After scores of texts and an inability to schedule a face-to-face interview in New York, current Houston resident Rafer Alston and I are talking on the phone. And, as ever, the born leader out of South Jamaica, Queens who got his first dose of national fame after appearing on the cover of SLAM in 1997, has a lot to say.
Between the SLAM cover, which proclaimed the incoming Fresno State junior “the best point guard in the world (you’ve never heard of),” the AND 1 Mixtapes and Tours and the NBA career that lasted from 1999-2010, Alston’s story was oft-told. But with the demise of streetball as a crowd- and television audience-drawing branch of the sport, and Alston’s somewhat-rushed disappearance from the League, it’s a story that has already been forgotten by many. And, given the fast-paced media world of today and the millions of new young fans basketball gains each year, Rafer’s is a story many may not know at all.
So, with the help of the 37-year-old Alston and a couple of the folks he impressed along the way, we’ll re-tell it.
