THROWBACK: Lawrence Moten

In Reading, Pa a few months ago, I saw Lawrence Moten coaching a professional basketball game in a grey sewatsute. He was a lot older than the kid with the high-top head and could score in just about every way for the Syracuse Orangemen. He was the type of skinny two-guard, who just had what it took to get the job done. Nicknamed "Poetry in Moten," he left the 'Cuse as the Big East's All-Time leading scorer. It seemed like, in my mind, Moten could be a taller Isiah Thomas. However, the NBA scouts thought otherwise and Moten's pro career took a different path.

The Vancouver Grizzlies (they're playing out of Memphis now, I hear) took Moten in the 2nd round with the 36th pick in 1995. He spent two years with the Grizzlies and then had a cup of coffee with his hometown NBA team with the Washington Wizards. He bounced around overseas places like Greece, Spain, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic and played in the CBA before getting involved with the ABA, where he played for teams in Philly and Maryland. The highlight of his pro career may be the fact that the picture below is all the evidence he'd need to prove he played against Michael Jordan.

When the Maryland Nighthawks bolted from the ABA to form their own league, the PBL, Moten became their head coach. The team features (and featured) Tamir Goodman, Randy "White Chocolate" Gill, as well former AND1 players Baby Shaq and Prime Objective. The Nighthawks have struggled in the PBL standings thus far, but by all reports Moten is working hard as both a coach and a community ambassador for the Nighthawks. I give him a pass for wearing a sweatsuite because, thinking back, he was probably wearing a uniform underneath it in case he had to check himself in to the game.

If you look at his stats, he may appear to be another college star that had a couple of years years in the NBA and then ironed out a career overseas. However, while his team is struggling, he's still doing good work with basketball and from his actions on the sidelines is still passionate about the game. Look for him to get a job in the D-League if they ever come east.