SAN DIEGO — During last week’s tour of conference tournaments, Dickey Simpkins bounced from the ACC to the Big 12 to the SEC. The former NBA forward has operated an AAU program in Chicago for 12 years, remaining unaffiliated with shoe companies and instead seeks out under-appreciated kids.
The college coaches he encounters are seeking the same, and they all ask the same question of Simpkins:
“Man, you got any more Jevon Carters?”
Carter was a seventh-grader when he and his dad Leroy approached Simpkins about joining the Next Level Performance program. They liked the hard coaching and no-nonsense mentorship that NLP gave Keith Carter, Jevon’s cousin, who played at St.