Jai Kellman didn’t want a new pair of sneakers or any designer clothes for Christmas.
Rejoining the George Westinghouse boys basketball team was the only thing on his list. Luckily, Jolly St. Nick %u2013 or in this case Warriors coach Everett Kelley %u2013 was listening. Five days before Christmas, Kelley called Kellman with the news he was reinstating the sharpshooting senior guard.
He made his season debut in their December 16 victory over Acorn at the Izod Center %u2013 the home of the New Jersey Nets %u2013 as part of a promotional event. Kellman was the first player to get dressed and first on the court, he was so excited.
“Best present so far,” the 6-foot-1 Kellman said. “I felt real thankful that he gave me another chance. I thought it was all over. I was kind of like speechless.”
Kelley booted Kellman, who was a starter on last year’s club that made a second consecutive PSAL Class A finals berth, from the team in October after a series of incidents.
Neither coach nor player went into details regarding the banishment. Kelley said Kellman didn’t show him or his teammates enough respect. Kellman, who averaged 13 points and four assists per game last year, said it was for “selfish reasons. Me not going about things the correct way, or in a mature way, acting out a few times. It was stuff building up.”
His time away from the court was extremely difficult. He had nobody to hang out with %u2013 his best friends Branden Frazier of Bishop Loughlin and Matt Walker of Banneker were busy with their own seasons. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t playing basketball. There was no practice to attend, no games to play in. He still showed up for Warriors home games, supporting his former teammates.
“This is probably the biggest learning experience I’ve ever dealt with in life,” Kellman said. “I know how it feels not to have basketball and I didn’t like that feeling.”
Kelley pinpointed the game at the Izod Center as a possible return, although he kept it a secret from Kellman, depending on his behavior. A physical education teacher at the school, he saw Kellman using restraint in possible volatile situations instead of instantly reacting, as did fellow coaches and teachers.
The coach knows there will be some who think a few unchacteristic divisional losses to Automotive and Grand Street Campus forced him to bring back Kellman, but he said otherwise.
“We all know he could’ve acted another way, went in another direction, and he didn’t,” Kelley said. “He’s been handling himself the right way.”
Kellman’s teammates welcomed him back with open arms; some even lobbied for Kelley to bring him back sooner. Kellman spoke to all of them upon his return, thanking them for the reception.
“I’m not trying to come back and be a star, I’m not trying to be the hero,” he told them. “I’m trying to come back and do what the coaches tell me.”
Kellman should help the Warriors, too, with his perimeter shooting, penetration and on-the-ball defense. At 4-2 in Brooklyn A West, a game behind Grand Street Campus and Banneker, Westinghouse has plenty of room for improvement.
“We’re embracing him, we feel reunited,” senior forward Marlon Cort said. “We lost a key part in him being out. Having him back gives us more depth, more balance and leadership on the court.”