Eric Maynor. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
His father, George Maynor, played the position for East Carolina in the 1970s.
"He told me when I was little that that’s the position I was going to play no matter how tall I got,” said Maynor, the 6-foot-3 rookie who the Thunder acquired last Tuesday in a trade with Utah.
George Maynor was a fourth-round draft pick by Chicago in 1979. He made it to camp the following year after returning to school for his senior season and was among the final cuts by Eric Maynor’s first NBA coach, Jerry Sloan.
George Maynor never played in the NBA, but the lineage he launched grew into lessons that would eventually turn his skinny son into the 20th overall pick.
Eric Maynor’s basketball dreams began as a young boy in Raeford, N.C. Every day, he would tag along with the older kids to nearby Upchurch gymnasium and watch the big boys play pick-up. Maynor would hoist shots before games and during breaks.
"I couldn’t wait to get older and bigger so I could get out there,” Maynor said.
One of the older kids was Tony Crawford, Maynor’s brother who was six years his senior. Before the basketball love affair got passed down to Maynor it caught a hold of Crawford. Crawford’s talents earned him a spot on the Division II Belmont Abbey’s roster.
Before long, brotherly battles began.
"Sometimes I’d leave bloody,” Maynor said. "He’d put me on the ground and toughen me up. But he taught me a lot playing against me.”
Maynor learned to be tough, physical, to never be intimidated.
"Even if I was getting bloody, he wouldn’t let me call fouls,” Maynor remembered.
Maynor had to play with older players because he was so much more advanced than kids his age.
"But then I realized when I got to college that I had to get better,” Maynor said. "That’s when I knew it was a bunch of guys out here that are way better than me. But I worked so hard that I knew I could get to this league.”
Maynor averaged 22.4 points, 6.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds as a senior at Virginia Commonwealth last season. He won the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year Award in 2008 and 2009 and was a 2009 AP Honorable Mention selection. He now boasts that Tony doesn’t want any part of him on the court.
Maynor, regarded as a pass-first point guard who sets up his teammates for scores before looking for his own offense, describes himself as a basketball junkie.
"That’s what I love to do and why I’m still doing it right now and am having fun doing it,” Maynor said. "I don’t mind spending the day in the gym.”
Maynor now joins a group of Thunder players who are praised for having the same hard-working mentality.
"That man upstairs puts you in different situations. He put me in a situation right now where I’m with a bunch of young guys that compete hard and work to get better,” Maynor said. "I think this is a good situation for me.”
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