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LeBron James' high school teammates and best friends Dru Joyce III, Willie McGee, Sian Cotton and Romeo Travis aren't sweating the craziness of appearing in "More Than a Game," a documentary opening Oct. 2 in New York, Los Angeles and Cleveland and expanding to more theaters throughout the month.
Why should they? These guys were playing in ESPN-broadcast games when they were in high school. Now, with the movie's release, their faces are turning up on promo items like collector's cups.
That sort of exposure, of course, has become an everyday thing for their NBA All-Star pal. But the movie isn't a story of a star and his entourage. This is just a group of friends, easygoing and familiar, with the foundation of getting to laugh about the good old days. (Travis chuckles while recounting a story during which the guys got stuck on a hill when the transmission to James' purple truck blew.)
How did you react to the national attention in high school?
Dru Joyce III: I think basketball was our main focus, so the national attention, there was no focus on that. We were so driven by our goals to win games, that was the biggest thing going on. The national media just made the game a little more important.
Sian Cotton: But I can't say that it didn't get to us at all. Junior year we were partying and girls and all that, believing the hype a little bit. That was a big problem; we let it go to our heads.
Of course it's hard, with girls flocking to you. Were post-game celebrations more like Mötley Crüe or Jonas Brothers concerts?
Joyce: I've never been to a Mötley Crüe...
Cotton: But I know it ain't Jonas Brothers, that's what I do know!
Willie McGee: When the door's shut we leave it behind the door. But we enjoyed ourselves.
Cotton: I was Mötley Crüe, all day everyday. In school, from nine in the morning to three I was trying to be Mötley Crüe.
What did you say to LeBron when he was on the cover of SI?
McGee: What was really crazy to me, it may have been earlier that school year, we were looking at a SLAM magazine, and he's like, "I'm not in it. I'm [gonna] be in this magazine before I'm out of high school." And then the SI cover come out, which was bigger than SLAM. He just called it a couple months ago.
Cotton: It blew up all over the city. Everywhere you went it was little kids with magazines. Us being so close to LeBron, people would come and hand you a stack of magazines, "Can you get these signed?"
Did they give you anything other than magazines? What was the craziest thing?
Joyce: They gave us themselves! "Take me to just get signed!"
Cotton: They would say things like, "If you can get this signed, I owe you my life."
McGee: In Chicago somebody offered me $100 if I got a $100 bill signed by LeBron for him.
Any more outrageous things people tried to get you to do?
Romeo Travis: Thursday a girl comes up to me and says, "I want [him] to sign right here," and points to her breasts. She comes up, "I want him to sign right here." Right where? "Here."
Joyce: That happened a few times in high school.
Cotton: I remember signing a few breasts myself.
Your own name or LeBron's?
Cotton: Whatever name she want down. We was all like rock stars. Bron was the head; he was the lead singer.
Joyce: He was Bruce Springsteen.
What did you do in high school other than basketball?
Travis: Video games and women basically.
Not in that order though.
Joyce: In no specific order.
Travis: We could play video games until the women came.
If you guys were starring in a comedy, what would it be called?
Joyce: "I Can't Believe This S*** Just Happened."
Travis: I like the name, "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?"
Things worked out for you guys, but do you think it's a problem to put so much media attention on young athletes?
Travis: I think [it’s] starting too early, personally. I seen in a magazine…the best fifth grader in the nation. I think eighth grade is early enough, which is still kinda early. I think they [want] the next Tracy McGrady, the next Kobe, the next KG too early. Still letting kids develop. We were in the media eye but not until we were a little bit more mature.
Cotton: And at the same time we had good people around us. Coach Dru, my father Coach Lee Cotton, our mothers, everybody. We had good people around us, so for the same situation to happen, for someone not to have good people around them it could be a catastrophe. I think that having good people around you is 50 percent of it. 90 percent of it.
Check out our interview with LeBron James.
