:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5944026/20120310_pjc_am9_344.jpg)
The story is cringe-worthy, how Gerald Green lost his finger in an accident on a basketball court. Suffice it to say amputation was the only option. For years, it was an ever present insecurity. When at age 18, he was drafted by the Celtics, he approached David Stern, his right hand in his pocket. It wasn't nonchalance. It was embarrassment.
He tells Stefan Bondy, "Sometimes I still hide it and not even realize that I'm doing it. Just out of habit. You've been doing something for so long, you're constantly hiding it. And then you're in the room by yourself, and you're realizing what you're doing."
But it did not stop Green from playing the game and eventually palming the basketball well enough to dunk, winning dunk contests at all levels.
-
Nets' Green leaves insecurities in the past - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News