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07-10-2014, 07:18 PM
Back Home to Help Others, Jackson's Native Son Reflects on Betrayal
By Bryann FlynnMaurice "Mo" Williams is quick to remind me the wounds that take the longest to heal are rarely physical. "I've been under the knife, had contusions, could barely walk on my ankle..." His voice trails off, and he takes another bite of his lunch, then stares across the cafeteria at Murrah High School, into another time entirely. "It's the emotional betrayal that sticks with you. It eats at you. You just keep wondering, like, you know: why?"
Williams is back at the high school where he first made his name in Jackson, Mississippi to promote his annual "Mo' Fundies, No Problems" basketball camp. The premise of the camp is straightforward enough: if you master the basics, you're less prone to beating yourself. "That's half the battle, really." The charismatic shooting guard beams and for a second his boyish exuberance makes you forget he's actually a veteran NBA player now, and on the market for a new team. When the topic turns to free agency, it's difficult to avoid the topic of LeBron James (http://www.thecoli.com/tags/lebron+james/).
"Could care less where he goes, man." When I express incredulity he puts one hand on his heart, and the other hand shoots skyward like a flare. "Honest to God! I just know wherever he ends up, I'll cross that team off my list." And with that he finishes the last bit of his lunch and hurries back to the gym. There are children to teach, and Williams is a loyal helper.
Later that evening, when we - at Williams' insistence - settle into dinner at Red Lobster [author's note: I was born and raised in Maine, so dining at Red Lobster is akin to an act against God] Williams, perhaps lulled into a state of comfort by the improbable number of biscuits he consumes, opens up about "The Decision." It wasn't that LeBron left, but rather how he left which will forever rub Williams wrong.
"Bron had me blinded man. He wins you over completely. He makes you feel like you're his best friend. He'll party with you, train with you, dance on the sideline with you... Look, growing up I was obsessed with the Thundercats. Bron found out and he had this artist make me a painting where it was me playing basketball, but I looked like Panthro. He would call me Panthro all the time, and I called him Lion-O. We used to joke about how Dwight (Howard, then their nemesis with the Orlando Magic) was Mumm-Ra." I ask Williams where that painting is now, and he crumbles his napkin and tosses it over his shoulder, then shrugs. "I couldn't get Bron to pick up my calls for a week after 'The Decision,' so finally I just sent him a text, I just said, Lion-O would never leave Panthro out in the cold. Two days later I get a text back that says I'm a basketball player and a businessman, not a Thundercat. But that's how he is... That's who he is. He makes you feel like a million bucks and then steps over you like a bad penny on his way out the door."
We speak very little about LeBron, Williams' own free agency, or basketball at all for the remainder of the meal. Instead Williams talks at length about the peace of mind he finds whenever he returns to Jackson, about fishing on the Yazoo River, about his grandfather Muddy who was half Choctaw and taught Williams the value of personal spirituality and harmony with one's environment. He smiles broadly as he discusses his girlfriend LavQuintana's pregnancy, and the perspective on love he has achieved in the past few years. But when we part in the parking lot, he can't help but provide a final reflection on LeBron - one that I imagine his grandfather Muddy would have appreciated.
"A man lets you know who he is by how he treats others. D. Wade, Chris, Heat fans, they saw how Bron did me and the Cavs (http://www.thecoli.com/tags/cavs/), so they shouldn't expect no sympathy from no one. You invite a vampire into your house, you gonna get bit. Simple as that."
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/09/williams-betrayal/
By Bryann FlynnMaurice "Mo" Williams is quick to remind me the wounds that take the longest to heal are rarely physical. "I've been under the knife, had contusions, could barely walk on my ankle..." His voice trails off, and he takes another bite of his lunch, then stares across the cafeteria at Murrah High School, into another time entirely. "It's the emotional betrayal that sticks with you. It eats at you. You just keep wondering, like, you know: why?"
Williams is back at the high school where he first made his name in Jackson, Mississippi to promote his annual "Mo' Fundies, No Problems" basketball camp. The premise of the camp is straightforward enough: if you master the basics, you're less prone to beating yourself. "That's half the battle, really." The charismatic shooting guard beams and for a second his boyish exuberance makes you forget he's actually a veteran NBA player now, and on the market for a new team. When the topic turns to free agency, it's difficult to avoid the topic of LeBron James (http://www.thecoli.com/tags/lebron+james/).
"Could care less where he goes, man." When I express incredulity he puts one hand on his heart, and the other hand shoots skyward like a flare. "Honest to God! I just know wherever he ends up, I'll cross that team off my list." And with that he finishes the last bit of his lunch and hurries back to the gym. There are children to teach, and Williams is a loyal helper.
Later that evening, when we - at Williams' insistence - settle into dinner at Red Lobster [author's note: I was born and raised in Maine, so dining at Red Lobster is akin to an act against God] Williams, perhaps lulled into a state of comfort by the improbable number of biscuits he consumes, opens up about "The Decision." It wasn't that LeBron left, but rather how he left which will forever rub Williams wrong.
"Bron had me blinded man. He wins you over completely. He makes you feel like you're his best friend. He'll party with you, train with you, dance on the sideline with you... Look, growing up I was obsessed with the Thundercats. Bron found out and he had this artist make me a painting where it was me playing basketball, but I looked like Panthro. He would call me Panthro all the time, and I called him Lion-O. We used to joke about how Dwight (Howard, then their nemesis with the Orlando Magic) was Mumm-Ra." I ask Williams where that painting is now, and he crumbles his napkin and tosses it over his shoulder, then shrugs. "I couldn't get Bron to pick up my calls for a week after 'The Decision,' so finally I just sent him a text, I just said, Lion-O would never leave Panthro out in the cold. Two days later I get a text back that says I'm a basketball player and a businessman, not a Thundercat. But that's how he is... That's who he is. He makes you feel like a million bucks and then steps over you like a bad penny on his way out the door."
We speak very little about LeBron, Williams' own free agency, or basketball at all for the remainder of the meal. Instead Williams talks at length about the peace of mind he finds whenever he returns to Jackson, about fishing on the Yazoo River, about his grandfather Muddy who was half Choctaw and taught Williams the value of personal spirituality and harmony with one's environment. He smiles broadly as he discusses his girlfriend LavQuintana's pregnancy, and the perspective on love he has achieved in the past few years. But when we part in the parking lot, he can't help but provide a final reflection on LeBron - one that I imagine his grandfather Muddy would have appreciated.
"A man lets you know who he is by how he treats others. D. Wade, Chris, Heat fans, they saw how Bron did me and the Cavs (http://www.thecoli.com/tags/cavs/), so they shouldn't expect no sympathy from no one. You invite a vampire into your house, you gonna get bit. Simple as that."
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/09/williams-betrayal/