by Ben Collins / @globesoundtrack
You apparently already had some array of affection this was true, but here’s confirmation: New York Giants advanced receiver Victor Cruz was already a acceptable point guard. A actual acceptable point guard.
You don’t breach people’s ankles out of the aperture in the Super Bowl like that afterwards world-class footwork. You charge some array of training for those kinds of moves, and he’s actual acutely beat the salsa dancing route. You saw him do it all nine times afterwards touchdowns in his amateur division aftermost year. But here’s how abominably you underestimated how acceptable he was: Cruz about approved out the NCAA hoops path. And he spent his aerial academy career traveling about and throwing lobs with a benevolence rule-inducing accumulation of approaching pros on the Tim Thomas Playaz.
While on that arch AAU team, Cruz broadcast the brawl to a accepted Grizzly, Bobcat, Knick and L.A. Defender. Too bad he didn’t stick with that hoops thing. Instead, he went and bankrupt accepting annal at UMass. Again he had to achieve for ambience the Giants’ single-season accepting almanac (1,536 yards) in his amateur year. And again he got that Super Bowl ring. And a book deal. OK, so he’s done appealing able-bodied for himself anyway.
SLAM: So I apprehend you were on a bad-ass AAU aggregation aback in the day.
Victor Cruz: That is true. I played point bouncer for a aggregation alleged the Tim Thomas Playaz.
SLAM: Who’d you comedy with?
VC: A few guys on my team, JR Smith, (high academy brilliant and NC State recruit) Brandon Costner, Wayne Ellington, Gerald Henderson. We were a appealing acceptable team. We didn’t lose actual abounding games. Those were some fun times.
SLAM: Do you and JR still adhere out?
VC: We do accumulate in touch. I’ll see him, get banquet and whatnot.
SLAM: Gerald, too?
VC: Gerald Henderson and I accumulate in blow every now and then. I’ll argument him back I see he goes off in a game. Wayne Ellington and I, we accumulate in blow all the time. It extends out from the AAU apple into the able world. It’s a close family. Not aloof in the AAU world, but in the able world.
SLAM: How did it affect you as a football player? Did it affect your attitude at all?
VC: Yeah, any time addition feels like I can’t do something, or if a drillmaster comes up to me and says they don’t anticipate I can do this or they don’t anticipate I can do that, I’ve consistently approved to assignment harder and breach through that barrier. I mean, I anticipate you’ll see me alfresco a little bit added this year (and not in the slot). So that’s addition barrier I’m gonna breach through this year. Hopefully it can be as affluent as aftermost year.
SLAM: You anticipate you guys can echo this year?
VC: I like what we did. The Giants accept never absolutely fabricated these big, gigantic off-season moves. They affectionate of abstract actual able-bodied and they accumulate the teams in abode and they breed guys. They move them to become abundant players. I like what we do. I like that we kept the amount of the aggregation together. We absent Mario Manningham and Brandon Jacobs, but that’s allotment of the business. I feel like we got some acceptable replacements for them. We drafted actual well. Those adolescent guys are absolutely gonna accept to comedy well. But I adulation the Giants’ moves. They kept our amount here.
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