[Lefty Noob]

Check out this story on Raptors rookie Jamario Moon from Yahoo.com.

Toronto rookie took long road to NBA - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
December 6, 2007

TORONTO – For all the endless bus rides to empty gymnasiums, the paydays when the owner couldn’t cut checks, the most trying turn of Jamario Moon’s journey had to be the passes the Harlem Globetrotters tossed toward the rafters. The lobs arched 15 feet in the air, tumbling over the side of the backboard, the shot clock and leaving a leaping Moon reaching higher and higher to deliver the deed.

Night after night, gym after gym, the Globetrotters told him to take that freakish leaping ability and flush those dunks on demand. His knees ached and his stomach fluttered and Moon had come to understand those silly, staged games with the Globetrotters tested his resolve and resilience, his professionalism and persistence.

“If you didn’t get those dunks, they would release you,” Moon said. “Wherever they threw the ball, you had to get it. And I don’t care how young you are, that takes an incredible toll on your body. You’ve got to be upbeat every night. You’ve got to smile. You’ve got perform. You got to give them the show.”

He laughs now, and says, “People ask me how high I can jump, and I tell them the truth: I just jump as high as they throw the ball. I just go get it where it is.”

He's 27 and has been around since 2001 in the D-league, summer leagues and with the Globetrotters. So why's he finding NBA success now?