On February 28, 2022, the news of “Celtics plan to sign a two-way contract with Matt Ryan” appeared in the news list of the live bar. There is no comment under this news.

It is normal that anyone who sees this news will pass by. Who will waste time to care about a marginal person who is unknown and has a high probability of disappearing in NBA soon?

On November 3, 2022, Matt Ryan’s name was popular all over the Internet. He saved the Lakers with a three-point high difficulty of 1.3 seconds before the end of the fourth quarter, helping the Lakers drag the game into overtime, and finally narrowly defeated Pelican and won two consecutive victories. In the whole game, Ryan scored three points, all of which were whistle-pressing. The classic goal, with the flow blessing of the Lakers, Ryan’s subjective and objective conditions are all available.

Ryan’s experience is full of magical colors. In this era of labeling, he has been labeled as “take-away deliverymen” and “grave keeper”. These two labels can indeed simply summarize his experience, but it was not enough to tell the hardships of his journey. Even Ryan told his story that he had never heard of such an experience.

At night drooping curtain, the sky looks like a dome. The night sky is blue and black, XINGX bright.

One day more than a year ago, Ryan finished his first week of work at St. Joseph Cemetery in Yonkers, New York, and was ready to leave. Ryan calculated that he earned 1,000 dollars this week, which will be his living expenses for a period of time in the future and his reserve to impact NBA dreams.

You will surely wonder why a player who dreams of hitting NBA went to the cemetery to be an administrator? Because Ryan was too far away from NBA at that time. In order to survive, he just graduated from university could only ask grandpa to use his business relationship to help him contact St. Joseph Cemetery and work there temporarily.

Ryan’s prospect in Notre Dame University in the freshman season was not bad, and he played 4 starts as a newcomer. But in the sophomore season, his playing time was halved. After weighing the pros and cons, Ryan decided to transfer to Vanderbilt University. According to the regulations, Ryan had to sit in the prison for one year after transferring to another school. After one year, Ryan finally put on the battle robe of Vanderbilt University in the 2018-19 season. His playing time, the average score of 8.1 points hit a new high in college career, but its hit rates plummeted.

During the off-season, the coach of Vanderbilt University, Brice-Drew, finished his class. Ryan transferred to another school again. He chose the former between Chattanooga University and Wisconsin University. In the last season of college, Ryan recovered, with an average of 15.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game and 88 points in 33 games, the height of 2 meters 01 and his outstanding projection ability attracted the attention of some scouts. However, Ryan’s name is not on the list of various analog talent shows.

If Ryan can perform well in the trial, he may be favored by NBA teams. However, Ryan’s luck was so bad that the epidemic led to the cancellation of all at least 12 trials originally scheduled by Ryan, including the cancellation of the summer league, and Ryan lost a chance to show himself. Ryan wanted to play overseas, but the terrible epidemic broke Ryan’s plan.

“The stadium is closed. What can I do?” Ryan said, “I went to Wal-Mart and bought an outdoor RIM, which was installed in the parking lot of my apartment in Chattanooga University.”

I can’t go to overseas league matches. If I want to play G League matches and I can’t get an invitation due to lack of fame, Ryan can only find another way to solve the problem of food and clothing first. Ryan’s grandfather was in the cement tombstone business. He helped Ryan contact the cemetery as the administrator. Because he knew the cemetery owner, Ryan worked flexibly. If he had the chance to impact NBA, he could leave at any time.

Ryan needs to clock in at 7 a.m. every day. In order to arrive in time, he needs to go out 40 minutes in advance, then work in the cold, clean the cemetery and remove the wreath from the tombstone.

“I have to wear eight layers of clothes,” Ryan said when describing the cold.

When it was warm, Ryan mowed the lawn, picked up branches, planted seeds in some places, laid some new soil, and cut branches with his height.

