Beverley isn’t about to leave city behind
HUMBLE — It was the perfect image of Patrick Beverley.
A gym filled with hyped-up kids and teenagers, running up and down courts with Camp Lockdown stretched across their chests.
A fiery, relentless basketball lifer suddenly strapping on his own camp jersey, just so he could take the court with all those already looking up to him.
And Beverley didn’t turn his sub-in into a brief made-for-Twitter appearance, blocking some poor kid’s hopeless shot, then playing up to the crowd. He played in two games for more than 30 minutes, declining to shoot and instead passing, defending and sweating on both sides of the court.
Almost three weeks after the Rockets fan favorite became a new Clipper packaged in the Chris Paul megadeal, Beverley was back in the area he made his pro name in.
He could have postponed his camp or called it off. There would have been bruised hearts, but it would have been understood. But that wouldn’t have been the Beverley that Houston grew to love.
“The city of Houston has took me in like a child since I’ve been here,” Beverley said Monday at The Gym, during the first day of his youth camp. “My five-year tenure here was unbelievable. … I feel like I owe that at least to the fans. They definitely give me the extra energy in the basketball games to keep pushing.
“So no refunds, none of that. I’m just going to come out here and be here every day, compete, be out there with the kids and have fun.”
Seeing is believing
Minutes before Beverley paused his basketball life to reflect on suddenly leaving Houston, Kimrossi Taylor pointed toward the visible goose bumps on his arms. Taylor remembered having Beverley in his camp when the future NBA point guard was in the fifth grade. Now, he was watching a fully confident Beverley reach the next generation.
“When I first saw him I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this kid can play,” said Taylor, 44, who lives in Chicago. “And the rest is history. Every (Saturday) we had a camp, so every weekend he’s at my house. … To now see this, it’s amazing. I got chills just when I walked in the facility.”
Lisa Beverley pointed to an even larger circle.
The same child who dreamed of attending basketball camps was leading one. When a constantly grinning Beverley took the floor, kids pulled out cellphones to take videos of the first-team All-NBA defender. Then Beverley found his son, Everett, open in the right corner, setting up a 3 with a smooth assist.
“This is just a complete circle of life,” said Lisa, Beverley’s mother. “It’s amazing. It just shows how he works hard and how he perseveres and pushes it on to his son to better his skills.
“To see me taking Pat (to) this and coming full circle back around and him doing this with his son, it’s almost like in the beginning where he started from. It’s just on a different side. It’s just amazing.”
For all the excitement about Paul’s arrival, Beverley’s departure remains a sore point with Rockets fans. The floor leader the NBA didn’t want went from playing in 41 games his rookie year (starting none) to becoming a seemingly irreplaceable piece of the 2016-17 Rockets. Against Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs, Beverley at times outshined James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
Just mentioning his name on social media three weeks after the trade ignited an outpouring of personal tributes to the league’s inaugural Hustle Award winner.
“We live here,” Beverley said. “I’m going to be in L.A. for the year. But in the summer times, I’m definitely going to be back in Houston every summer.”
There was a flip side to the sudden shock of Beverley’s departure. He knew the moment was coming and believed his final days as a Rocket were only a matter of time.
“Honest?” Beverley said. “I knew it was happening three, four, five days after our last (playoff) game with San Antonio.”
He reveled in a career year last season, averaging 9.5 points, 4.2 assists and 5.9 rebounds in 67 starts. The surprising 55-win Rockets were the thirdbest team in the NBA and came two victories away from the Western Conference finals. But after leaving it all on the court, Beverley still wanted more — from himself and the Association.
“I just felt like I wanted to get more of an opportunity,” Beverley said. “Not saying I didn’t have that opportunity in Houston. But more tasks. To be more demanding. To win games. To depend on. And I felt like with the Clippers — and I think Utah was out there and Indiana was out there — and with those three teams, I think I was getting a great opportunity to display my skills and see what I really can do.”
While Beverley’s departure began to make more sense, the Rockets’ no show in a Game 6 home blowout loss to San Antonio was still unexplainable.
“I watched every San Antonio Spurs (playoff) game every time I wake up and I still haven’t got to Game 6 yet,” Beverley said. “I’m still on Game 4. That was a tough way to go out. But that’s part of basketball. You come out flat, teams take advantage. … But you never want to go out like that, never.”
‘No bad blood’
Even with after the abrupt end, Beverley was still surrounded by Rockets reminders. Red and white banners that read Red Rising. Kids in Trevor Ariza, Harden and Beverley jerseys.
And when Mr. 94 Feet took the court, it was so easy to remember what made Beverley so special in red.
“There’s no bad blood at all,” he said. “I live in Houston, my daughter lives in Houston. … It’s not personal; it’s just business.”
It was personal again for Beverley this week in the area that still loves him.