I am proud to bring you another edition of the segment I like to call Foreign Born Celtics. The league has seen its fair share of quality French players like Tony Parker and Nicols Batum, however, no one can do it quite like Jerome Moiso. I am kidding of course.
Jerome was born in Paris on June 15th, 1978, where he spent three years at the National Institute for Sports and Physical Education as a teenager. His mother (Anick) gifted him with a long body, standing six foot ten inches and weighing around 240 lbs. Moiso is a weirdo lefty, I say weird because most people aren’t lefties. Jerome also spent time in his life living in Guadeloupe in the West Indies.
Playing for the French Junior and Senior national teams from 1995-1997, Moiso started to gain national exposure. After playing for the national teams, Jerome took his talents (taking talents places is a great coined phrase) to Connecticut to the Milford Academy in Milford, for one year. After his one year of high school in America, Moiso was honored to play for the mighty UCLA Bruins.
Averaging good stats in his sophomore year, 11.8 points and 7.5 rebounds, as their second best player in 1999-2000, this helped him gain NBA aspirations and the Boston Celtics drafted him 11th in the 2000 NBA draft. More sought for his upside and his body, Moiso struggled to find a home in the league.
"He's an incredibly gifted athlete," said Wallace, who presented Moiso with jersey No.5, last worn by Ron Mercer. "In a lot of cases, when you're dealing with a prospect with his kind of athleticism, you don't see the basketball skills to match it. That's not the case with Jerome.”
He lasted only one year with Boston (let’s be honest, which draft picks did last during Rick Pitino era?) with the coaching and management staffs realizing their mistake in drafting Moiso. Moiso only played 5.6 minutes per game in his rookie year, some would suggest that he wasn’t given a fair shot, because Pitino didn’t develop his talents in the pros, however, Moiso never lasted more than two years with any ball club, playing for 5 teams in 7 years. The only team he played for more than one year ended up moving (Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets).
Moiso concluded his playing career in Europe and Asia playing for 8 teams in the last 6 years from 2006 to his current team of Jiangsu Dragons. Moiso celebrated his 32nd birthday the other day and loves his time in China. In a league where he may be one of the strongest players, Moiso has finally found a home in with the Dragons. (Are all Chinese clubs called “Dragons”?)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i0GTc5bxqo&w=640&h=510]
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
