Meeting Former NBA Player Preist Lauderdale in Pravets, Bulgaria
OK, this is bizarre: in a Bulgarian town of 4,000 people, it is extremely unusual to see a 7'4", 325 pound black man walking down the street. But I had seen the sports center and knew there was a club basketball team (the best in Bulgaria) that stayed here in town sometimes. And Steve told me there was an American player on the team. So I walked up and asked him if he was the American basketball player. It was Preist Lauderdale! He played 3 seasons for the Denver Nuggets. I just did some quick research -- he was a high school legend in Chicago who went pro straight out of school, then was a first-round draft pick in 1999 after playing a year in Greece. We talked about the competition -- poor here, but they play all over Europe, and I found a lot of German sports sites with articles about him. He is huge. I guess we will have a beer sometime.