Summer Ball

“But in either session, Right Way was all basketball, all the time—clinics and instruction in the mornings, games in the afternoon and at night.” 

Danny and his friends attend Josh Cameron’s basketball camp, Right Way, an intensive clinical camp for elite basketball players from across the county. Right Way focuses on using intelligence, ingenuity, and sportsmanship as foundations to improve each player’s skills. The camp allows boys to imagine themselves as soon-to-be professional athletes: the counselors play elite college basketball and the coaches come from competitive basketball programs. Even their lodgings bear the name of famous basketball venues. Right Way emphasizes a serious approach to basketball, something Danny will find both challenging and rewarding. 

“‘I know you, Walker. The way you look at things, there’s basketball games, and there’s killing time.’” 

Tess says this to Danny before he heads off to basketball camp. This demonstrates how well Tess knows Danny. Danny does not just play basketball, he perceives everyday life in basketball terms. When he misses a chance to impress Tess, Danny refers to it as the classic miss in basketball, an air ball. In addition, Danny itches to play basketball: he goes off to practice as a way to clear his head and mentally prepare for the next big challenge. 

“‘But when I’ve got Will and Ty, I kind of do feel like I’ve got my team with me.’” 

Here, Danny acknowledges the similarity between best friends and great teammates: for Danny, friends like Will and Ty provide support and lift Danny up when he needs it. They also push him to succeed when he wallows in defeat. On the court, a basketball player also needs this kind of support from his or her teammates. When Danny or any player has an off day on the court, he or she wants teammates that will pick up the slack. In life, people require the same: to be lifted up when they are not at their best. 

“They all did, as if it was a contest to see who could get up the fastest and stand the straightest.” 

The boys struggle to show their dominance on the first day of camp. In a place as competitive as Right Way, each boy wants to seem like the toughest, the fastest, and the best. Pride affects how much effort each one puts in; this type of mentality means the first one to show weakness becomes the first one to fall out of the competition. For Danny, his height compels him to work even harder; among the bigger players, Danny does not want to be the first one to show any weakness. 

“It was as if they were on different teams, even playing on the same team. Different teams or maybe just different worlds.” 

Danny thinks he cannot work with Rasheed as a teammate because the two boys come from different backgrounds. Danny bases this judgment on Rasheed’s attitude, his size, and his tattoos and hair. Danny assumes Rasheed does not share his integrity. In reality, the boys share a similar philosophy when it comes to basketball. The problem with the harmony results from Danny’s failure to get to know Rasheed. Further, Rasheed harbors a grudge over his loss to Danny’s team in the seventh-grade national travel championship. Until the two boys fix this discord, their team will not succeed, as winning teams work together.

“‘The eye,’ Richie said, ‘means you see things happening on the court before they actually happen.’” 

Danny’s father describes this gift, “the eye,” as particularly rare. Only the really good players possess such a skill: the quarterback who can aim for a spot before the receiver even gets there, or the baseball batter that sees the arc of the pitch before it is in the catcher’s mitt. Danny has the eye because of how well he understands the game; he can see movements in the game before they happen, allowing him to be as strong a coach as he is a player.

“‘You all learned a lesson that boys learn the first week of camp every single year—that only the strong survive here.” 

Campers at Right Way are the best players on their teams back home; here, they compete against the best players in the country. Coach Powers reminds his players that only the best excel at Right Way, adding that even players who think they are good will falter, quit, lose, or go home heartbroken. 

“This is how fast it could happen. Danny’d seen it his whole life, a basketball court like this turning into the dumbest place on earth.” 

As Danny faces Lamar, he knows a cooler head must prevail. On the court, with energy and emotions at a peak, Danny knows that one wrong word, one misstep can lead to a fight. If one player walks away, he or she makes the smarter move. When a player allows emotion to take over, he or she lets egos ruin reputations and records. Similarly to how a team needs to work together, each individual player must use their head to stay out of trouble.

“‘My dad says that sports always tells you the truth,’ Danny said. ‘Whether you always want to hear it or not.’” 

Danny quotes his father after Coach Powers tells Danny that basketball will end up breaking his heart. Until Coach Powers, no one wants to explicitly tell Danny his height makes it impossible for him to play basketball at an elite level. Coach Powers, however, uses the events of that day’s game—when a tall player humiliates Danny by blocking one of his passes—to show Danny how impossible it is for him to play against taller players. Things like a loss or a bad play reveal that eventual heartache to a player when no words can: sports push players to the limit to determine just where that player’s limit ends.

“Reach for the sky, his mom had always told him. Well, how had reaching for the sky worked out for him today, in front of what felt like the whole stupid camp?”

Danny follows his mother’s advice most days, but after Coach Powers advises him to quit basketball, Danny questions whether his mother is correct about following his dreams. His dream is to play basketball, but Danny wonders if he will reach that goal, even if he tries his best each day. At this low point, Danny feels every effort he makes, big or small, ends in his public and private humiliation. 

“‘You know what the great coaches say, right? You can’t coach effort.’” 

A basketball coach can teach players how to execute different skills, but if a player refuses to work hard, then he or she will never excel. This quote also foreshadows Coach Powers’ inability to be an effective mentor to Danny, a player who possesses great effort but lacks height.  

