Jerkishbehavior Ode to: Dajuan Wagner

JerkishBehavior Ode to Dajuan Wagner



This is a JerkishBehavior Ode to high school basketball legend Dajuan Wagner. I heard about Dajuan Wagner for the 1st time in SLAM magazine where they had an article on him being the chosen one as one of the best high school players in the country and possibly the next Allen Iverson but bigger. Dajuan Wagner was a scoring machine who had range out to 30 feet, an insane mid-range game, and could drive the lane with the best of them. The moment I became a die-hard fan is when I heard Dajuan Wagner pulled off the Holy Grail of scoring binges and scored 100 points in a high school game. The next day, I remember the story making it to the Chicago newspaper and he had on an Avirex leather jacket (which was a must have like Jordan’s back in the day) in the article that showed he was the truth off the court as well. Dajuan Wagner averaged 42.5 points a game as a senior and scored 50 or more points in 9 games while on his way to broking the New Jersey state scoring record for most points in a career with 3.462 points. Dajuan Wagner made the coveted McDonald’s All-American Game where he scored a game high 25 points and could have rode that momentum straight to the NBA but decided to go to college at Memphis University. Juanny was a scoring machine once he stepped on his college campus as well. Juanny made the transition look easy and continued unleash long-range jumpers nothing but net and get to the hole with ease. Whenever Juanny played on national television, I made sure I recorded it in order to keep it for my collection and study his moves. Dajuan Wagner averaged 21 points a game during his lone year in college year in college including scoring 20 points or more in 22 games. Juanny didn’t lead his team to the NCAA tournament and had to settle for the NIT (the tournament that is for all the teams who didn’t make the NCAA one and have a .500 record) but he most definitely made it his show. Juanny increased his scoring average to 21 points and led his Memphis Tigers to a NIT title while being named the MVP of the whole tournament. Dajuan Wagner showed he could score on the college and was ready for new challenges and left for the NBA after his freshmen year and got drafted 6th overall by the Cleveland Cavs. Juanny was seen as the potential next star of the league and even had his own ESPN “The Life” episode which showed him working out with legendary trainer Tim Grover (he was Michael Jordan’s personal trainer) in preparation for his rookie season. Dajuan Wagner was the truth to me so much so that I bought and paid full price for his authentic white #2 jersey with the Cavs (which I still have today and was unheard for me to pay full price but Juanny was the boy.) which was extra exclusive. During Juanny’s rookie campaign, he did what he does best and made scoring the basketball look easy and show that he was a natural at doing it. Juanny averaged 14 pts a game as a rookie but had a 7 game span where he averaged 25 points a game, he scored 20 points in 11 games, and had arguably his best game of his career at Madison Square Garden in New York aka “The Mecca of Basketball” with 25 points and 10 assists. Unfortunately, Juanny’s rookie season was cut short due to injuries. Dajuan Wagner’s 2nd season in the NBA was supposed to be the beginning of the Lebron & Juanny tag team duo but once again injuries struck again and this dynamic duo never materialized. Dajuan Wagner had a life threatening bladder infection and had to end up getting his entire colon removed. Juanny was seen as a health risk and hasn’t been able to get back into the league but continues to play professionally overseas and continues to try to get back to the NBA. Dajuan Wagner was a natural born scorer and could get buckets in his sleep at any level of play. So this JerkishBehavior Ode is to one of the greatest scoring machines of all time in Dajuan Wagner.