ormer UMass forward Donta Bright had dreamed about this all his life, the chance to play in the NBA. After going unselected in the 1996 NBA Draft, he was selected in the CBA draft by the Quad City (Illinois) Thunder. Sometime later, he got the call. His old coach from UMass, John Calipari, invited him to participate in the New Jersey Nets training camp. Bright jumped at the chance, and the Nets signed him on September 27.

He gave it his best effort, and the Nets staff was pleased at his ability. Calipari even gave Bright a start in an exhibition game held at UMass' arena against the Washington Bullets. The home crowd cheered him on one more time. Yet through it all, Calipari said it himself during an interview on October 13.

"He's in a tough situation because of guaranteed contracts," Calipari explained. "It's hard for me, unless the player is so much better, that I can go to ownership and say we're going to eat a $4 million contract because Donta is better."

And so it was. On October 29, the Nets waived Bright. Who knows where he'll go from here. Maybe he'll play with Quad City this year and try the NBA again down the road. As Kevin Costner said in Field of Dreams, "It would kill some men to get that close to their dream and not touch it. They'd consider it a tragedy." Hopefully, someday, Donta will get just one more chance at his dream.

- Mike