In fact, if Ryan is willing, he doesn’t have to live such a hard life at all. He can get a decent job in a large financial company in New York. Ryan has a degree in economics from Vanderbilt University. During his study, he has excellent results and sufficient contacts. But Ryan still wants to hit the NBA, even if it means that he has to drive DoorDash and UberEats (equivalent to the American version of Meituan and hungry) to deliver takeout while guarding the cemetery, he also served as coach for a grassroots team.

Rich, rich, poor and cheap, and the man is a hero here. During those hard years, Ryan didn’t waste his training. He would carry workout equipment to work in the cemetery. Lunch and dinner all depended on fast food. After the work, he went to the nearby gym for four hours.

The biggest difference between successful people and ordinary people lies in their dreams. What ordinary people see is what his current life looks like, while successful people focus on what life may become.

One week before the NBA Summer League in 2021, Ryan was ready to go to Europe or Australia to continue his basketball career. He received a call from the Cavaliers. The Knight needed a shooter, and they took a fancy to Ryan. At that moment, a glimmer lit up the exit of Ryan’s life, and the haze that had previously enveloped his mind was swept away.

In the summer league, Ryan scored 11.3 points per game after only 68 minutes, and scored 13 in 27 three-point shots. Ryan failed to sign a contract with the knight, but the Nuggets first invited him to participate in the training camp, and then let him join the Gold Nugget team of Grand Rapids, a subordinate team of the nugget development league of the Nuggets, he shot 2.3 points in the field with a three-point hit rate of 38%. In the men’s basketball World Cup qualifier in 2022, Ryan also played on behalf of the US team with former NBA players such as Joe Johnson and Jordan Bell, and went out to increase his knowledge.

In February 2022, the Celtics opened a vacancy in the two-way contract, and they signed Ryan. Ryan only played one regular season in the whole season and was not qualified to play the playoffs, but his projection ability still won recognition. During the off-season this year, Ryan once played in the summer league on behalf of the Celtics. At the last moment of the first battle with the Bucks, when the Celtics were 108-109 behind, Ryan took the ball to the front court and forced his hand against the defense. The ball hit the board and went into the box to kill them!

Ryan didn’t even have a chance to celebrate after the three-point killing. He broke his ankle and fell to the ground with pain. Fans and players on the scene were shouting, but Ryan fell to the ground, covering his ankle and screaming repeatedly. The three points of the killing didn’t let Ryan stay in the Celtics, but he received a trial invitation from the Lakers and basketable nets. Finally, Ryan signed a Lakers contract, although it was only a non-guarantee contract.

Ryan scored 20 points in six points in the preseason match 1 with the Warriors, and James also made a gesture of “signing him” on the sidelines. When the Lakers confirmed the new season list, Ryan stayed in the team as a dark horse, and then today’s top three points.

It is never accidental for a person to stand up by art. Ryan’s fourth quarter, the last 1.3 seconds of moving receive the ball drift three points is luck? That was the result of his training of mobile shooting over and over again from college to now.

Ryan started to practice the three-point goal of NBA distance very early. The field is limited and there is no standard NBA three point line. Ryan cut the yoga mat into seven pieces and put it outside the seven points to form NBA three point line. Ryan has never regarded himself as a fixed-point pitcher. He has been practicing shooting on the move. So when Reeves passed the ball, Ryan could run, receive the ball and drift with confidence. The accumulation once was the prelude to success.

Ryan said that he had never heard of anyone who had the same experience as him, and he didn’t even believe it was his story. This story is indeed magical, but in turn, it makes his experience more inspiring.

Playing basketball is just like performing, which is a process of accumulation, from which you can experience a lot of things. Life will not promise you anything, especially success. It will give you struggle, pain and suffering. Ryan’s luck is that after so many experiences, he has achieved phased success, not only realizing his dream of entering NBA, but also gaining a foothold in the Lakers.

As for the future, Ryan didn’t think so much. He just wanted to do what he was best.

“What you have to do is to do a good job that you are good at. Obviously, I will not try to separate Davis. What I have to do is to vote three points. I will try my best to prove, I can be as good as the best shooters in the league.”