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I started playing basketball at Finley Playground at around 14 years old, even though my mother had sent me to try out for the team when I was only 12. I remember crying after being cut on those fateful days - not because I believed I should be on the team, but for the embarrassment of seeing my peers make teams I wasn’t good enough to be a part of.

In the neighborhood I’m from, everyone played basketball between the ages of 10-20 daily in the summer. So any person within a year or two of my age from Mt. Airy, I could see them today and not know a thing about their current life, other than their name and basketball-playing style from back in the day.

After baseball practices on Saturday afternoons, I would spend endless summer hours out on the blacktop practicing alone. I had no mentor - my dad was more of baseball player as a kid, and I had no brothers. And this was before YouTube, so I just kept practicing the things I saw the good players do on TV until I was one of ‘em.

The rest, as they say, is history.

My start in basketball overlapped my eighth and ninth grade years. I proceeded to try out for my high school bball team and got cut during the first cuts as a freshman. And again as a sophomore. And again as a junior. I finally made the team as a senior and played about three minutes per game, averaging about two points a contest.

Finally making the team at E&S High School was big for me though as it gave me some validation for all the work I had put in to become at least a respectable ballplayer. Even though I didn’t play much, having practice everyday, 1-on-1 games with teammates and observing the games from close-up were valuable experiences that would shape my future as a player.

As my senior year came to a close, I found my way onto a Sonny Hill League team that featured the best collection of talent that I had ever been a part of. Damn near the entire Philadelphia All-City team was on the roster. There were so many good players that there were actually two teams and we practiced together. I didn’t get much run in the games - I vividly recall scoring a total of four points in the games I played - but the practices were pivotal for me and my development as a player.

By this time in my life, I knew I had the skills and talent to play on the same floor with the best players my age, which was exactly what this was. I more than proved that to myself in the practice sessions, in which many times I could say I was the only player in the gym that everyone else in the gym didn’t know who he was. I could literally tell you the full name and school of every other guy in there, and I was holding my own.

I walked on the team at Penn State Abington as a college freshman and played more minutes in one game than I did in four years of high school. My talent and skills began to develop at this point and I started to become known for my abilities, but I was quite lazy and not acquainted with what hard work meant on the college level. The coach at Abington that year, Mo Williams (a man that had played for Abington and also overseas for a while in his day) was sure to let me know about my chronic lack of effort back then. But just on talent alone, there was no way I couldn’t have been on the floor most of the time.

After the season ended, something life-altering happened to me. There was an older dude on campus (let’s call him K, because I don’t know how to spell his name correctly), who was from NYC. He could see my abilities were above average amongst the players I was sharing the court with. Whenever I talked to him he would always get into stories about the streetballers from New York that were becoming legends just on word of mouth before AND1 made streetball a cultural phenomenon.

And many days, he would come over to the court and insist that I come into this other part of the building with him. I knew about this part of the facility, had seen something similar in my high school, too. I just didn’t have much interest in using it. More to the point, I didn’t know what to do in that foreign area: the weight room.

K gave me a good basis to start with and I ran with it, driving up to campus (about 20 minutes outside of Philly) all throughout the summer and getting it in. One day while working out, Coach Mo strolled into the building and gave me a two-minute pep talk, ending with him telling me I needed to get my mind right and work harder in order to help the team more the following season. Little did he or I know, I wouldn’t play another game for Mo or PSU Abington.

One dreary summer morning on Abington’s campus I walked into the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat when some random guy approached me and asked me what position I played.

“How do you know I play?,” I asked.

“Hey, I’m just asking,” he said.

I told him I was a guard/forward and he introduced himself as the coach at Penn State Altoona. I had never been to Altoona and knew no one there, but I knew that Altoona competed in the NCAA at the Division III level. I also knew I wanted to get out of PSU-Abington, which was a commuter campus and felt like an extra year of high school in many ways. The transfer was a no-brainer and was done within a week.

I had actually been recruited for the first time in my life!

My skills drew attention in Altoona, and once again, my lazy habits hurt my ability to produce in games. Coach Macklin lost his job after my first season in Altoona and the school hired retired NBA player Armen Gilliam as his replacement. Surprisingly, not a good move.

I was taking classes in the summer of 2002, and went up to the gym to personally introduce myself to Coach Gilliam the day of his introductory press conference. It was obvious from our conversation that he had no idea who I was, but I wasn’t concerned - he would be paying attention soon enough.

I lasted eight games in the Gilliam regime once he kicked me to the curb one day during practice after he grew tired of my grab-the-rebound-and-push-the-ball-upcourt-myself offense. Even though, in my opinion, this strategy was our second-best offensive option behind going inside to my man B-Battles in the low or high post.

I played intramurals my senior year and won the championship. Even while being relegated to a mere spectator during college basketball season, I knew I was never going to stop playing ball.

After a year away from hoopin’ - a year in which I worked full-time at Foot Locker and Bally Total Fitness - I attended the Infosport Camp and parlayed my performance there into a deal in Lithuania. That was followed up with a stint with the Harlem Ambassadors, several months playing in Mexico, a season in which I went unsigned, then to Montenegro, and most recently Germany.

Name: Dre Baldwin  

Age: 27

Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Mt. Airy to be exact

Height: 6-4

Weight: 185

Shoe size: 13

Position: Shooting Guard/ PG/ Wing Forward

My Home Court: NOW: Any 24hr Fitness, Miami ALWAYS: Finley Rec. Center, Mt. Airy

Playing Experience: GW Carver HSES; Penn State Abington; Penn State Altoona; Pro Exp: Lithuania, USA, Mexico, Montenegro, Germany

Current Team: I am officially a free agent until I sign my next deal

Favorite Sneakers: Nike Shox BB4, Nike Hyperdunks, Jordan XIII, Nike Flightposite

Favorite Player: Myself, Michael Jordan, Steve Francis, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter

Favorite Team: Team USA

Go-to-Move: In-and-out dribble, jumpstop, finish

I play: Because my long-term competitive drive won’t let me stop short of the highest level

Coming up I admired: All the dudes in my ‘hood that were better than me. I’m better than all of ‘em now.

My basketball moment: Every time I sign a new deal. My real moment, though, will be signing an NBA deal.

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