Sunday Randomness: R.I.P. Cliff Dixon; Ja Morant or RJ Barrett; Trent Brown jumping the Black Hole

Publish date: 2024-05-03

In July 2013, Nike promoted Kevin Durant’s new shoe by giving busloads of media a tour of his hometown. In telling his story, they went to the streets of Prince George’s County (Md.), to the Seat Pleasant Activity Center gym where he learned to play, and to his grandmother’s house. One of the views from the nostalgic trip, which peeled back the humble beginnings of Durant, was the family portrait they took on the porch.

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His mother, Wanda, was there. His brother, Tony. His grandmother, Barbara Davis. His AAU coach Taras “Stink” Brown joined him on the porch. Also in this intimate photo with Durant, on the porch where he spent his childhood with some of the people who meant the most to him, was Cliff Dixon.

Dixon was part of Prince George’s County’s burgeoning hoop scene, which is about as intimate as any. That’s why Durant, Quinn Cook and even NaVorro Bowman were broken up by Dixon’s murder on Thursday in Atlanta.

Dixon spent his first three years in high school at Frederick Douglass in Upper Marlboro, Md., about 10 miles from Suitland, Md. Dixon struggled with eligibility, according to a 2005 Washington Post article, in his three years at Douglass and didn’t play much for the basketball team. But he was 6-foot-9, skilled and known by the hoopers on the blacktop. Dixon transferred to Suitland High, where both Durant and his brother Tony went before transferring and where Bowman starred in football and basketball. Dixon was so close to Durant that he moved in with Durant’s family at 16 years old.

Even though Dixon is 18 months older than Durant, they were in the same graduating class. Durant came back home to play his senior season at Montrose Christian while Dixon starred at Suitland. The Washington Post named Durant the 2006 D.C. Metro Area boys player of the year. Dixon was a fourth team All-Met selection that year.

Dixon was reportedly headed to The Patterson School, a noted prep school in North Carolina. But he didn’t turn up on a court again until 2007 when he was at Motlow State Community College in Tennessee. He averaged 17.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in 29 games, then transferred to Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.

During the 2008-09 season, playing with future NBA player Darius Johnson-Odom, Dixon averaged 15.3 points and led the Blue Dragons with eight rebounds per game. Durant, then with the Thunder, went to a few games to see Dixon play at Hutchinson Sports Arena.

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Dixon transferred to Western Kentucky for the 2009-10 season. He started one of the 33 games he would play that season, averaging 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds in 13.8 minutes for the season. The following season Dixon had six starts in 22 games. He averaged 4.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 16.2 minutes. He was dismissed from the program midway through the 2010-11 season after a violation of team rules, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Dixon played overseas for a spell but then hung up his basketball shoes. He was part of Durant’s inner circle in Oklahoma City, along with fellow childhood friends Charlie Bell, now a vice president at Roc Nation Sports, and DeVonte’ Young, who started the clothing line Enspire that Durant sometimes wears. That group isn’t around Durant much anymore, at least not during the season, but the bond remains strong.

After basketball, Dixon transitioned into the entertainment industry. He had been linked to Rihanna, dated a star from the popular show “Love & Hip Hop” and started his career as a rapper last year. He went by the name Lavish, and Bowman was featured in his first video.

Dixon was celebrating his 32nd birthday in Atlanta at the SL Lounge in a strip mall. A gunman shot Dixon several times in the parking lot when he arrived, according to reports.

The suspect escaped. Per the police, witnesses at the scene are not offering “credible information” and nearby security cameras were not working.


Ja Morant’s magnetism is going to make him tough to pass up in the NBA Draft. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

Duke’s Zion Williamson is going No. 1 in the upcoming NBA Draft. At least it is incredibly clear he should. What is shaping up to be an incredibly tough choice is who to take at No. 2.

Back at the end of last year, I saw a conversation on Twitter that included @MGrads and @RP3Natural about how Murray State’s Ja Morant would be a top pick. Of course, with my head in the NBA sand, I had no idea who Morant was. I happened to catch him in a game in January against Belmont and his talent jumped off the screen. He didn’t have a great game — 20 points on 19 shots, with nine assists and five turnovers — but he had it in spades.

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Obviously, Williamson’s Duke teammate RJ Barrett is a supreme talent who will get some consideration for the top pick. Barrett has been a known phenom for a while. McDonald’s All-American. Mr. Basketball USA. The Naismith, Gatorade and Morgan High School Player of the Year. FIBA Under-19 World Cup of Basketball MVP. First-team All-American. He’s got the credentials and skillset to be a franchise cornerstone.

But, maaaaaan, Morant has superstar written all over him. The jarring dominance of Morant and his explosion into mainstream college basketball circles will put some pressure on whoever gets the No. 2 pick. Will it be Barrett or Morant?

