Did anyone catch this documentry on ESPN about NYC high school phenom Sebastian Telfair?

Really good stuff. It obviously owed a big debt to "Hoop Dreams", but this seemed to have a bigger emotional impact. For Chrissakes, I was tearing up at the end when "Bassy's" family was hugging and crying after he was selected by Portland. And how cute was his little brother?

Telfair seems like a really good kid from a great family. I was also impressed with his older brother, the one who's playing pro ball in Greece. Hard not to root for the kid after watching this.

Can't wait to see this. Though I'm a little skeptical about it having a bigger emotional impact on me than Hoop Dreams.

I was a little taken aback by the immediate conspicuous consumption by Telfair. Sign a shoe deal, buy a Rolex and some cars. The film didn't pay any attention to any financial advice this kid may or may not have gotten, so it was hard to put into context. It struck me as kind of a necessary element to be ignored, considering so many kids from the hood will use Telfair's story as inspiration.

That said, I 'awww'ed everytime one of the guys talked so lovingly about 'buying a house for [his] mom'.

I saw this by accident and absolutely loved it. As far as spending sprees, it seemed to me they were not shown for the reason of putting a positive spin on it.

Best part was when his brother (with whom I fell in love), hauled Sebastian off to Greece and worked him hard. And Sebastian was willing/wanted to put in the time and effort to improve. That was awesome.

What a well-made documentary. That clip of the guy saying he'd hoped basketball would get him out, and he was still there at age 28 (or so)? Heartbreaking.

I don't follow the NBA, so I Googled Sebastian. Apparently he's still with the Trailblazers? Not doing too badly?

My problem about the documentary was he was great in High School and might be the best player in NYC, but I want to know after he was drafted in the NBA. Sadly, the timing was terrible because the NBA now has installed the one-year rule where a player must go to college for one year or be 19 years old. Hoop Dreams is still the cream of the crop in my book.

As for Telfair in the NBA, he's having a typical season as a rookie, although he is picking up the pace and made a game winning shot. But, he's in Portland and he could move to somewhere else in the next 2 years (I can tell you he's not going to the Knicks with their situation). Portland is a very bad team and he is stuck in an island.

He also got arrested for trying to bring a handgun on an airplane. Not much you can really add to that.

He was caught and got suspended by the NBA, but it was proven he grabbed the wrong bag and got her girlfriend, so he was never charged. But, he was dumb not to tell team officials about this and hid it underneath a pillow.

Meh.

Just another punk with way too much "look at me, it's all about me" attitude. And shocker!!, he's playing for the Trailblazers, who lead the league in having the most degenerate criminals and malcontents on the team year after year after year after year.

Telfair is going to be a nobody inside of 5 years. Yet another case of some young punk being touted as the next MJ, and then not coming anywhere near to living up the hype.

I don't think anybody thought he was going to be the next MJ - they left those comparisons to LeBron. What made Telfair's story compelling was that a) he lived in New York so he had national coverage and had people like Jay-Z and Derek Jeter going to his games, and b) he was the first point guard to make the leap from high school to the NBA, which is far and away the toughest position to play.

The jury is still out on Telfair I think. Point guard is a position where very few players excel early in their career. That said, Portland is not the best place to cultivate young talent...