“‘You know how it is with us little guys […] I get knocked down, I bounce right back up.’” 

Nick Pinto, another shorter basketball player, confronts Danny after Danny fakes an injury. Nick reminds Danny how much harder shorter players have to work: already the underdogs because of their height, shorter players cannot give a coach any extra reason to cut them. Nick, like Danny and Danny’s father, share this burden: they push themselves harder to prove they deserve the same playing time as their taller teammates.

“‘I thought you always used to tell me that the championship you guys really won in travel was the championship of any kid that got told by an adult they weren’t good enough.’” 

In another insightful reminder from Tess, the memory of Danny’s words reflect his struggle in basketball. Initially cut from his seventh-grade travel team because of his height, Danny joins another team and ends up winning the national championship. At a low point, Danny allows another adult, Coach Powers, to tell him the same thing. Tess urges Danny to remember how he typically overcomes naysayers to dominate on the court.

“He wanted to show everybody how fired up he was, not even give them a hint at how tired he was.” 

After Danny returns from seeing Tess, he adopts a new attitude towards Right Way and basketball, resembling his former, confident self. Danny wants to keep the energy of his next game high and prove to players like Rasheed and Coach Powers he can compete at the same level as the stronger, taller boys. Danny also refuses to show fatigue out of a sense of pride: on the court, he wants to show 110%, so he does not appear smaller than he already feels.

“Here he was a role player, one who had come off the bench to help beat Lamar Parrish today. He was the kind of player who was going to get to shine like this once in a while, be expected to blend in the rest of the time.” 

This quote reflects a turning point in Danny’s attitude as well. Doing what is best for the team has always been part of Danny’s main success as a player. Although he wants to make the game-winning shot and reclaim his status as a basketball hero, Danny understands that might not be his role on this particular team, or other teams in the future. He takes Tess’s advice and concentrates on his positive plays, seeming happier and better adjusted for doing so.

“‘She’s the one first told me that coming from a single-parent home wasn’t some kind of death sentence.’” 

After his father dies in a shooting, Rasheed explains how his mother, despite limited resources, raises her sons on her own. For many, coming from a single-parent home means less money and a parent that works too much, leaving less time for the children. In Rasheed’s case, his mother works extra hard to make sure Rasheed does not use his father’s death as an excuse to go down the wrong path. Instead, she makes sure Rasheed has a good home and that Rasheed gets good grades, on top of playing basketball. This also dispels the stereotype that children from single parent homes turn out worse than children from a two-parent family. Rasheed’s mother teaches him that success comes down to hard work, regardless of where a person comes from.

“‘It comes to ball, you’re just like me.’” 

Rasheed says this to Danny after the two talk and get to know one another better. Danny finds out that he and Rasheed were raised by their respective mothers and that both know the heartache of growing up without a father. The two also share a sense of integrity and view basketball as a combination of effort, teamwork, intelligence, and skill. 

“‘Bring the ball down, and you turn a big guy into a little guy.’” 

Ty gives this advice to Danny when the two work out together. Danny struggles because of his height; Ty reminds him that all players, including taller players, have weaknesses. Danny’s weakness may seem like his height, but getting the ball closer to the ground neutralizes Danny’s short stature. With the ball low, Danny uses his speed and cleverness to get the ball. As it turns out, Danny has been looking at his predicament the wrong way: his height can actually prove an advantage, if he uses it correctly.

“If you looked at them, you might think they couldn’t be more different, and they couldn’t have come from more different backgrounds.”

Now that Danny and Rasheed play like teammates, instead of adversaries, their team, the Celtics, start winning games. If Danny and Rasheed make assumptions about each other based on where they come from, they allow the past to define them. However, winning games is about both the present and the future. When Danny and Rasheed focus on that, instead, only their excellent playing defines them.

“Danny had seen it before, a couple of baskets changing everything.” 

Danny’s team manages to turn one of their playoff games around once they score a few baskets. This is a microcosm of Danny’s time at Right Way; after some success, Danny’s outlook changes. Success creates positive energy and positive energy may be the difference between a loss and a win on any given day. 

“‘People who don’t play sports will never have this feeling for one day in their lives.’” 

Before the championship game, Coach Powers says to his team. He implies that there is a type of energy, pressure and significance to a game like this, understandable only to those who compete. Sports provide a unique opportunity to put everything on the line that is largely unmatched in civilian life.

“‘I thought I told you I didn’t come here to lose.’” 

Rasheed tells Danny this when the team decides to ignore Coach Powers and play basketball their way. The stakes are significant for Rasheed: he plays to get his mother and family out of a bad neighborhood, and every win brings him closer to that goal. For Danny, this quote reflects his ability to ignore Coach Powers’ criticisms and decide his own destiny. The championship means more to Danny than a win; it also means earning back his own self-respect.

“‘It just turned out to be a mismatch the other way.’” 

Josh Cameron says this in reference to the match-up between Lamar and Danny. Seemingly a David-and-Goliath face-off, everyone expects Lamar to triumph. In an upset, however, Danny ends up on the winning side. Ultimately Danny’s intelligence and integrity outdo Lamar’s selfishness, despite Lamar’s innate talent.