HOOKED: THE LEGEND OF DEMETRIUS ''HOOK'' MITCHELL

Imagine if Michael Jordan wound up in jail instead of the NBA draft. Think about how different basketball would be. The slam dunk might never have been so glorified. The game might never have been so electrified.
This is the story of Demetrius \"Hook\" Mitchell.
In Hooked: The Legend Of Demetrius \"Hook\" Mitchell, a handful of his close childhood friends, including Jason Kidd, Antonio Davis, Gary Payton, and Brian Shaw-- all current NBA legends in their own right-- testify to the superior skill of the man known as \"Hook\". At a mere 5\'9\", \"Hook\" earned his legendary status by effortlessly leaping over cars, crowds, and whatever else people piled in his path, to nail slam dunk after slam dunk. His passion for the game was rivaled only by the stronghold of the harsh conditions he grew up in-- conditions that eventually drove him to jail time, while his friends were driven to the NBA draft.
Rather than be a \"woe-is-me\" sob story, however, Hooked... is a document of one man realizing his mistakes, embracing the guidance and discipline prison gave him, and, upon his recent release, taking his lessons learned to educate and thus prevent others from following in his broken footsteps. You see how broken-down his missed opportunities have made him, and how grateful he is for what he has learned as a result. And when he talks about how thankful he is for meeting the mentors he met before he’s transferred to a different prison, you want to cry for him because it’s so goddamn sad.
Directors Michael Skolnik and William O’Neill do an amazing job letting your sympathies assign themselves. The film makes you hope the kind of conditions \"Hook\" grew up in are eliminated, so no more future legends fall through the cracks. And if you’re a basketball fan, it makes you pray that someone in the NBA has sense enough to talk \"Hook\" into entering the draft this year.