It is around midnight on a Saturday night/Sunday in the dog days of summer 2019 when an up beat and good mooded Jordan Sibert (193-G-92, college: Dayton) finally calls me back for our long awaited interview something that had first been planned in Mid February when he was grinding in the G-League and on the brink of reaching the NBA. I had written an article late in the 2018-2019 season when he was with the Fraport Skyliners predicting he would get to the NBA someday and here we were again talking about the real reality of the NBA in 2019. ‘Sorry Miles for the late call. Were you already sleeping? I’m just back from lifting and then had to take care of some personal matters’, stressed Jordan Sibert. In the case of the ex Dayton (NCAA) standout, better late than never. So much has happened in the last five months that he could of written a special journal for his ex school to help fill the summer hole with exciting and interesting basketball stories. Sibert reaches me from Atlanta, Georgia where he has been staying after a successful NBA Summer League with the ex Dennis Schroeder team Atlanta Hawks and is just waiting for news hoping three could be a charm and that possible third ticket back to the NBA with the hopes of this one being not only a longer stay, but a more permanent one. The NBA has always been on his mind since his rookie season when he was with the Orlando Magic continuing with his two seasons in Europe where he balled in Greece and in Germany for two teams and now he reflected on the last season in the G-League, his short tenure with the Atlanta Hawks and his one NBA game against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the positive NBA Summer League appearance in Las Vegas. The big question is will he remain with the Atlanta Hawks and get a training camp deal or go to another NBA team or return back to Europe? ‘Right now that is the big question. I’m waiting to get a call. If it looks good with Atlanta then I will stay here. I have to do what is best for me’, warned Jordan Sibert. Even if he has played only four professional seasons, if he ever has a dull moment while waiting, he will never suffer from having a lack of great basketball stories. In the last year, he has had the opportunity to play with probably one of the best defenders to ever play in the German easyCredit BBL with Quantez Robertson who simply goes by Tez and one of the best dunkers to ever battle in the NBA with Vince Carter and remembers them fondly. ‘Many don’t know this but Tez and I are both from Cincinnati, Ohio. When I got to Frankfurt, I remember Tez asking me if I was from there. When he found out I had gone to Princeton high school, he asked me if I knew his brother Brian Shelby. It turned out that he was my best friend there. I remember Brian always telling me that he had a brother in Germany who was the man in German basketball. The basketball world is definitely small. Vince Carter is a great dude. I don’t remember what the first thing was what I asked him, but I do remember getting into the gym and seeing him under the basket. At that moment my childhood memories came back to me remembering me and my brother having all these pictures of him on our bedroom walls. I quickly started to bombard him with questions about the game about knowing plays, being in the right position and how to read the offense better and defense quicker. He was always there to help me. He even came to me at times to point out things. We had a good relationship and it was just a crazy feeling being his teammate. He did beat me in a few shooting games’, joked Jordan Sibert. Even if every basketball junkie knows where Jordan Sibert is today, it was time for a new installment in the Miles where are they now player feature as his rise and development to the NBA in the last year has been remarkable.
