He has developed a reputation as a ball handling wizard and despite his small stature AND 1 Streetball star, Grayson Boucher A.K.A. ‘The Professor’ can dunk the basketball too.
To the casual observer Boucher might seem small, insignificant, maybe, but there is nothing even remotely small, or insignificant about Boucher’s game.
Simply put, `The Professor’ is nothing but a ball handling machine equipped with an armory of nifty basketball moves.
As a Streetballer, `The Professor’ should never be underestimated on the basketball court.
His swift basketball theatrics has raised him to superstardom from playing on the basketball courts in the streets of Oregon, United States.
He is now world famous in the Streetball arena with the AND 1 team, who are in Guyana for the upcoming All-Star Basketball Weekend from tomorrow to Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
In an interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday, Boucher spoke briefly about playing with the AND 1 team and of his idols.
He explained that he has always been underestimated, but said said that pushes him to play harder and prove himself on the basketball court.
“I’ve always been underestimated every time I play. That’s become kind of like a regular thing with me, matter of fact I like to be the underdog, I prefer to be the underdog when I play… that makes me play better, because then you have more to prove and you have to prove yourself at all times,” said Boucher.
The 26-year-old, 5’10, 155 pounds, American Streetball player was born and raised in Keizer, Oregon, but currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He joined AND 1 in 2003 after his ball handling skills captured the attention of the AND 1 team when the AND 1 Mixtape Tour stopped in Portland, Oregon, which is about an hour from his hometown, and held open-run tryouts as they were seeking players to join the tour.
“I just tried out, they were having an open trial where they were looking for the next playground legend and they would have open trials before every game on tour and I went up there and just tried out… I was going up there to have a good time and it turned into a career opportunity,” said Boucher.
It was then in 2003 that Boucher acquired his world famous alias ‘The Professor’, because of his ability to ‘school’ his opponents on the basketball court with his flashy and ankle-breaking dribbling.
Commenting on how his life and Streetball career has been since joining and travelling worldwide with the AND 1 team, ‘The Professor’ related: “Its awesome man, its awesome, I love it man… we took it international for the first time in the winter of 2003 and even up until today, we’re still going to international territories we’ve never been to before, so that’s why I love doing it.”
In relation to the level of competition he has met since being on tour with AND 1, he stated that there has never been a competitor or competition he has been afraid of.
“I don’t think you should really be on this team if you’re scared to play anybody, because basketball is a competitive sport and you got to be professional, you can’t be scared to play anybody,” Boucher explained.
Though he is a Streetball star now and is idolized by many upcoming players, ‘The Professor’ explained that he too had players he looked up to coming up as a young player. One of his idols is former NBA top point guard, Allen Iverson.
“When I got into high school I was looking up to Allen Iverson when he was like at the top of his career… I like great point guards,” said ‘The Professor’. He added that he was also inspired by members of the AND 1 team before they joined forces.
‘The Professor’ disclosed that he was inspired by NBA and Streetball player Rafer Alston, who is better known by his Streetball name ‘Skip To My Lou’ and was the first player to sign an endorsement deal with AND 1.
“Skip [Skip To My Lou] was somebody who really inspired me, because I saw Volume One [AND 1’s first Mix Tape] when I was in high school before I got on the Mix Tape Tour and that inspired me to take my game to another level,” said ‘The Professor’.
Even at this prime stage in his career, ‘The Professor’ continues to work on his game and indicated that he adds new moves to his arsenal every year.
Apparently there’s no end in sight for the young star’s Streetball career. When asked how much Streetball is left in him, ‘The Professor’ replied: “It’s been a great career so I’ll play until I can’t play basketball anymore.”
