Jordan Theodore has tattooed “Englewood” on his back. It’s the name of the New Jersey town he comes from. “Home sweet home,” he says. Here he tells his story since he followed his older brother Kwame around the gyms to the EuroLeague via Frankfurt and Banvit. With a revelation: he’s been named Jordan after the greatest player in history, because his brother was convinced that was the surest way to make basketball his destiny.
THE ORIGINS – “I started playing basketball watching my older brothers. The oldest, Kwame, really loved the game, and I just used to follow him around. When we had open gym at our local high school, I went with him. I just loved the game too. He wanted to name me Jordan because he said so I was destined to play basketball. It’s funny to see how the things worked out”.
SETON HALL – “Seton Hall was very important, I’m a home guy, whose structured around family. Family is very important to me, so to be able to stay at home, stay local having my family, my close friends come to see me every game that was important to me. Especially my grandparents getting older, they don’t like to fly. I wanted them to be able to drive down the road nd be able to see me play. The decision to stay home, stay local allowed my family to give me support”.
THE DRAFT – “Being undrafted I was not a disappointment at all because I did have workouts with the team but I didn’t hve good workouts. A lot of players say I should have done this r that but no, no … I had a great senior season, but going into NBA draft and the workouts, I worked hard, but the workouts were bad. A workout can make or break everything for you and that’s what happened to me. “
FRANKFURT – “It was my first time me being in Europe when I had a team of players young and hungry and willing to win. Prior I was with Mersin, Antalya, and France, where I got in the middle of the year: there all the players were on their way out, they didn’t care, just make their money and keep going, but in Frankfurt I found a coach that totally understood me, players who understood where they were in their careers and where they wanted to go. Thas was very important”.
BANVIT SEASON – “It was tremendous. I’d very high expectations coming into last season especially for myself coming off the year I had in Germany with the Skyliners. I knew how important it was coming back in Turkey because my first two years I ws with teams tht both were relegated in second division. So I knew how important it was coming back to Turkey, I had it in the back of my mind all time. “Ehy, man, you remember what happened the first two years you were there”. A lof of things were being said about the team, how Banvit had a lower budget than a lot of other teams. But those other teams didn’t have me. I knew how hard I worked to get to this point, I knew if I was able to lead this team and bring to the table every day in practice and in games what I bring to the table, we’d have a great season. And it worked out that way. A lot of guys bought into the coach’s system, they followed my lead and we’re able to have a very good year”.
