Before the Findlay Prep boys basketball squad set off for the 2009 National High School Invitational, Michael Peck wanted to prepare this team for the most important tournament of the year. He organized a team of veterans, including former pros, to scrimmage his players, show them the ropes, and get them ready for the long road ahead. Most high schoolers would have been intimidated, but not Avery Bradley. Spotting an opportunity on a fast break, Bradley made his presence felt by throwing down a dunk in transition. The vets tried to repay the favor on the inbounds. They quickly lobbed the ball to Jerome Williams, a 6-9 forward who earned the nickname “Junkyard Dog” for his gritty style of play as a Piston. Williams caught the ball at half court and raced toward the basket without a defender in sight. As he went up for an easy layup, the 6-2 Bradley flew down the court and rejected Williams. “Out of nowhere, after dunking, comes Avery and he just swats it,” recalled

Chico Walker saw a different side of his nephew this Fourth of July weekend. It wasn’t a three-time All-Star shimmying on the court. It wasn’t the centerpiece of several legal troubles, either. Instead he saw Antoine Walker, a humbled athlete fighting to overcome his lapses in judgment and restart his NBA career at age 34. “He said, ‘I made a lot of mistakes,’” Chico Walker, a former member of the Red Sox, recalled during Alumni Day at Fenway Park. “[He said,] ‘I made a lot of mistakes and I trusted the wrong people. I realized going forward I have to have positive people around me, just in life period. I have to have a lot of positive people around.’ And I think now he gets it.” Antoine Walker’s name has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the last few years. He has endured a DUI charge, reports of gambling debt, real estate gone bad and a bankruptcy filing in May. Chico Walker believes his nephew’s

Felix Doubront’s intentions were clear as he walked toward the mound at Lowell's LeLacheur Park late in 2007. He wasn’t supposed to be there — not with all of his potential and expectations for success — and he was determined to prove it. “I am going to kill this league and then go up again,” he vowed to himself. He could do it, he believed. Losing was not an option. Doubront had been demoted from Single-A Greenville to short-season Lowell of the New York-Penn League in the summer of 2007. The pitching prospect from Venezuela had fallen to 3-7 with an 8.93 ERA before being assigned to the Spinners, the team for whom he finished the 2006 season. Doubront, who was 19 at the time, was so affected by the designation that he was brought to tears when he arrived back in Lowell. While he didn’t fear the end of his career, he felt like he had just been released. This was his chance for redemption. He knew a few good showings with the Spinners could put

LAS VEGAS -- There was plenty of time for Gerald Green’s new reality to sink in. It began with the flight from Houston, which made stops in Washington D.C. and Moscow before finally reaching Krasnodar. Then there were the long bus rides, where it eventually all hit him. “I went from being inside the green room, almost a lottery pick, to now I’m in Russia,” he told WEEI.com. “It was a shock to me.” Looking back, it’s easy for Green to understand what he should have done differently to avoid that moment. But he can't live in the past. Five years after being in the green room on Draft Night, he is on the Lakers Summer League team trying to fight his way back into the league he has never doubted he could return to. --- Green was young. It’s not an excuse, just the reality of the situation. Drafted out of high school by the Celtics with the 18th pick in 2005, he was a teenager living in an adult world. “I don’t regret any of the