''You go run the sprints,'' Smith told Nelson, who asked Smith to repeat himself because he was so stunned.Don Nelson, Donnie Nelson's father, soon decided that Smith was too disruptive to be allowed around the team. Smith was now a deeply troubled soul who had tried to end his life by ingesting a half-bottle of aspirin, approximately 250 tablets' worth.

Hunter retrieves the ball and tosses it off the backboard for his friend, who leaps high and tomahawks it through the rim. "When he woke, he said, "part of me was like, `I should've died ... and a part of me was like, `Well, God gave you another chance, make the best of it.' He will soon work out for two teams, but it is unclear whether he will return to the N.B.A.
"The Atlanta Hawks, the Houston Rockets, the Lakers and others were interested. Smith retorted. He still attends counseling sessions in Dallas and Houston, and he has been off all medication for two weeks.Friends and family from Chicago have painted the Mavericks as an organization not equipped to deal with such a sensitive situation. "Jerry eventually found a foster family, but Leon kept moving. there's some consistency in where you're going to go," Harris says. He is going one on one with Ashley Hunter, a mature 20-year-old with whom Smith grew up and who lives with him on the recommendation of the players association. "He's always been very sensitive. ''I think it just threw him a little bit,'' said Doris Bauer, the woman who ran the Lydia Home, where Smith lived from age 5 to 13. "Seven months later, the fairy tale has turned into a soap opera.Since the Dallas Mavericks acquired Leon in a trade last summer, his life has been constant turmoil: A run-in with an assistant coach on his first day of practice. too young. ''Dallas did that boy wrong. But he wasn't disciplined in high school. "God don't make no junk. The camp is a showcase for many of the country's top high school stars. I'm trying to make it to the majors. All net. So were several colleges, including Fresno State and DePaul, Green says.Recruiters came calling, some driving Mercedes and Lincolns. Leon Smith profile page, biographical information, injury history and news ''When you care for somebody, you want to see them. Her first name had been tattooed on his right arm.On Nov. 14, he hurled a rock through a car window and swallowed 250 aspirins.

Two arrests. ''That hurt him more than anything,'' Short, the union official, said. Leon was not a quick adjuster. . A boy's home. And I don't feel sorry for myself. I just thought it was going to be a bit too much for him. ''The Mavericks decided that Smith was not ready to play in the league, and told him that one way to improve his raw game was to play for a year with a minor league team in St. Louis. On this day in Houston, he looks at the rim and down at his feet behind the 3-point line. They can put it on me, but if a child decides he wants to come out of high school and play in the N.B.A., that's his decision. ''I put it on myself,'' he said before a recent workout in Houston. But a judge granted their wish to stay put.Then as Leon neared high school, he had to leave because Lydia House had no teen program. ''One high-ranking league official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: ''They can defend themselves all they want, but how do you draft a player without ever talking to him? Available for sale from Carrie Haddad Gallery, Leon Smith, Anytime Now (2006), Wood, 14 × 10 × 5 in He fired two agents in three months. Seeing more than 100 psychologists and counselors.The brothers moved to Lydia House, a residential home in a middle-class community on the Northwest Side. . The recruiters in expensive sneakers. An aunt. ''Smith wondered why a team that did not want him around would make sure that his shooting hand was spared. ''It would be unfair to call Leon a poster child for anything but Leon,'' David Stern, the N.B.A. Another player had been slow running sprints, so Donnie Nelson, an assistant coach, told the group to run again. He fired his first agent.Reportedly, he had agreed to a plan: If he wasn't ready to play with the Mavericks at summer's end, he would spend a year maturing in a minor league or in European basketball. Looking back, maybe you sometimes get blinded by talent.

"I was trying to end my life," he told the Houston TV station. ''They treated him like a piece of meat,'' said Sonny Cox, Smith's high school coach. And while boys hung out in his room (the neatest in the house), he rarely ventured to theirs.When his mother visited, sometimes bringing his sisters, Leon said little, Green recalls. ''That was the worst draft in 10 years. But I remain convinced, in a broader context, that we need to disincentivize players who have other options from coming into the N.B.A. ''That's all I wanted to be. . But if you don't have people to love, you're not going to be happy. But he came from a stable family, had lived in Italy (he speaks fluent Italian) and had a role model under his own roof: his father, Joe, a former NBA player.Both have been spectacular successes. In his freshman year in high school, Smith says, he decided he wanted to become a pro some day.

He was escorted by two members of the NBA Players' Association assistance program.As they hustled him into a black Cadillac, his mother rushed to the car and peered in. "None of us in the NBA are qualified to help someone with those types of issues," he says.Coach Cox, from King High, doesn't see it that way. Leon did not have that support.

He returned every penny in change when he ran fast-food errands for coaches. You can have a big house and a lot of cars.

draft, because I felt I could play in the N.B.A. He briefly explored enrolling at Fresno State and Rhode Island, but he feared that his poor grades would force him to sit out a year to become eligible. He wounded easily. View the profiles of people named Leon Smith. Leon Spinks is presently a retired boxer possessing a prominent net worth of $500 thousand. I'm in Triple A right now. ''Stern, the N.B.A. He cared little about money. But then he balked.Under NBA rules, as a first-round pick, Smith was guaranteed a three-year contract. "After the court date, Smith returned to Dallas, where he was receiving psychiatric treatment. It was her phone number.Leon Smith now lives in Houston, where he is working out, undergoing therapy and being guided by the players' association.He told KRIV he isn't bitter about the Mavericks' actions and believes he is stronger and wiser now.He wants another shot at the NBA.

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