DOZIER JR. HAS SKILLS TO PAY BILLS, GET FEATURED IN NY TIMES

When you’re a 12-year-old basketball phenom, the world is your oyster. And when your dad and uncle are former South Carolina Gamecock greats, the world is still your oyster, only the pearl is a basketball.

You can sit around playing video games all day and then tear up the court for a few hours in between doing interviews with the New York Times, as is the case for a Columbia middle school student named Perry Dozier Jr.

Last summer, Perry Dozier Sr. was sitting in the bleachers at the Adidas Jr. Phenom Camp in San Diego when one recruiting analyst after another told him his son would be the top-ranked player in the class of 2015.

Dozier Jr. is a 5-6 sixth grader at E. L. Wright Middle School in Columbia, S.C. He signed his first autograph when he was in fourth grade. He has a Web site, perrydozierjr.com, that displays his highlight videos.

Last month, Dozier was selected to play for the junior N.B.A. national team in an exhibition during All-Star weekend in Phoenix. He stayed in the same hotel as Oscar Robertson, Julius Erving and Dominique Wilkins, and when he met the former stars they told him humility would be his greatest asset.

Dozier Sr. wonders if the rankings and the spotlight are creating an impossible standard for his son.

“There might be expectations that are unreachable, or there are worries about getting injured or anything that could possibly take this game away,” said the 6-11 Dozier Sr., a former South Carolina center. “But he’s a very mature young man.”

I am in awe of these “analysts” Nostradamus-like ability to predict that this kid will be the top basketball recruit in six years. I tried to look into the future once and all I saw was that really crappy sequel to the “Blues Brothers.” Man, that movie sucked.

Anyway, I’m glad that Dozier isn’t letting all the attention go to his head.

Like in the video above where he says “let me show you what I can do” before draining a bunch of free throws, layups and three-pointers. Good for him for showing such modesty at such a young age.

Back when I was dominating the wheelchair basketball circuit, I was the total opposite of modest. I would elbow a dude in the face, grab the rock, and roll it down court before he could figure out what hit him.

I may have missed the shot by mile every time, but my opponents would never forget how they got all that blood on their jersey. Because I would remind them. Repeatedly. Mostly by pointing at it it and saying “yeah, son,” but other times just by looking.