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Thursday, July 6, 2017
As he nears the precipice of a dream he's long pursued, Antonius Cleveland remains baffled by the years of sacrifice that have come from his mother, Shonda Bowie.
A 23-year-old native of Memphis, Tennessee, Cleveland looks back on the countless hours his mother put in at her two jobs over the years, working early in the morning through the afternoon as a nutrition supervisor for Memphis City Schools before heading over to FedEx and working into the night.
Cleveland grew more than 8 inches during his high school career, playing two years at Overton in Memphis before transferring to Germantown as a junior. It wasn't until his senior year that things started to become more serious, during which Cleveland attended prep school at Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Georgia.
It was Bowie who sacrificed the time and money that allowed her son to make his way onto the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team, and since then, a prolific college career has run its course. There's one main objective on Cleveland's mind as he begins his stint in the Las Vegas NBA Summer League on Saturday as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.
"I don't even know how my mom did it," Cleveland said. "My No. 1 goal now is to make a living off of myself through the game of basketball just to pay her back. That's my top priority right now.
"I'm an only child, so my mom's all I've got, really. She made such a sacrifice, and at the time, I didn't know it would pay off like this. But looking back, I wouldn't be here if my mom wouldn't have done the things that she did."
After averaging a team-leading 16.6 points per game during his senior season in 2016-17, Cleveland quickly began receiving interest from teams in the NBA. He participated in a total of eight workouts -- twice with the Boston Celtics and once each with the Blazers, Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets.
After the draft concluded on June 22, Cleveland was notified by his agent of four possible destinations where he could land -- Utah, Charlotte, Portland and Boston. The following day, he and the Blazers agreed to a Summer League deal.
Cleveland worked out for Portland on June 12 along with former Purdue standout Caleb Swanigan, who was selected by the Blazers with the 26th overall pick in this year's draft.
"I feel like that was one of my best workouts," Cleveland said. "I just played defense and just really tried to play my game, used my wingspan to get my hand on some balls. I tried to just show that I could score and used my 15- to 17-foot pull-up jumper that I take pride in. I just had an overall solid day and tried to show my athleticism."
Cleveland arrived in Portland on Sunday and took part in the first team practice on Monday morning. The Blazers will have one final practice Friday before flying out to Las Vegas later in the evening.
Portland begins the Summer League against Utah at 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU) at Cox Pavilion. The Blazers will then face the Celtics at 7:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2) at Thomas & Mack Center before closing out the pre-tournament schedule against the San Antonio Spurs at 3 p.m. Tuesday (NBA TV).
"I think we've all got a sense of who likes to do what so far, but we're moreso just running the sets that the coaches are giving us and are just talking to one another, communicating. I think that the more we communicate, that helps all of us," Cleveland said. "That's one thing we've been big on, helping each other out, because we're all new, and we're all taking in a lot of information so fast in a short period of time.
"At the same time, we all can ball. We all can play, so that just makes everything so much easier, too."
Former Gonzaga standout Zach Collins, a 7-foot center, is the highest-drafted player on the Blazers' roster after being selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 10th overall pick in this year's draft.
At 6-6, Cleveland is the tallest guard on the roster. He's also one of four undrafted players on the team, including former Tennessee State guard Patrick Miller.
"That's the one I've been really close with since I've been here," Cleveland said about Miller, who graduated from TSU in 2014. "I've pretty much known him since my freshman year, and I see him every now and then. Whenever I'm in Nashville, I always see him.
"All these guys are pretty good. We can all definitely play."
Over the years, there have been a number of Ohio Valley Conference players who have left their mark by performing well in the NBA Summer League, perhaps none more significant than former Belmont standout Ian Clark in 2013.
After going undrafted, Clark signed to play in both NBA Summer Leagues, for the Miami Heat and then for the Golden State Warriors. With the latter, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the Las Vegas Summer League championship game, scoring 33 points in a 91-77 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Clark eventually made his way back to the Warriors and was a key contributor off the bench for this year's NBA champions.
Five of the 14 players on Portland's roster hail from mid-major programs, including Cleveland, who said he's simply trying to enjoy the moment of living like an NBA player and the luxuries that come with it.
"I'm just enjoying the moment, but I'm also trying to show people that I can perform," Cleveland said. "I've been trying to do my best to stand out in practices.
"The coaches always tell us that we're all here for a reason. We've all done something great in our careers, so they basically just tell us to take that in and realize that we're doing things the right way. I'm just taking all of this in and having fun at the same time. The most important thing is to just have fun with it, too."
Embracing the opportunity is par for the course for a player who received just one Division I offer coming out of high school, yet managed to etch his name in the record books at Southeast. Cleveland is the fifth-leading scorer in program history and holds the school record with 109 career starts, finishing his final season with first team All-OVC honors.
Still to this day, Cleveland has trouble trying to wrap his head around how he got here, as well as the sacrifices those around him have made over the years.
But he has his own suspicions.
"I think moms just have some kind of superpower that make them do certain things that other people can't do," Cleveland said. "I'm convinced on that."
