at one point my mom told me “You're not going to be in the NBA until you see yourself in the NBA.” Then she posed the question if I saw myself there, and I gave her my honest feelings at the time... “No, I don't.”
Then one night in a dream, it all clicked. I finally saw all my God-given potential on display on an NBA court, and within a year it would happen. I just didn't know it at the time. The thing was, even if I didn't know whether I would get to the NBA, I knew how I would get there. John 15:4-5 says “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit.”
After that dream where I rediscovered my confidence, my career began to bear fruit. I headed back to Austin to play once again in the D-League, and within a few months there, on January 18 of 2015, I got an offer from the San Antonio Spurs. It was only for 10 days, but I had finally achieved my dream. I had made it to the NBA.
I can still remember it vividly to this day...I was playing the D-League tournament when one of the representatives for the Spurs gave me the news that I was being called up. I remember dropping down on my knees and thanking God. I knew without Him this wouldn't have been possible.
During my first game, that's when it really hit me that I was playing in the NBA. This wasn't a dream anymore. It was real. One of the things that helped keep things normal for me was my coach at the time, Greg Popovich. He treated me like I was a Spur, just like everybody else, and gave me the confidence to keep going. That was really important for me, because once my 10-day contract was up I was headed right back to the D-League.
That was, until the Memphis Grizzlies stepped in.
Here's how quickly things can change in your life when God steps in. On February 2, I'm signing a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies. On February 19, I'm signing my second 10-day contract, and by March 2, I'm signing a multi-year deal with the team.
When I first got to the league, I was scared to not mess up. I'm probably not the only player to feel that as a rookie, but when I got to Memphis, it was especially true, because I was competing for playing time with one of the most legendary players in our franchise's history: Zach Randolph.
If you were making a Mount Rushmore of Grizzlies players, Zach Randolph would be on there. He is third in this organization's history with 9,261 points, and was a two-time All-Star here. And yet shortly after I arrived, he was coming off the bench while I was starting in his place.
That situation could have imploded into some dysfunctional mess full of jealousy and bitterness, but Zach actually was the first one to tell me that I was going to be starting – even before the coaching staff had told me. He took me under his wing, and he was saying he was proud of me, with no hard feelings at all.
That took so much pressure off and allowed the flow of the game to come to me. That's probably one of the reasons why I've been able to improve my numbers every year – 2.7 points per game in my first season, then 7.4 in my second year, then 8.9, and then 10.3 last season.
I can't take too much credit for that. That's God.
The thing is, even when I was averaging double-figures for the first time last year, that didn't mean it was easy for our team. We went through an 11-game losing streak last season, and then shortly after we broke that, we started a new losing streak of 19 games. After we won on January 29, we didn't win again until March 17.
I think the reason I didn't make the NBA straight out of college was because I wasn't ready, and I wasn't mature enough. I'm thankful that by the time I suffered through a losing streak like the one I saw last year, I had enough perspective and wisdom to get through it with my head up.
In many ways, the way we ended the streak was the same way I got into the league in the first place - keeping God first and working hard. Now we have a fresh start and a chance to make the playoffs again, but if we do, I'll know who got us there. And for all you young athletes out there, feeling like you're big break isn't coming, just remember that when you put God first, dreams really can come true. I'm proof.