(Feb. 16, 2015)
Well, we traded for that guy MCW. Brandon Knight visited before he left for Phoenix. We hugged but I was smiling inside because he never passed me the ball. I would have averaged 20 if he could look at anything other than the basket.
Last night I had another dream about Grant Hill. That’s like six times in the past two weeks. Dr. Patel says it’s normal but I have my doubts. I mean, I like Grant Hill and all, but come on. In this one I was playing basketball and then I injured my ACL. Then Grant Hill was there to help me up and I was fine again.
I wish that would happen in real life. I wish that more than anything.
(Feb, 19, 2015)
I asked Jane on a date and she said no, that it was against her professional ethics or something. Well, I took an ethics class with the rest of the rookies before the draft and they didn’t mention anything about not going out with your physical therapist. I told her that.
Then we made out in her office for like fifteen minutes. I guess all my sweaty pheromones got her excited. So much for ethics.
(Mar. 2, 2015)
I swear, Grant Hill must have gotten some secret agent to put a computer chip in my brain, because now my dream diary is just Grant Hill dreams. It was better when I was having dreams about stuff like my teammates or getting trapped in a museum full of nothing but naked mannequins.
Rehab is going well. Jane rewards me after I do good on the weights or the treadmill by letting me make out with her. She still doesn’t want to go out with me, though. Women.
Today Giannis took me to the mall like he said he would. That dude really loves smoothies. I’m a little worried about him.
(Mar. 14, 2015)
Man, that was creepy. I’m writing this at 2:00 in the morning after waking up from my weirdest dream yet.
So I was playing basketball like usual and then Grant Hill’s head IS THE BALL. Usually Grant doesn’t talk but this time he did. He told me that injuries aren’t the end of the world. I told him that he sucked when he came back from injury. Then he told me to dunk the ball which was really his head, so I did. When it hit the ground it exploded, but inside it weren’t brains, but instead, hundred-dollar bills. That was kind of spooky so then I woke up.
Dr. Patel will probably say that I’m just feeling anxious about my prospects for making money in the NBA as a diminished player. Maybe they should pay ME to be the psychologist.
(Mar. 15, 2015)
Here’s how it went down last night:
The dream started off normally with me in empty space with a court, a hoop, and a ball. Like always, I started shooting and running like I never got injured in the first place. That’s usually about the time that crazy stuff starts happening. I didn’t know that in the dream though. Dream-me was surprised when Grant Hill’s face appeared in the sky, glowing like the moon. His lips were moving but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. The words were all broken up. That’s when I woke up.
But when I was awake, Grant Hill’s voice starting talking in my head. That really freaked me out. I thought I was losing my mind, so when he told me to drive to the rehab place, I almost didn’t.
When I got there he was standing there in the workout room. But it wasn’t nowadays Grant Hill. It was like Pistons-era Grant Hill. Then he started talking normally and not telepathically.
“I’ve been trying to meet you for a while, but you never let me in,” he said.
“Sorry. That wasn’t on purpose,” I responded. That was the truth. If I had known Grant Hill was trying on purpose to visit me in my dreams I would’ve let him. “But why can’t your present-day self just talk to me in person? What does a young Grant Hill know about getting injured?”
“Quite a lot, actually. I may bear the appearance of a younger me, but I retain all the experiences of the elder self,” he said. “And the elder self is not even aware of my existence.”
I got a little cocky here. “So, you put yourself in the waking world to tell me that injuries aren’t the end of my career, that with hard work I can come back just as good as before. It’s not like I didn’t already know that.”
“I knew that you knew those things. I was in your brain, remember?” he replied coolly. “What I wanted to tell you was this: even if you return to become really, really good – which I have no doubt you will – there will always be the question in the back of people’s minds: ‘How much of a beast would Jabari have been if he hadn’t gotten injured? Would he be the greatest of his era? The greatest of all time?’ That is assuming, of course, that you aren’t the consensus GOAT by that point anyway. The mystique will be magnified.”
Then he sort of just vaporized and I went home.
(Mar. 16, 2015)
Rehab went really well today. Like, really well. I wonder what that’s all about.
(June 13, 2017)
Dear diary,
I can’t believe it. We won the championship!
I’d like to write more but I have to go celebrate. This is awesome!
Part I: http://youtu.be/G6shnh1jK04