DYMOND SIMON

Dymond Simon of ASU will always be my favorite player. She might be the single reason why my daughter plays basketball today and why it got my approval. Long before I got involved with girls basketball, I use to play pick-up bball at a local gym. The gym was always packed with the likes of Mike Bibby (current NBA Hawk), Negel Knight (former Suns), a young Richard Jefferson (Spurs) and Jaryd Bayless. My daughter, Jasmine Hotchkins, at the time was 8-9 yrs. old. She would often sit to the side in the corner and watch. One day she started shooting around and I was like "your pretty good", but at the time I was unfamiliar with the women's game. Then Dymond and her dad (James) came in one summer afternoon. Dymond just started tearing it up. She would get to the lane, draw contact and finish (against grown men). She would step beyond the arc and knock down jumpers. If one guarded her to tight, she would make a grown man look silly holding his ankle as she drove by them for the lay-in. This was all about when she was just 15-16yrs.old. I walked out of that gym saying to myself if a girl can play like that and my daughter wants to play ball that is just fine with me. After a while I got a hold of James and asked his advice on how to get my daughter started in basketball. The rest is history. Today I still stay in regular contact with both Dymond and James and it instills pride in me when I see her perform. Like tonight, when she led her un-ranked Devils against #14 DePaul with 24pts, 7a's, & 5rebs. I usually sit by James for the games but tonight I took in the action with colleague Brandon Clay of Peach State Hoops. In his words
"Every year Arizona State has the biggest team in the country, they are huge!!! But their senior PG Dymond Simon makes 'em go."
Well tonight is one of those proud moments when I reminese about when I would sport the green & white, while my daughter wore her green "future Knight" t-shirt and we would drive down to Chandler to watch Dymond play in the Nike TOC. I still have those white adidas shoes with the green stripes. My daughter never became a Knight, instead she plays for arch-rival Xavier College Prep that was coached by LA Sparks head coach Jennifer Gillom her frosh year, who was in attendance tonight. Could it be? With the ups & downs of her college career, in the form of two ACL tears in the same knee, Dymond still has aspirations to play in the WNBA and no doubt has the skill, ability, and drive to be successful. Watching the WNBA as a scout and a fan I believe the league could use a player like Dymond. She knows and understands the game. It's in her blood. It's inherent in her. I think she would bring a breathe of fresh air to the leauge in terms of high guard skill and exciting play-making abilities. Good luck to you Dym! Your always in our hearts and in our prayers.
Here is a recent article by local by Jeff Metcalfe of azcentral:
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/jeffmetcalfe/111251
FOX Recap:
http://www.foxsportsarizona.com/pages/video?PID=v3at1OEIBcenP7qMv3fZ80VuA6EXOwki