Now that Steve is bigtime in the NBA, he gets to hang out with top NBA prospects, sippin champagne, rollin in his Escalade with tinted windows, and tossing dice in Vegas. (ok, maybe I'm exaggerating some of that, I'm sure he wasn't drinking on the job)
Anyway, here's a link to his article on the NBA's facebook page where he really does follow Hasheem Thabeet around on draft night. A sample (but you must click the link to read the whole thing)
He cruises into the phone room, two calls away from completing his interview quotient. The media fatigue evaporates when he spots the dinner spread at the front of the room.
The big man pleads, “Can we sit close to the food?”
Thabeet chows down on chicken fingers, buffalo wings, pasta and orange juice. We talk hoops, life, family and fashion. He says it means everything to share this night with his family. We take a trip down memory lane when I ask him what he would be doing if not playing basketball for a living.
“My dad was an architect,” Thabeet tells me. “I always wanted to be like him when I was growing up. That was really my goal, to become an architect. He took school seriously, and I wanted to be just like him.”
Two phone calls later, Thabeet jumps up and yells, “Do-nay!” which I take as an improvisation on the word “Done.” He asks how many interviews he has done. Fourteen. I joke that I’m here as interview scorekeeper. He enjoys this.