Undefeated: Bembry Carries Brother's Memory Into 2nd Season

[AHF]

https://theundefeated.com/features/atlanta-hawks-deandre-bembry-carries-brothers-memory-into-second-nba-season/

Quote

With his brother’s birthday on his mind, DeAndre’ Bembry sobbed in the locker room before an Atlanta Hawks practice that the team ultimately decided to give him off.

Dec. 15, 2016, was an off day between two home games for the Hawks. A light practice was expected in preparation for the arrival of the Philadelphia 76ers the next night. It also marked the 21st birthday of the then-rookie guard’s late brother, Adrian Potts, who was shot and killed six months earlier.

“When I woke up, I was good,” Bembry said. “But just as soon as I walked into the doors of the arena, I just started thinking about it so heavy. I just starting crying.”

Bembry and Potts grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the Beatties Ford Road area, which ranked No. 1 in Charlotte in 2014 for violent crimes. The brothers of different fathers were raised primarily by their mother, Essence Bembry, who moved them to New Jersey for high school.

“We lived on the West Side on a street called Beatties Ford,” Bembry said. “If you ask about Charlotte, and you ask about Beatties Ford, you’d know it’s pretty rough on that side. But my mother got us through it, always putting clothes on our back. We never wore dirty shoes or anything like that. But it was definitely rough and she did work for the money she did have.”

Bembry earned a basketball scholarship to Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Potts was often on campus visiting his brother until he began attending North Carolina Central University in Durham. During his final season with Saint Joe’s, Bembry averaged 17.4 points and 7.8 rebounds as a junior in 2015-16. He earned 2016 Atlantic-10 Conference Player of the Year honors. Potts was in Spokane, Washington, when Saint Joe’s played Cincinnati and Oregon in the NCAA tournament in March 2016, marking the final games of his brother’s college basketball career.

The lengthy article continues if you click the link.  Good read.