Until a pickup game revealed that the man who always had his teammates’ backs might one day lose his own. Silence fell over the students watching the Lone Star’s biggest basketball star, paralyzed and prostrate, mere weeks away from the draft. On February 24, 2004, Ford went up for a shot — and came down with a fear. He could not offer a thumb’s up. Candace Ford is the wife of retired NBA player TJ Ford. Milwaukee kept playing, finishing the season at 41-41 before getting beat by the eventual champion Pistons in the playoffs’ first round. Fear still took hold. Goldwire’s history at the University of Houston provided a common bond. Banna Kerry Mini Stages Rally 2010. “See if he gets any playing time.”. “I thought I needed to get out while I still had a chance.”. 7. Join Facebook to connect with TJ Ford and others you may know. T.J. Ford … When he’s not locked in and engaged, he’s a person that you struggle to be around. By 2001, Ford already had McDonald’s All-American honors and national notoriety but still needed a signature to silence the doubters. Others recommended he never go back to basketball. He stopped picking his spots, and while those close to him say he sometimes struggled splitting minutes with (and having a smaller salary than) Jose Calderon, Ford felt the duo formed “the best one-two punch in the NBA.”. Really scary. “You think it is over.”. I remember being absolutely terrified as a limp, motionless Ford remained on the floor, while they showed replay after replay of the foul and then the fall. He was never able to bounce back. He just needed the missing piece. But Ford, no glutton of glory, could pass without the ball. turned Texas into a basketball school.”. In some ways, Ford came back better. Especially scary since Ford had already missed an entire season because of a spinal injury. The scene that followed was surreal. And his AAU program so far avoids the stench of many money-grabbing basketball factories. There is no sponsor funneling funds into Ford’s hands. She received her Bachelors degree in Chemistry and has a Masters in Economic Development. Retired NBA player TJ Ford and wife, Candace, touching lives in Houston. Screw: locally a legend; nationally, an artist gone too soon. Ivey agrees that Ford’s final year in Milwaukee and his struggle to see the floor in Indiana reflected on a youthful stubbornness. “He has such a love and passion,” Barnes said. Ford, once again, could not move. Candace was born in Beaumont, Texas but now resides in Houston, Texas. “To this day, he’s still having a hard time handling that he is out of the league,” said Goldwire. “When I figured out what I was as an athlete.”. And not for a lack of offers from the top. “He’s an alpha dog,” Ivey said. To trust him, to trust T.J., to win it anyway. To transcend Texas. It’d be more than a year before Ford played basketball again. “Could run the team. Ford, according to Goldwire, had to transform his body to absorb hits. Former NBA guard T.J. Ford has agreed to play in the 2018 season of the Big3 league. Ford told Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News that, while he didn't anticipate retiring at just 28 years old, he decided that it was time to walk away. “I could have went to any school in the country,” Ford said. Canelo Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders purse, salaries: How much money will they make in 2021 fight? According to Courtney, Ford said doctors told him his chances to play again stood at 50-50. A condition that has hobbled Mr. Met David Wright ; a condition that forced David Wilson to retire from football and literally run . He always seemed to have a smile and plenty of time for anyone who had time for him. Fans looked on as medics carted Ford, wrapped and strapped, away on a stretcher. "You can walk away from someone who doesn't love you. A high basketball IQ. At the same time, T.J. Ford was rising so fast he seemed unstoppable, a McDonald’s All-American in the midst of a stellar senior season, a manifestation of Houston hoop dreams. The news out of San Antonio today is that T.J. Ford has played his last game of basketball and will retire. TJ Ford Retires From Spinal Injury HQ. And there, for the first time, he found a way to blend his alpha dog mentality with his new NBA reality: a bit part, not a big part, of a team’s title dreams. MORE: Vote on which NBA Draft was the greatest ever. – 21. Cassell, then a star for the Timberwolves on his way to a 29-point performance, watched Ford warily. Goldwire, whose career had been a matter of basketball survival, could help Ford deal with this new roadblock: Confronting basketball mortality. “You can’t help, being around him, but to fall in love with him.”. A brother to Oden and Bowie and Hill and players past betrayed by bodies, buoyed by bodies of work? T.J. Ford signed a 1 year / $1,146,337 contract with the San Antonio Spurs, including an annual average salary of $1,146,337. “It was one of the scariest moments of my life." He saw his persona suffer as his body betrayed him. “He was a specimen,” Ivey said. Scholarship Tea Where: In the swank MIssouri City home of Candace and TJ Ford, retired NBA star PC Moment: It was … “I think that changed everything for me, right there.”. When Ford committed to Texas, he told Barnes, “I want to lead the nation in assists.” And he did — in more ways than one. One of those coaches was a fresh face in Texas: Rick Barnes, the Longhorns’ new hardwood leader by way of Clemson. Feeling risk averse, Ford’s stenosis steered them toward a safer pick: Kirk Hinrich. We never would have been given the opportunity to see those brilliant flashes. Kawhi Leonard was a rookie, along with Cory Joseph, a fellow former Longhorn and point guard with plenty to learn. Maybe his shot never would have caught up with the demands of a league in love with 3-pointers. The chance that the next time he leaves his legs, he might never get them back. Space City’s resident point guards like Cassell, Nick Van Exel, Steve Francis and Damon Stoudamire played him one-on-one and put him through his paces. An era of mixed drinks that combined codeine and caffeine. Up two points late in the game, Courtney told his team to foul. “Everybody wanted a shot to get T.J. Ford,” Courtney recalled, having received calls from, he says, almost every D-I coach in America. To shift perspectives here, let's flip sides and ask, what if Ford hadn't been so stubborn? With tears in his eyes, he told Ivey he couldn’t get back up. He was on the floor for a couple minutes and was helped of the court. He fell in love with basketball … An athlete now on the other side of the game, with a chance to replace “What might have been?” with “What will become?”. It produced nine All-Stars, a four-time MVP (LeBron James), three scoring champions (James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony) and a litany of steals; David West, Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins, Josh Howard, Mo Williams and Kyle Korver all came off the board 18th or later. He slid around a screen, pulled up, and from 15 feet, hit the game-winning shot. “But we had a vision that no one else in the country even saw. “He’d been pretty good. He fell. By no means am I calling Ford a quitter. When he’s not mentally engaged, it’s written all over his face.”. T.J. Ford announced today via Twitter that he plans to retire from the NBA. Tj Ford Retired NBA @tj_ford TJ Ford hasn't setup his account yet. "The hardest thing is to walk away.". Ford still wonders what might have been, still wanders down that dangerous path: What if? He won’t do what you ask him to do in practice. Having been awarded numerous top basketball accolades in high school and college, Ford entered the 2003 NBA draft and was selected eighth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. 6/17/20 THE CHOP SHOP is joined by TJ Ford (retired NBA player) Powered by Restream https://restream.io/ They have a passion for teaching and mentoring young girls and boys. Ford was traded to the Raptors prior to the 2006–07 NBA season I just want to know, what should I do?”. So is that T.J. Ford’s legacy? Milwaukee started the 2003-04 season 29-26 despite low preseason predictions. To give Booker T. the free throws. He succeeded in beating the odds for sticking around this long but sometimes enough is enough. What if he'd been healthy? I'm so thankful that Ford is leaving the game with his health, but I'm sad for him. They only remember that Ford never got up to shoot the free throw. 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