"Swee' Pea" / John Valenti & Ron Naclerio
- Thread starter jerseyshorejohnny
- Start date
Whenever I think of "what could have been", the names Lloyd Daniels and Lenny Cooke come to my mind first and foremost. James Felton also. At least Swee Pea did make it to the league. Saw him play for the Long Island Surf of the USBL a number of years ago, while he was still quite young. About 30 years old. He did not impress at all.
Saw him play a high school game at Nassau Coliseum where he played great and reminded me of Rick Barry. Also gave him and his coach Ron N some of my wife's home baked chocolate chip cookies at a St. John's game around Christmas time. Very talented player and if he had his head on straight at the time would have been awesome in a St. John's uniform.
Booksnball
Member
Would have been an ALL- Time great if he didn't choose to dance with the crack devil. If you saw him play when he was eligible to play at Campus Magnet HS you'd understand why I say that. His lack of a real family structure with any real parenting from early on resulted in him all to often making wrong decisions.Hopefully it's all behind him & he's gotten his life in order.
I read this 20+ yrs ago.
There's an anecdote where a high school coach tells Lou that Daniels wants to come to St. John's. Lou assigns Ron Rutledge to the recruitment. Rutledge tries to get Daniels some tutoring via Riverside Church. But Daniels is fiercely loyal to the Gauchos and feels slighted. He drops St. John's right away.
There's an anecdote where a high school coach tells Lou that Daniels wants to come to St. John's. Lou assigns Ron Rutledge to the recruitment. Rutledge tries to get Daniels some tutoring via Riverside Church. But Daniels is fiercely loyal to the Gauchos and feels slighted. He drops St. John's right away.
beast of the east
Active member
Basketball, it seems, has more of these tragic derailment of potential careers before they ever got going. The legend is built on potential hardly realized, and if we are honest with ourselves would care little about the individual who threw it all away except for his ability to play ball.
How many Lloyd Daniels' are there who have wasted their lives on drugs and crime, who drank or did drugs with an aunt, like Daniels. How many could have used a serious dose of paternal discipline (and fear of God) that only a father can dole out. How many of us seriously care about those names we never knew because they couldn't entertain us the way a Lloyd Daniels could?
In Daniel's mind, he can be a bigger star than if he ever stepped onto a college or NBA court to dazzle. After all, there is always the allure of potential that never had a chance for actualization. Certainly Rysheed Jordan is heading down that road.
How many Lloyd Daniels' are there who have wasted their lives on drugs and crime, who drank or did drugs with an aunt, like Daniels. How many could have used a serious dose of paternal discipline (and fear of God) that only a father can dole out. How many of us seriously care about those names we never knew because they couldn't entertain us the way a Lloyd Daniels could?
In Daniel's mind, he can be a bigger star than if he ever stepped onto a college or NBA court to dazzle. After all, there is always the allure of potential that never had a chance for actualization. Certainly Rysheed Jordan is heading down that road.