9781422287941

Chris Paul

SUPERSTARS in the WORLD of BASKETBALL LeBron James Dwyane Wade Kobe Bryant Carmelo Anthony Kevin Durant Chris Paul Dwight Howard Rajon Rondo Blake Griffin Players & the Game Around the World

SUPERSTARS in the WORLD of BASKETBALL

Chris Paul

Aurelia Jackson

Mason Crest

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D

Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

Copyright © 2015 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights re- served. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3101-2 ISBN: 978-1-4222-3104-3 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8794-1

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcopy format(s) as follows:

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jackson, Aurelia. Chris Paul / Aurelia Jackson. pages cm. — (Superstars in the world of basketball)

ISBN 978-1-4222-3104-3 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-4222-3101-2 (series) 1. Paul, Chris, 1985—Juvenile literature. 2. Basketball players—United States—Biography—Juve-

nile literature. I. Title. GV884.P376J34 2015 796.323092—dc23 [B]

2014005513

Contents

1. Big Dreams

7

2. Beating the Odds

17 27 37 45 46 47 48

3. NBA Career

4. Chris Paul Today

Series Glossary of Key Terms

Find Out More

Index

About the Author & Picture Credits

commissioner: A person in charge of regulating a particular sport. idols: People you admire and want to imitate. varsity: A first-string sports team that represents a high school or college. Words to Understand

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CHR I S PAUL

1

B ig D reams

C hris Paul takes a deep breath and looks up to the stands. All eyes are on him. He is standing in the middle of a large Houston arena at the end of the 2013 NBA All-Star weekend. As an NBA All-Star, Chris is used to the attention. NBA ALL-STAR MVP The NBA All-Star Games take place once a year. The best players in the NBA are voted onto the NBA All-Star teams by their fans. The players are divided into the Eastern and Western division based on the team they play for in the NBA. Chris is on the NBA All-Star West team, because he plays for the Los Angeles Clippers. Chris waits patiently for the NBA All-Star Game’s most valuable player (MVP) to be an- nounced. This is the player who did the most to help his team win. This can be through scor- ing points, assisting others, stealing the ball from opponents, or blocking shots. Standing

7

Chris holds the 2013 NBA All-Star Game trophy while he presents a check to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America from State Farm Insurance.

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CHR I S PAUL

next to Chris is David Stern, the NBA commissioner . Behind him are members from the West team. The West beat the East by five points. Chris was a big part of why the West won the game. The team’s other starters were Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and Dwight Howard. A starter is someone who plays at the beginning of a game. He usually plays during any other important moments, such as the very end when every point counts. He usually has the best personal record out of every person on the team. Everything gets quiet as David Stern begins to speak. “With 20 points, 15 assists, 4 steals, Chris Paul is the most valuable player of the 2013 NBA All-Star Game.” Commis- sioner Stern hands Chris a large trophy, while his fans cheer. He holds the glass trophy above his head and smiles. Even with the award in his hands, he still can’t believe it. “This is crazy,” he says in an interview. “You never expect something like this.” Chris has played in a total of six All-Star games as of 2013, but this was his first time being named the most valuable player. He only scored a total of 20 points in the game, but that isn’t what makes him special. Chris is best known for his assists. His career aver- age is almost 10 assists per game. The only two people to ever achieve a higher assist average are Magic Johnson and John Stockton. Both are now retired. This means that Chris holds the record for the highest assists per game of any active NBA player. At the age of just twenty-eight, Chris had come very far in his career. He always dreamed of joining the NBA, but there were times when he wasn’t sure if he would make it. He was always very small compared to his peers. He is only six feet tall. Though this may be tall compared to an average human, it’s not for professional basketball players! Chris is actually very short compared to other NBA players. NBA players tend to be tall. The extra height gives them an advantage over opponents. They can shoot over another player’s head or reach up to block an opponent’s shot. Because Chris is shorter than most players, he has to work extra hard. Chris is a point Make Connections In a basketball game, ten people play on the court at a time. They are split up into two teams of f ive players. Teammates must work together to score baskets. They all have different roles to play. One teammate may pass the ball to another teammate before a shot is made. The passer will do this if his teammate has an open shot to score. If the person who catches the ball shoots and scores a point, the person who passed him the ball is awarded an assist. Players who perform assists are very important. They help set the shooter up for a perfect shot. Chris Paul is one of the best assisters in the NBA.

