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4SHOT Sports Street Talk - "Live in L.A." L.A. "Keeping it Real" with that baller Jodie Last year during the basketball season an unidentified bleep showed up on the 4SHOT Hoops radar screen. As the season went on we monitored the situation and found that it was starting to grow at a rapid rate of exhilaration and it was coming from the Norcross, GA area. We put together a search team to check out this unexplained phenomenon and discovered that it was a 6-3 All-Star in the making named Jodie Meeks. Since the end of last season Meeks readings have been going off the radar and after his play this summer he has solidified himself as one of the top playaz in the country. Street Talk took a trip to Norcross to sit down and “Keep it Real” with Jodie. Jodie: “I started my freshman and sophomore year at Roswell High School. My freshman year I averaged about 13 points. People knew about me around Fulton County but nowhere else. My sophomore year I averaged around 19 points a game.” L.A.: “Was the move to Norcross more because their style of play was more conducive to the way you liked to roll?” Jodie: “Yes sir, Coach Martin lets us create more on the fastbreak where we get a chance to showoff our talents but if we go up and down the court a few time without and results them we have to run a set play to get back into a flow.” L.A.: “Last year your team had some pretty good seniors like Daniel Emerson, but the offense still went through you, do you anticipate or expect to handle more of a scoring load this season?” Jodie: “Oh yes, Coach Martin has sat down and talked to me about taking more of a leadership role this year along with our point-guard Brenton Butler. That role is going to mean sometimes shooting the ball more or sometimes passing it more, whatever the team is going to need.” L.A.: “You’ve had and outstanding summer. Before you were a bleep on the radar now your off the radar screen. What do you attribute that too, I’m mean because your game has just taken off?” Jodie: “Hard work, last year Coach Martin had us running in the hot sun like this and will probably do it again this fall to get us ready and just believing in myself. I always knew I could play like this it was just a matter of getting seen.” L.A.: “Do you find a big difference playing AAU and playing High School ball?” Jodie: “AAU is more fast pace and is more about getting seen so there’s more fastbreaks, dunks and a lot of scoring.” L.A.: “Do you find that the talent level on AAU Teams is a lot better than the high school teams?” Jodie: “It’s about the same I think, you know sometimes in high school you get a team you can dominate but for the most part in Gwinnett County anyway it’s pretty tough every night.” L.A.: “Now, there are so many known AAU Teams around like the Atlanta Celtics, Team Georgia, the Georgia Stars, Worldwide; did you always play with the Georgia Hurricanes?” Jodie: “The Hurricanes just started this year. I played with Coach Neysmith and the Georgia Stars the last few years.” L.A.: “Wow, in just a year you guys have become one of the better AAU team in Georgia with some of the talent that the team has.” Jodie: “Yes, we have.” L.A.: “Give me the names of some players who you have played against that you have said to yourself, yea, that player can ball, so I’m going to have to keep working and step my game up?” Jodie: (laughing) “Probable Louis Williams (McDonald’s All-American and the Philadelphia 76er’s second round draft choice), I played against him last year after my sophomore year heading into the summer, (chuckle) he’s pretty good and Mike Mercier (South Gwinnett High School and now a freshman at UGA).” L.A.: “What type of team and individual goals have you set for next year?” Jodie: “Obviously getting back to the state championship, if we keep working hard and improving I think we can get back there.” L.A.: “Who have been some of the most influential people in your career thus far?” Jodie: “My Dad, Coach Martin, Coach Horace Neysmith and my Moms.” L.A.: “Does you Pops push you a lot, because I know how it is; my son played ball and I tended to push him a lot letting him know that if he wanted to be good he had to push himself and work hard?” Jodie: “Yea, my Dad does but not only in basketball but for school also. To play in college I’m going to have to keep my grades up so he makes sure I stay on top of my school work.” L.A.: “Without giving anything away can you give me a list of 5 or 6 colleges that you like and wouldn’t mind playing for after high school?” Jodie: “I have actually narrowed down my Top 5 schools to Alabama, Florida, Notre Dame, Illinois and Oklahoma State.” L.A.: “I’m going to throw a few word comparisons at you and I want you to choose one?” L.A.: “Reebok, Nike or Adidas?” Jodie: “Nike” L.A.: “Sean John or Roca-Wear?” Jodie: ”Bianca”
Jodie: “Escalade” L.A.: “What was the last CD you brought and why?” Jodie: “I like to mix, so I do a lot of mixing, but I think it was Massacre by 50 Cent.” L.A: “What’s your favorite food?”
If you want to “Keep it Real" on Street Talk …holla at me PEACE!
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