In this case, you write very long: this week’s feature weighs in at a hefty 6,000-plus words, but we promise it’s worth every minute, as Paul Gackle dives into the big, messy story of how J.R. Rider — once an Alameda high school basketball star who vied for titles with Jason Kidd and was thought by all to be an NBA star in the making — ended up with a string of arrests and a less-than-promising career ahead of him. It’s a story about promise and redemption and race and the culture of sports and and it’s really very good so you should read the whole gloriously long thing here.
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