Barrett is a 6-7 wing player who can run the point for whomever drafts him. He is so skilled with such great size, there is really no limit on what he can become. Morant is a 6-3 point guard who has the vision and handle to play the point but the athleticism to live above the rim. He’s also a menace on defense.

Both Morant and Barrett have questions about their shooting, Morant more than Barrett. But the big question becomes: star or stud?

Do you take the nearly can’t-miss prospect in Barrett who can fit with just about any team? Or do you take the dude with a few more question marks but the ability to electrify your franchise?

No, picks are not just about winning. Not when franchises are worth billions and the ratings are taking a hit. If you’re an owner of a team and you see the buzz around Morant and the potential to build around him, that has to be enticing. If you’re a general manager, you see Barrett’s combination of size and skill as a near perfect prospect for the modern NBA. Morant is going to get a sizable shoe deal before he steps on the court and that’s usually an indicator of star potential. Throw in the fact that Barrett is rather underwhelming from a personality and magnetism perspective. He doesn’t have the it that Zion and Ja seem to have. That may not matter in building a team. It matters in building a franchise.

Imagine if Atlanta gets the top pick and can pair budding-star point guard Trae Young with Zion? The Hawks would not only be a good team but a must-watch team, easily one of the most exciting in the league.

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If the Knicks get No. 2, missing out on Zion, even if conventional basketball wisdom says Barrett is the safer pick, how could New York pass on Morant? If Phoenix gets No. 2, Morant makes incredible sense to pair with elite scorer Devin Booker and big man Deandre Ayton. The Suns, who need a point guard, would become instantly relevant. But many of the scouts and draft experts I respect have Barrett as the No. 2 prospect. Do they really pass on a potential beast in Morant, who has his own kind of star potential?

If Cleveland or Atlanta get the No. 2 pick, are they passing on Morant because they already have a point guard? That makes sense for the Hawks, as they have an exciting face-of-the-franchise in Young. But if you’re Cleveland, still struggling from losing LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, do you really pass on the most exciting player outside of Zion or do you take the player who fills a bigger need even if he isn’t as marketable?

Adding to the difficulty of who to pick with the No. 2 pick: Duke guard Cam Reddish — a 6-7 wing who can shoot, which matters in a league centered on 3-point shooting.

Losing your wallet the worst man!

— Jordan Bell (@1jordanbell) March 23, 2019

Free tickets to a playoff game to whoever finds my wallet and returns it

— Jordan Bell (@1jordanbell) March 23, 2019

Jordan Bell is right. Losing your wallet sucks.

Not as much as it used to considering most things in your wallet are much easier to replace. Of course, your ID is perhaps the slowest to replace of them all. And you’re instantly vulnerable to identity theft, though as a society were are much more prepared to deal with identity theft than we were a few years ago. It’s the little stuff in your wallet that really drives you crazy. The sentimental stuff. The stuff that makes you wish you could find the person and beg them for just that.

“You can have the rest. Just let me get the kindergarten picture of my daughter!”

It makes me wonder: What might have been in Bell’s wallet? Besides the cash and ID — he wouldn’t even have to stand in line at the DMV like the rest of us — and maybe a key card to the Warriors facility. What was he so frustrated about losing that he offered playoff tickets to recover? I had fun guessing:

— A torn piece of paper with an unidentified 541 number on it?

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— His Long Beach Poly student ID?

— Ticket stub from his first Snoop concert? He is from Long Beach.

— A coupon to Pegasus Pizza?

— The official Wi-Fi code from the 2017 NCAA Tournament? I imagine the password is EdOB@nnonSucks1234.

— A folded Post-It that reads “You are more than cash considerations. — Mom”

Guess it doesn’t matter anyway. Bell’s nightmare didn’t last long.

Found it!

— Jordan Bell (@1jordanbell) March 23, 2019

Trent Brown considers putting on the Raiders uniform an honor.

For one, he gets to honor his friend, former Raider Neiron Ball.

Brown is dedicating this season to Ball, his former teammate at the University of Florida. Ball, known to his friends as “Weezy,” is in a medically induced coma at a long-term care facility in Georgia. Back in September, an aneurysm burst in Ball’s brain on Sept. 16. According to a Mercury News article, Brown was planning to link up with Ball when he got the news.

“I feel like I’m kind of obligated to close the chapter for my brother, Neiron Ball,” Brown said in our interview Thursday on KNBR.

Brown also gets to be part of history — on the last Raiders team to play in Oakland. He is hoping to block for Oakland native Marshawn Lynch.

Brown said he’s excited about the prospects of experiencing the Black Hole. Now, Lynch is known for handing the ball to a lineman when he scores a touchdown and letting said lineman celebrate. Imagine Lynch giving the ball to Brown and he takes a plunge with it into the Black Hole.

“You just painted a picture for ya boy,” Brown said.

Uh oh. Is the Black Hole ready to catch the 6-8, 380-pounder? I’d like to see the fans of the Black Hole try.

(Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

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