Amateur Page #6

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He's not gonna be your coach no more,

so why didn't you go to the better school

- like you said you was gonna go to?

- I got you.

[grunts]

Look, we don't play for coach.

We don't play for college,

don't play for the NBA,

sh*t, we don't even play for the U.S.

We play for the brands.

No, I'm serious. They the ones

that will pay us the most.

All right?

All right.

All right.

Thanks, bro.

So, where your pops at?

Yo, coach got him on the road,

scouting and stuff.

- All right, y'all.

- Wait, where you going?

Gotta hit these books.

We got finals coming up.

But we have tournament coming up.

We need to get extra shots up.

I need my eligibility, I really can't

risk it right now with my offer to Tech.

I ain't been to class in a week.

- All right, man.

- [Anton] All right, bro.

[Nia over phone]

You know, I have to ask, are these real?

Did you really get a B on your math quiz?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got a B.

And the sides that make up

and form the right angle

are called legs.

[Terron] Can I change my class schedule?

I can't do class and practice.

I can't do both at the same time.

You're in classes

the NCAA says to take

to qualify for a scholarship.

And I can't change that, sorry.

You can't be missing any workouts

and practices right now, you understand?

- Not one.

- Yeah.

We got the invitational

in less than a week.

[Petrus] Who are we playing

in the tournament?

Number one team in the nation.

Victory Country Day.

Yeah, I know.

They got a hell of a lot more talent

than us. They do.

We're gonna have to outwork them.

Win every 50-50

and we need to hit the floor hard.

[Curtis] Let's go, come on.

I wanna see some hustle, on the whistle.

[whistle blows]

On the whistle, let's go.

Get it. Get it.

Hustle. Come on, now.

Fight for it. Fight for it.

That's what I wanna see.

Let's go, Forte. [whistle blows]

On the ball. Let's go. Get it.

[Olembe screaming]

[Curtis]

Hold on, hold on. You all right, Terron?

Come on. Come on.

Lem. Lem. Lem.

Lem, calm down.

Can you bend it?

- I can't, man. I can't.

- Okay.

[Gaines] No, this is his coach.

Well, I am his family here.

I understand.

Coach, is he gonna be okay?

He'll be okay.

Well, damn, boy, your ass was out cold.

Yeah, I know.

What's all these bags for?

Well, this is how I got it figured,

so I know where everything is at.

When did you start doing this?

I ain't got your mom around

to keep track of my sh*t so...

[knocking on door]

[Gaines] Room service.

Good. You got 30 minutes to get in

that meeting room and finish your exam.

We'll watch film on Victory

and go over the plan.

Uh, I drew up some new plays for my son.

Nobody know his game like me.

I'd love to talk to you about it.

Let me think about it.

Hustle up, Terron. Let's go.

If you got a travel exception and you're

taking an online equivalent, check it.

If your class has a written test,

we have aides here.

And if we don't have a key, I can help.

[boy 1] Hey.

Who's got the key for pre-calc?

[boy 2] A.J. has it next.

This all I know.

- [Proctor] You only wrote your name.

- This all I know.

[sighs]

[door opens]

It looked like that kid

was feeding them answers.

Some kids need more tutoring

than others.

You promised that he was gonna get

a college education.

I promised he'd get

a college scholarship,

and he's going to.

That is what this is about.

[Nia] It's about having a route

to a better opportunity

than what we'd be able to afford.

Of course.

Think college will be different?

Terron's gonna have 60 hours a week

of athletic commitments.

They'll push him to no-show classes

and if he keeps growing,

he won't even be an upperclassman.

If he gets a scholarship,

he'll get a degree.

Don't even try to tell me

that that's not valuable.

If your son is the player I believe he is,

he's gonna be making millions of dollars

while he's a teenager.

Now, I'm sorry, but to me, that's

more valuable than a piece of paper.

That's not right.

What's not right is he's the reason this

exists and he can't be paid one dollar.

TV rights go for billions

on the back of the players.

The money he brings in allows for

trust-fund babies to play lacrosse,

but he can't see a dime of it?

Okay, Terron,

the part that he's leaving out,

is what if you don't make it? Then what?

What do you think he's gonna do?

He's just gonna move on to the next one.

LeBron, Kobe.

They all focused on one thing.

So did your father.

Dang.

[sighs] Wow.

Oh, snap. Yo, I know you.

- Hey.

- Can we get a pic?

Yeah, yeah. I'll take a pic.

- Make me look good in it.

- Got you.

- You have a game today?

- I play for the same coach you played for.

- Oh, really. Who's that?

- Gaines.

Oh, Coach Gaines.

Yeah, you know what?

He knows the game.

I only played with him for a little bit.

- A little bit?

- Yeah. One season.

- Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

- Yeah, I understand.

I am so glad you're in town for this.

You need tickets?

- How you doing, superstar?

- [man] I'm doing great, man.

Hey. Put one of these on.

- For old times' sake.

- [man] Come on.

- Come on. You know I keep one.

- [Rob] See? Team spirit.

[man] That's nice.

[Rob] I'll see you out there.

Terron Forte, the eighth-grader.

Love your motor, young fella.

- You've seen me play?

- On video.

- Looking forward to it in person.

- [Vince] Coach.

- Hey, Vince.

- Hey.

You got the mixtape. See the real thing.

His game is serious.

- [Rob] That's what I hear.

- [Vince] Good luck.

[speaking indistinctly]

- Loose ball.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Loose ball.

- Go, go, go.

Yes. Yes.

[crowd cheering]

Yeah!

Yeah! Come on. Come on.

Come on.

Huddle up. Huddle up.

- You good?

- I'm good, coach.

Bro, bro. We up by one.

Listen up. We got 11 seconds left,

they got no timeouts.

We don't have any fouls left to give.

One thing we know.

Whoever gets that ball

ain't giving it up.

Double-team and force them

into a contested shot.

- Go. Defense, on three. One, two, three.

- [all] Defense.

I got him, I got him.

[buzzer buzzing, then crowd cheering]

F***, man.

Who in their right mind

would wanna do this?

I hate this job sometimes.

At least we can play

in the consolation bracket.

That's true. Hey, you know what?

Watching you out there

makes it all worth it.

- Thanks, coach.

- [Rob] Way to keep it close, Jimmy.

- Terron, you are better in person.

- Stay away from my player, Rob.

Talk to mine.

I got no problem with that.

- Just get in your van and get out of here.

- Van? We've got a bus.

[Gaines chuckles]

Hey, Vince.

There's a proud papa.

We gotta talk.

[Vince] What was you thinking?

- Stay the f*** away from my player!

- Easy, easy.

- The f*** didn't you understand?

- Easy.

- Chill.

- Oh, f*** this.

Should've won that game, man.

- Shot was bullshit.

- [Anton sighs]

That was the worst shot ever.

[Anton] I don't know, bro.

I'll be back.

[Gaines] Terron is nationally ranked

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