<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Growing up on the streets of Canton, Ohio, Keith McLeod learned at an early age that if he let someone walk over him, he'd get stomped on often. That was the rule for the part of town he grew up in, and the basketball court. "I played with a lot of older guys who didn't care I was a young guy playing with them," McLeod said. "They'd knock me around anyway. I couldn't back down. I got into a couple of fights on the court, guys fouling and talking, but that was just how it was," McLeod said. "I won a lot, lost a few." The same kind of toughness he exhibited as a kid, playing on a basketball court strewn with broken beer bottles, is the same that has made him a starter in the superstar world of the NBA. It's just the kind of mentality Jazz coach Jerry Sloan likes in a guy, and why now that his back is better, he is once again in the starting lineup. Tonight's game against Philadelphia will mark his third start since returning from a back injury that kept him out of action for 13 games. "He's had to work hard to get here," Sloan said of the free agent who was once the No. 4 point guard. "He didn't have a free ride to come in here. Young guys come in with guaranteed contracts don't have to worry about their job or playing under pressure and those are the kinds of things that teach you how to compete when things get tough. He knows how to compete. He might miss a shot or make a bad decision, but he's not going to drop his head and say it can't be done. You'll never see him do that." In complimenting McLeod, Sloan isn't knocking rookie point guard Deron Williams. Williams has played well at both the point and as the shooting guard, but is still learning, and McLeod has proven to be a good teacher. "He has been showing me the ropes, he and Milt [Palacio]," Williams said. "If I have any questions I can ask them and they'll help me out. Being a top pick doesn't mean anything. I need all the help I can get. It's a tough league and I'm still trying to learn, I'll be learning the whole year." Off the court, McLeod is a soft-spoken guy with a shy grin. On it, he isn't afraid to go for a key drive or remind his teammates he's the point guard if they make a bad decision, such as he did in Utah's win over Memphis. "We've got a few rookies on this team and I want to be able to help them as much as I can on the floor and if that means getting in a guy's ear and telling him what I think, then that is the case," McLeod said. "I want to put confidence in all the guys. I know what it's like being a rookie and how tough it was."</div> Source
