Jon Brooks

Our story revolves around Jon Brooks, your average Joe from Detroit Michigan. Like his peers, he loves basketball, but what is unique about him is he likes basketball more than his friends do. Ever since he was a kid, after watching basketball stars such as Michael Jordan, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Manute Bol, and Scottie Pippen. He dreamt of making it into the NBA. 

But all of it was just a dream, Jon was not gifted with the tall stature or abilities, as mentioned earlier, he was just an average Joe. Jon has a listed height of 5 foot 6 inches, almost like the average height of an Asian man.

But that did not deter Jon's love of basketball, he found a way to still follow basketball so he steered his goal into being a scout and journalist since he has in-depth game knowledge and wants to help teams and player find their perfect pairings. 

So when Jon went to college he enrolled in two majors, Journalism and Sports Management, he started as a hobby journalist for his University club, and his articles consisted of game day data, and stories from an outsider's perspective (without being obnoxious to anyone) and scouting heavy narrative.

Soon enough his articles gained attention from his peers, then to the Basketball team, and then to the national media. Jon's articles are becoming famous and NBA teams were positively considering his scouting. It was at this time that he became friends with NBA on-court and off-court personalities. 

One example of his merciful and fair article was regarding Ben Wallace, his article helped Ben Wallace get into the NBA and of course, by Ben's own perseverance and hard work, he became the defensive beast that he is. 

But Jon did not only cover the NBA, he also covered numerous leagues around the world, thus improving his scouting credibility. In the future he was not credited for this, but, he was the one who found three big (literal) international players who became MVPs in the NBA. 

Of course, not all talent becomes gold, but the funny thing is, the talent's failure in the NBA was not credited to Jon's failed scouting, but more like a team/player environment thing as proven where the talents flourish to other leagues not named NBA.

In 1992 on a trip to the Philippines, he was shot in the stomach while there was an ongoing shooting in a public place. This incident is marked as one of the important events of his life, which will be revealed later on. In this same year, he was beginning to cover the different leagues around the world, showcasing basketball in other areas not named the USA. 

Jon lived out his life helping the NBA in general with his superb articles and scouting prowess, some people argue that he was like Jerry Krause in terms of scouting and the only very unique journalist that everybody loves, even the basketball GOATs consider him the Journalist GOAT. 

Jon's personal life was not that publicly known, but only his peers and friends knew. He was married to a 2nd generation Japanese immigrant named Johanna Takeuchi. They tied the knot and had a family of Japanese basketball stars (due to them holding Japanese passports at a young age). Jon and Johanna had 3 kids, 2 sons, and 1 daughter. In chronological order, they were, Scott, Joan, and Keisuke (named after Mr. Miyagi).

Firstly, Scott became a legendary coach in Japan. He was formerly a star college student but was not able to reach the NBA due to his stature and racism, some NBA star players wanted him to play in the NBA too, but was not drafted or picked up by any team. Like his father he still pursued a basketball career, he played overseas and eventually stopped in Japan for the last 5 years of his playing career and eventually became a coach.

Then, Joan like her father became a sports journalist, unlike her father though, she is not a renowned scout like her father but she can cover numerous sports like football, soccer, and volleyball. Later down the line, she was also considered a Journalist GOAT like her father for covering numerous sports with great in-game knowledge.

Lastly, Keisuke was the one in the family to become an NBA player, maybe due to the numerous NBA teams' regret of passing up on his big brother (to whom Scott was not jealous of Keisuke). He played only 10 years of impactful NBA games before he was involved in a school shooting where two bullets hit both of his knees and shin where he was required to get surgery, after the surgery, he was a shell of his former self, but due to his basketball IQ, he then converted his playstyle to a reliable veteran who can impact games on limited minutes.

Jon retired at the age of 65 in 2010, when his chronic Liver Cirrhosis became worse, which hindered him from traveling around the globe and even touring the USA. He had this sickness when he was given the wrong blood type after that public shooting incident. This sickness plagued his life for 10 more years which became the cause of his death in 2020. 

He was even inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, while he could still walk, even though he has not played a single officiated basketball game. He was inducted not as a player but as a big contributor to the basketball scene because of his very unbiased and merciful journalism.

In this life, Jon did not blame God for his lack of physical attributes or his inability to play in an officiated game. He even thanked God for his life as he was the Journalist and Scouting GOAT and his kids were becoming legends of their own. 

He didn't regret everything in his life.

But is it?

At his deathbed with his family, Jon's kids, who are adults, were crying as this was their father's final breath. As Jon was breathing raggedly, he reminisced about his time with his family, but his 2 final sentences were:

"Thank you for being my everything in this life."

"I wished to have a better body and be able to play basketball with enjoyment."

Jon at the age of 75, breathed his last, in this lifetime. After that, his soul left his body and saw his family weeping. A man with features Jon could not recognize, revealed itself in front of him, Jon asked, "Are you an angel coming to retrieve me?" it shook its head and pointed to a nearby recreational area where there were young people playing hoop and it confused Jon, he looked again at the being and his being shone more brightly, then enveloped Jon into the light like absorbing him. 

As of today, Jon's soul was brought to God knows where.