When Nick Gilbert came away with the fourth-overall pick in last year’s NBA lottery, he was disappointed. Just fifteen years old at the time, the son of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ majority owner felt that he had let down an entire fan base that so badly wanted to return to prominence. After all, it was this very dais that made him a nationally known name amongst NBA fans. The ‘beginners luck’ that had been such a gift one year earlier became a bit of a curse.
Fans of opposing teams, doing what they do, took shots at the teenager who suffers from neurofibromatosis, a nerve disorder that causes tumors to sprout on a whim. Kids at school, doing what they do, began to chop Gilbert down in what was his moment of vulnerability, telling him that he was “nothing special.” But it would be just one year later that the oldest son of the Cavaliers’ owner can not only proudly return to school, but can do so having officially christened with being his father’s good luck charm.
“It’s Nick Gilbert,” Dan Gilbert told WFNY via conference call on Tuesday night when asked about to what he attributes such odds-defying luck. “I’m going to have to start taking him to card games with me.”
