[Chron]: "Dorsey out to prove naysayers wrong"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5873741.html


"Rugged Dorsey out to prove naysayers wrong

By STEVE CAMPBELL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
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Daryl Morey doesn't care if he receives a spur-of-the-moment A or a knee-jerk F.

Morey hates instant NBA draft analysis.

After all those months of homework, after a painstaking dissection of every prospect from Alexis Ajinca to D.J. White, Morey honestly doesn't know what the Rockets will get out of their 2008 draft class. He doubts anybody else does, either, regardless of how loudly or emphatically they may declare to the contrary.

''It's like getting the grade for a class the first day you walk in the door," Morey said.

Nonetheless, an interested bystander couldn't resist offering an opinion.

''I think you get an A," Joey Dorsey said. ''I think you did great."

The Rockets parlayed the No. 25 and No. 54 picks of the June 26 draft into Syracuse forward Donté Greene, Oregon forward Maarty Leunen, a No. 2 pick in 2009 and a certain big-bodied forward from Memphis. Dorsey's endorsement moved Morey to say, ''I think he gave me a better grade than he ever got in Memphis."

All Dorsey could do was laugh and say, ''You got me."

It's not easy to leave Dorsey at a loss for words. Though Dorsey averaged just 6.9 points per game as a senior, he doesn't need any convincing that he belongs in the NBA. Dorsey touts himself as ''Ray Lewis with a basketball" and vows to bring the sort of toughness that just might deter teams from trying to take away the Rockets' lunch money.

With the 6-7, 268-pound Dorsey crashing the boards and creating havoc on defense, Memphis came within an eyelash of winning the 2008 national championship. Morey touts Dorsey, who averaged 9.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots per game as a senior, as ''the best defensive big man in the country." While other players were jacking up shots from behind the 3-point line, Dorsey studied defensive video of Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer.

''I tell a lot of kids: Everybody can't be a Carmelo (Anthony), a LeBron (James)," Dorsey said. ''Play defense. You don't always have to score the ball all the time. Find your niche and play it to a 'T'. Hard work definitely pays off. It paid off for me. I got drafted.

''A lot of people I played with and played against always doubted (me), said I wouldn't be drafted. I wouldn't play in the NBA. I wouldn't get a diploma. I just want to prove a lot of people wrong."

To be sure, Dorsey had a dead-end start to life. He grew up in rugged West Baltimore with no fatherly influence in his life. Violence is so pervasive in those parts, residents refer to it as ''Iraq." Cameras are all over the neighborhood — a noticeable but insufficient attempt to quell the drug dealing.

A mother's love
''You ever watch The Wire?" Dorsey said, alluding to the cable series that depicted the harsh life of that section of Baltimore. ''It's worse than that.

''It was hard growing up without a father figure or a positive male role model. So I looked up to my mom, because she was so independent."

Charlene Dorsey wouldn't accept any accolades for that, saying, ''That's what a mother does: She provides for the children."

She forbade her son to play organized sports, fearful that he'd get caught up with the wrong crowd. She held down two restaurant-managing jobs at once while also raising two children, so she couldn't be everywhere.

Dorsey eventually found his way into organized basketball.

At age 17.

''I always told her I was going to the playground to hang on the swings or something," Dorsey said. ''But I was sneaking around trying to become a man."

Dorsey, 24, is the first member of his family to earn a high school diploma. He is just a handful of credits from receiving his degree from Memphis, where coach John Calipari sold him on embracing a role as a Ben Wallace-style defensive stopper.

Dorsey shot 61 percent for the field during his career, a testament to the wonders of the slam dunk. He shot 42 percent from the line, a testament to how raw his offensive skills are when he's not within arm's length of the basket.

''I won't discourage him from dunking and finishing at the rim," Morey said. ''He knows his role. We really think he's the trend with the bigs and defenders in the league. Nobody can really guard a quick perimeter player. Your second defenders have got to be able to stay with them, get to the rim and block their shots. We definitely feel we've got a weapon to combat some of the league trends."

Big man, big plans
Dorsey would like to assure the Rockets they made a Grade-A pick in the second round. If he is as tough and tenacious as advertised, he'll have a long and prosperous NBA career. He can buy a nice big house and live in a different world than the one that helped make him so tough in the first place.

''That's the plan," Joey Dorsey said, smiling. ''That's the plan." "

A little cliche, but he does seem to have a genuine chip on his shoulder.

 

this last line, was my own commentary:

"A little cliche, but he does seem to have a genuine chip on his shoulder."


just wanted to make sure it didn't seem like i was manipulating any original work

 

that annoyed me a bit as well. I have been trying to dig up any new info I can, chron hasn't been giving much at all. figured there may be a line or 2 in the article that some other members may not have yet known so went ahead a posted it.