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Big Dreams

Chris has worked hard to become the successful player fans love today. As a young person, Chris practiced hard to be the best player he could, making sure he had the best chance to make it to the NBA.

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CHR I S PAUL

Make Connections One of the biggest challenges Chris Paul dealt with as a child was his height. This is something he could not control, no matter how hard he tried. He feared he would not make it as a basketball player, because he wouldn’t be able to reach over other players. In time, he learned he just had to be himself and keep trying. It would pay off one day. Chris writes about this experience in his children’s book, Long Shot: Never Too Small to Dream Big . Papa Chili is one of the main characters in the book.

guard. Point guards help their teammates score by bringing the ball down the court and passing it to someone who is in a perfect position to shoot and score. Sometimes, point guards take shots, too. Point guards need to be fast on their feet and able to think quickly. They are often team leaders, because they need to make decisions for their teammates. And Chris is considered one of the best in the NBA. Chris first discovered basketball as a child. He decided then and there that he was going to join the NBA one day. Chris knew it wouldn’t be easy. Becoming a professional athlete is a lot of hard work. Chris began training early with the help of his father, who happened to be a coach and former athlete. He practiced for hours every day to make himself a better player. Chris was just twenty years old when he joined the NBA draft in 2005. Since then, he has earned multiple NBA and world titles, including two Olympic gold medals. A YOUNG ATHLETE Christopher Emmanuel Paul was born on May 6, 1985, in Lewisville, North Carolina. His parents, Charles and Robin, were childhood friends before they fell in love and got mar- ried. Chris has an older brother named Charles, but everyone calls him C.J., because he has the same name as his father. C.J. is two years older than Chris. Chris’s father was an athlete long before he settled down and had children. His two favorite sports were basketball and football. Growing up, Chris and C.J. learned a lot about sports from their father. Charles was even their coach when they were young. Chris first picked up basketball when he was just three years old. One day, his father bought a pair of plastic baskets and set up a basketball court in the family’s basement. Charles used tape to draw the lines for the court and encouraged his sons to play. Chris and C.J. spent hours in the basement, practicing how to shoot. It wasn’t long before Chris and C.J. both dreamed of playing basketball on a real team. They watched NBA games on television together. Two of Chris’s favorite players

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Big Dreams

Magic Johnson is one of the most famous basketball players of all time. His amazing skills on the court have inspired millions of young players over the years.

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CHR I S PAUL

Text-Dependent Questions 1. What is the NBA All-Star Game? How are players chosen for it?

2. What is an MVP? Who was named MVP in the 2013 NBA All-Star Game? 3. When Chris was young, what kept him from being as good at basketball as other sports? 4. What did Chris’s grandfather do for a living? What did Chris learn from working for his grandfather? 5. Why couldn’t Chris join the varsity basketball team during his freshman year of high school?

were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. He looked up to them and hoped to be just as great one day. Chris was already great at shooting baskets, but he had just one problem. He wasn’t big like his basketball idols . Professional basketball players are tall and mus- cular. Chris was small and short. If Chris wanted to join the NBA, he needed to grow up to be big and strong. Chris’s size did not stop him from doing well in other sports. He was fast on his feet and good at catching, which made him great at playing football. He joined a peewee team, the Lewisville Titans, when he was a young boy. Chris had a lot of energy on the field and rarely needed to take a break during a game. He played quarterback, linebacker, and running back. These positions are usually played by someone who is great at catching the football and running fast. The Lewisville Titans did so well while Chris was a part of the team that they made it to a national championship. Charles did his best to support his sons when they played. He went to any game he could. Charles and Robin also taught their sons good manners and the importance of get- ting an education. They created very strict rules for their sons to follow. Video games were only allowed on the weekend. Chris and C.J. had to study hard and get good grades. If they started slacking off, their parents punished them. HARD WORK The Paul family believed in spending a lot of time with each other. One of the most im- portant people in Chris’s life was his grandfather. His name was Nathaniel, and he was Robin’s father. Nathaniel Jones lived in Winston-Salem, where Charles and Robin grew up. He owned Jones Chevron, a service station for cars. Customers came to the shop to buy gasoline and change the oil in their cars.

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Big Dreams

Chris’s dreams of playing basketball in the NBA seemed far away for the five-foot-one high school freshman.

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