--Auburndale, Fla
At the Auburndale community center Isaiah Turner is getting up shots.
“Basketball really chose me, growing up being tall and stuff,” Isaiah says as he takes a jumper on the outdoor courts. “Everybody can’t get the same talent as you. So I just use mine.”
Isaiah Turner is a senior guard for the Auburndale Bloodhounds. He’s the next in line from a basketball family
“My whole family played, my dad played tried to make it to the NBA. He got hurt and stuff. So it didn’t quite work out for him. My brothers couldn’t make it to the league. So now it’s my turn I guess,” Isaiah says.
His Dad played for the University of Louisiana. His two older brothers, PJ and Josh played at the college level. PJ is currently playing overseas. Of course the rest of his family isn’t 6’8.
“I just like to use my length kind of,” Isaiah says. “It takes a lot of skill for some people to use their body when they are skinny so I just try to dunk a lot.”
A skinny 6’8 guard from Auburndale, Fl that likes to dunk. Sound familiar??? It should. Auburndale is also the home town of NBA Hall of Famer and Orlando Magic great Tracy McGrady.
“[I] get compared to him a lot, it’s a good feeling everybody likes to think you can be a millionaire one day,” Isaiah says.
Isaiah gets the comparisons, Auburndale head coach Eric Robinson hears them too.
“When you get guys who have his length the first thing they see is Tracy McGrady,” Eric says.
Isaiah believes he can live up to the legend, but his motivation comes from someone that believed in him long before he was a d-1 recruit.
“I just loved her,” Isaiah says. “It’s just crazy when you think about how she just left at a young age.”
2 years ago his Grandma Patricia died of Cancer. Her last words stay with him forever.
“It was just me, her, and my mom in a room and she was holding my hand and she was just like I want you to do big things for me grandson. Like ten, fifteen minutes…she was gone.”
His grandma has passed on, but the message remains.
“Life isn’t long you never know when it’s your time to go so you have to cherish every moment.
Right now Isaiah would be making grandma proud. He currently has offers from UAB, Georgia State and Little Rock. Wherever he plays he knows one thing.
“From now on I just think do big things for my grandma.”