magnifier661
B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
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http://www.slamonline.com/out-of-the-woods/
It’s 6 a.m. in Portland. A decade ago, Qyntel Woods might have just arrived home from a night of partying. Today, his brief, promising NBA days firmly in the rear view, he’s half a world away. Literally. “It’s 3 o’clock here—3 p.m.,” he says over the phone. “I’m in Poland.”
His Southern accent is less pronounced than it was when he last graced the pages of SLAM, but it flares up when he gets excited, like when he talks about his kids or the prospect of finally coming home for the summer at the conclusion of another seemingly interminable season abroad.
Since playing his last NBA game in 2006, Woods has quietly put together a prolific playing career overseas, with stops in Greece, Spain, Italy, Russia, Israel and Poland, where he’s known affectionately as “Polish LeBron.” But Qyntel’s long, winding journey to success as a professional basketball player has been far from the glamorous NBA career he seemed destined for as a rookie in 2002.
image: http://cdn.slamonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/qyntel_1.jpg
At 21 years old, Qyn was a 6-9, 230-pound monster from South Memphis who had NBA executives salivating over his blend of guard skills and raw power. So he passed on a scholarship offer from John Calipari at the University of Memphis and made the leap to the League straight out of tiny Northeast Mississippi Community College.
Read more at http://www.slamonline.com/out-of-the-woods/#DdbsjbAw6MUZEcZY.99
It’s 6 a.m. in Portland. A decade ago, Qyntel Woods might have just arrived home from a night of partying. Today, his brief, promising NBA days firmly in the rear view, he’s half a world away. Literally. “It’s 3 o’clock here—3 p.m.,” he says over the phone. “I’m in Poland.”
His Southern accent is less pronounced than it was when he last graced the pages of SLAM, but it flares up when he gets excited, like when he talks about his kids or the prospect of finally coming home for the summer at the conclusion of another seemingly interminable season abroad.
Since playing his last NBA game in 2006, Woods has quietly put together a prolific playing career overseas, with stops in Greece, Spain, Italy, Russia, Israel and Poland, where he’s known affectionately as “Polish LeBron.” But Qyntel’s long, winding journey to success as a professional basketball player has been far from the glamorous NBA career he seemed destined for as a rookie in 2002.
image: http://cdn.slamonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/qyntel_1.jpg
At 21 years old, Qyn was a 6-9, 230-pound monster from South Memphis who had NBA executives salivating over his blend of guard skills and raw power. So he passed on a scholarship offer from John Calipari at the University of Memphis and made the leap to the League straight out of tiny Northeast Mississippi Community College.
Read more at http://www.slamonline.com/out-of-the-woods/#DdbsjbAw6MUZEcZY.99
