Master P. and his P. Miller Ballers 9th Grade AAU Team: Born to Ball

Master P. and his family of P. Miller Ballers are heading out to compete for the National AAU team championship this week in Florida, they will face challenging and talented squads such as The Wisconsin’s DTA, which is lead by outstanding pg Corey Luscious, and you can’t forget about Team Knicks from the NYC. We are proud here at basket-ball.com to chronicle their journey in basketball in this first of a five part dairy, all the kids will get to express their feelings on the team in the next three weeks. This segment starts off by interviewing Percy Miller’s son "Lil Romeo", this kids is as smart on the court as he off of it. He attends Windward high school in Los Angeles along with Auri Allen where out of 170 seniors last year, 145 them received academic scholarships to go to college. Basket-ball.com: Hey Romeo, how has life been treating you? Lil Romeo: I’ve been great, I’m filming a movie in Toronto and getting ready to do my best at the Nationals in a few days. Basket-ball.com: What does it mean for you to be on this team? Lil Romeo: I really enjoy being around all these cool kids and good people of the team, it makes me want to do well all the time. Basket-ball.com: What do you try to bring to the team each game as a player? Lil Romeo: I take pride in my defense, but I’m really trying to shoot the ball well each time out and hit those outside jumpers. I want to help us be all we can be, my dad helps me compare basketball to life and shows us we can be successful at both. Basket-ball.com: What did your team learn from your recent tough tournament in Las Vegas? Lil Romeo: We learned maturity, to be smart and not let the other guys try to get us out of our game. You have to be focused to accomplish your goals in anything you do. Basket-ball.com: Anything else you want all the fans reading this to know about your dad? Lil Romeo: My dad’s real, he doesn’t ever act fake or lie to people, I really respect him for being that kind of person, I’m just so proud he’s my dad. Basket-ball.com: Thanks Rome, good luck on in your tournament in Florida. Lil Romeo: Thanks, and we’ll talk to you soon.

On the court, this group of players are dominant compared with everyone their age. Last year, several of the kids from the team even won an AAU national championship for Southern California based South Coast- they have so much potential I’m nicknaming them "The Take Over Part II." Why? The P. Miller Ballers are being trained by P’s great friend and expert right hand man, Anthony "Mac" McNair, this NYC legend was taught how to play by the legendary NBA pro Nate Archibald back in the day. Mac has this team focused like the stare of a cobra as they rolled through the competition by 50 a game in Las Vegas in mid July. Mac gives great skills training to these kids, he teaches the same techniques to P. Miller Ballers that he used to instruct NYC point guard Kenny Anderson back in the 1980’s. Mac not only trains these players to be experts but also should be commended for encouraging them to follow their dreams.

Honestly, this team has more talent on its roster than any other AAU team for its age in the world; look at respected recruitment analyst Clark Francis and his Hoop Scoop national rankings of the players on this team for the class of 2008 and decide for yourself:
#5 in the nation Auri Allen 6-10, #10 in the nation Brandon Jennings 6-0, #50 Malk Story 6-4, #35 DeMar Derozan 6-5 , should be top 50 Lil Romeo 5-9, #40 Jaime Serna 6-3, #29 Oscar Bellfield 6-3, should be top 100 Edgar Garibay 6-9 #22 Zack Zaragosa.

These kids are great for their age, but I think they are better people than players because P hangs with him a lot and they listen to his and their parents good advice, P states on this, "We’re one family, these kids know there’s no ’I" in team. We have black kids, white kids, latinos kids, kids of all ethnic groups and income backgrounds on this team. The kids seem to learn a lot about life from each other, my son and I have learned a lot from their friendship as well." Well spoken P.

P’s message is refreshing in this "me" world, it’s nice to see a major player in the music and entertainment industry taking all these kids under their wing and doing right by them. Kenny Story is the one of the teams most active dad for the P. Miller team, he videotapes all the games for the kids and then offers to play them back for the kids on their long plane rides and trips, he states about his son’s involvement, "My son is around good people here on this team, he is happy with the great exposure that goes along with it, we like that Nickelodeon is following them around to do a T.V. show based on their games and friendship. We also love that he gets treated with respect and has some opportunities to go everywhere in the country, he gets to learn about new things in life this way." That’s real praise from a great P. Miller parent.

Another great expert that helps with this team is Master P’s former ABA Las Vegas Rattler’s coach Ivory Mann , P. played for him last year and averaged 22 point per game. Mann comes to the team’s games to help from the sideline and states about them, "Master P is a special coach, some of his players like Malik Story remind me of a young Jamal Mashburn. I saw P play in junior college where he had borderline NBA talent, he role models for these kids on how to play with relentless passion, but he still should be given the most credit for teaching about life off the court in a positive way."

There’s a misconception out in the basketball community that Master P. put this team together, actually, his current point guard Brandon Jennings had been following P’s team for the past few years since he was eleven years old and sought out the opportunity to be on the P. Miller team. Last year, he recommended to his talented friends to join him on it, Mac states , "Brandon came over a little while back, then all of the sudden little by little all these great kids would call us and ask to be apart of our family environment and the team, we are just proud that they chose us to allow us to teach them the game."

Mater P. reminds me of anther great musician coming out of New Orleans in the past century: Legenday trumpet player Louis Armstrong with his song "What a Wonderful World", and for these special kids it’s really seems to be a wonderful basketball world.

Master P. and his family of P. Miller Ballers are heading out to compete for the National AAU team championship this week in Florida, they will face challenging and talented squads such as The Wisconsin’s DTA, which is lead by outstanding pg Corey Luscious, and you can’t forget about Team Knicks from the NYC. We are proud here at basket-ball.com to chronicle their journey in
basketball in this first of a five part dairy, all the kids will get to express their feelings on the team in the next three weeks. This segment starts off by interviewing Percy Miller’s son "Lil Romeo", this kids is as smart on the court as he off of it. He attends Windward high school in Los Angeles along with Auri Allen where out of 170 seniors last year, 145 them received academic scholarships to go to college.

HoopsVibe.com: Hey Romeo, how has life been treating you?
Lil Romeo: I’ve been great, I’m filming a movie in Toronto and getting ready to do my best at the Nationals in a few days.

HoopsVibe.com: What does it mean for you to be on this team?
Lil Romeo: I really enjoy being around all these cool kids and good people of the team, it makes me want to do well all the time.

HoopsVibe.com: What do you try to bring to the team each game as a player?
Lil Romeo: I take pride in my defense, but I’m really trying to shoot the ball well each time out and hit those outside jumpers. I want to help us be all we can be, my dad helps me compare basketball to life and shows us we can be successful at both.

HoopsVibe.com: What did your team learn from your recent tough tournament in Las Vegas?
Lil Romeo: We learned maturity, to be smart and not let the other guys try to get us out of our game. You have to be focused to accomplish your goals in anything you do.

HoopsVibe.com: Anything else you want all the fans reading this to know about your dad?
Lil Romeo: My dad’s real, he doesn’t ever act fake or lie to people, I really respect him for being that kind of person, I’m just so proud he’s my dad.

HoopsVibe.com: Thanks Rome, good luck on in your tournament in Florida.
Lil Romeo: Thanks, and we’ll talk to you soon.

Read the next segment of the team diary featuring DeMar Derozan and Brandon Jennings of the P. Miller Ballers.