Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Isiah Garrison was an 8th grader and the current team captain for Nashton Academy's basketball team.

His dad had played basketball but only ever managed to get to the college level in the US. After failing for a few years to get a contract with any of the professional teams he decided to play overseas to earn money.

After playing six years overseas in China for the CBA he moved back to the United States and used the money that he had saved up to open up his own bar.

Because of the fact that his dad had played at a fairly high level Isiah had access to a skills trainer that most kids his age wouldn't.

Ever since he could remember Isiah had always been praised for how advanced he was as a player compared to others his age.

He had never met anyone in his age group that could shoot better than him, dribble better than him, or score better than him.

Being at the top had always felt natural to him. When he got the offer to attend Nashton Academy Isiah had originally wanted to decline the offer.

Sure they were a good school whos program had managed to remain as one of the top basketball programs in the county for the last few years but Isiah had his eyes set higher.

But after weeks of waiting he still didn't get any offers from the schools that he had wanted to go to.

So even though he would never admit it to anyone else he actually accepted Nashton Academy's offer because of his desperation.

Since Nashton Academy was a school that he originally didn't even have on his radar he looked down on it's team and it's players.

He was sure that he would be the best player on the team as soon as he joined. He was sure that it would be his team.

Unfortunately things didn't turn out the way that he had envisioned. 3D had cemented himself as the focal point of the team starting in his first year.

And although he refused to believe that there was someone else better than him he couldn't deny the results when they were right in front of his eyes.

He had challenged 3D on the very first day after finding out that it was his team and that they modeled their playstyle to completely revolve around him.

But even though 3D had only chosen the benchwarmers he simply destroyed Isiah's team in a scrimmage.

Not only that. After having his spirit crushed by 3D in a practice game he once again took a hit to his pride as he was turned into a simple role player on the team.

For two years he had to swallow his pride as 3D lead the team to all their wins with his dominant post play and rebounding.

While he himself was relegated to a simple spot up shooter and sometimes a secondary scorer whenever 3D was on the bench.

The further 3D dragged the team the more Isiah had his spirit crushed as he found out that he wasn't all that special.

Up until he had joined Nashton Academy Isiah had only ever played basketball in the local youth leagues.

But when he found himself playing in the county tournament alongside 3D Isiah discovered that he wasn't even the best player in the county.

His pride had been smashed to pieces after the team had gotten knocked out of the tournament in the semifinals.

But instead of despairing he used the anger that he felt deep inside of him to fuel himself to work harder. He waited quietly and patiently biding his time as he got better.

He knew that he would have a chance to show that he wasn't just a run of the mill basketball player and that he could carry a team by himself.

The opportunity finally came when 3D moved on from middle school to high school. Now that their star player was no longer there they would need someone else to run their team.

Isiah took hold of the opportunity and made the most out of it. With their new style of offense running through him his points per game went up from 14 to 26.

His assists and rebounds also went up. Not only were they now on pace to have a similar record as the one that they had last year but the pace of their offense had also gone up.

Isiah was overjoyed. He had proven that he was capable of being the man on a team and that he was special.

No longer did he have to walk away and clear the floor whenever 3D waved his hands. Now it was him calling the shots on the team.

But after seeing the flashy introduction that Jefferson gave to their starting lineup Isiah's anger was reignited. Especially after seeing how the crowd reacted to Jason.

'What's so special about that guy!? He just got lucky that he ended up on Jefferson! Anyone would look good with a defensive rim running Center like Kyle!

If he was on my team instead of that slow ass 3D I would be the one getting all the credit! All of these people would be cheering for me!'

In his mind Isiah believed that he was just as good if not better than Jason and that the only reason why he was doing so much better than him was because of the style fit of their teams.

Jason had been given free reign over his team's offense while he had to change his game to fit with 3D's style of play.

'But that was last year. Now that I'm the star player I can finally show what I can do. I can finally show everyone just how good I am!'

He was partially right. After becoming the focal point of the offense he had increased his scoring output while maintaining a good efficiency.

That combined with the faster pace of their offense some would believe that this year's Nashton team was better than last year's.

But a quick look with the eye test as well as a deeper look at the numbers would say otherwise. Although their pace of offense was higher this year their point differential went down by almost 15 points.

That meant that they were beating their opponents by 15 less points compared to last year. A big part of that had to do with their defense.

Although they were scoring a lot of points, in fact they were scoring more points on average compared to last year, they were also giving up more points.

Without 3D on the team their interior defense dropped by a more than a few levels. Their rebounding also got worse as they gave their opponents multiple attempts per possession while also having less attempts themselves.

- - -

Isiah was about 5'8 (1.72m) the same height as Jason. But he had a more well defined muscle tone which made his frame look better.

He also had light brown skin and a head of medium length curly hair that was kept out of his face by his black headband.

As his team lined up to shake hands with Jefferson's players he couldn't help but look at Jason. Finally when it was time for the two of them to shake hands he squeezed with all of his strength before turning around without saying a word.

- - -

Jason scoffed after Isiah's rude display 'Whatever' Ever since the video of him practicing his lines for the drama club had been leaked Jason had been faced with multiple people thinking that he was a push over.

They all thought that they had found something that showed Jason's weakness. But to him it didn't matter in the slightest bit.

'I could start wearing dresses and putting on makeup but you shit heads still wouldn't be a match for me.

I still can't believe that there are people that think that your hobbies dictate what kind of person you are.

So because I'm part of the drama club and practicing my lines for a play I'm all of a sudden a pansy and a pushover?'

He pushed his grumbles to the back of his mind as he got ready for the game to start. As he got into position for the tipoff Jason flipped the switch as he got into his game mode.

The Center going up against Kyle was two inches (5.08cm) shorter than him and was clearly outclassed athletically as Kyle easily tipped the ball over to his team's side.

The ball flew toward Alex as he caught it before quickly passing it over to Jason. He then began to dribble his way down the court.

He was neither rushed nor hurried as he was seemingly taking his time strolling down the court. This confused the audience somewhat.

They had been watching the team for the whole season and knew that Jefferson liked to start off their games with an aggressive push after the tipoff.

After crossing half court Jason stared down Isiah as he got into a low defensive stance with his arms spread open.

There was barely a half step of distance between them. Jason smiled before quickly lowering his upper body as he started his drive with a quick crossover to the right.

Isiah was slightly late to react but he slid his feet as he attempted to stick with Jason. As soon as they made contact Jason came to a stop with a through the leg dribble.

He then did a slight hesitation move with the ball in his left hand which caused Isiah to take a step in that direction.

Jason then shifted directions as he crossed the ball over once again to his right hand. Isiah almost lost his balance as he tried to shift directions as well.

He was on his heels as he tried to move to the right. But before he could even try to regain his balance Jason came to a stop once again, this time with a behind the back dribble.

After having shifted directions rapidly in such a short amount of time Isiah finally fell over as he lost his balance.

Jason smiled as he stared him down for a moment before going into his shooting motion. As he drained the wide open mid range jumper the crowd exploded with excitement.