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Message: [QUOTE="rmtsu, post: 1746744, member: 785"] [URL]http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/23/sports/spotlight-nba-despite-failure-as-pro-he-ll-forever-be-pearl.html[/URL] ''I had a God-given talent and I was always ahead of everybody else in high school and in college,'' Washington said. ''But when I got to that next level, guys were above me. So at that point, you have to say either 'I'm going to work at it to become a good player in the N.B.A.' or 'This ain't for me anymore.' I decided that it wasn't for me. I didn't love it enough to really work hard at it anymore. But I have no regrets.'' Most guys that stick in the NBA for an extended period get better than they were in college (physically, conditioning, skill wise, learn and get smarter), obviously there are always exceptions, but Pearls advantages weren't as great in the NBA where even the guards he played against in college had gotten better. Certainly not a knock against him but just reality. As much as he did well against Ewing in college, Ewing also got better in the NBA physically, but night in and night out you are playing against the best players in the world, not just a dozens or so games a year in college where you might be playing against a team with several NBA quality players. Its a grind. As good as Walter Berry was in College he was out of the NBA in 3 years one of the reasons being his work ethic or lack of. He used to not work hard at all at practice at St. Johns but Louie put up with it because against college players he could go out and score 25 a night, but it was much tougher in the NBA and NBA execs are not as forgiving, the player who replaced Pearl was Sherm Douglas, every year there are hungry players getting drafted willing to work their tails off to get better and either make a team or get playing time. The other thing that hurt Pearl and may have helped to diminish his willingness to work at it was the situation in New Jersey at the time, he was a push it up the floor point guard, and NJ wanted to slow it down. That took away one of Pearls big advantages and I'm sure made it much less fun to play. Thing that impressed me most about Pearl was his accessibility and willingness to interact with fans. When he came back to Syracuse he always seemed to be around and was very friendly, not super talkative but certainly didn't try to hide. He gave back to and embraced a community that was appreciative of what he meant to Syracuse. I didn't know him and had only talked to him briefly a few times in the late 85-86 time frame through other friends of mine, but I when ever I did see him around through the years he always greeted you with a smile and a nod. [/QUOTE]

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