Getting your player ready...
A couple of years back, rapper Jon Connor caught the eye of Mateen Cleaves, a former Flint, Mich., prep star, All-America point guard and first-round NBA draft pick. The two started hanging out, and eventually Cleaves agreed to come aboard as Connor’s manager. “I’m all in with this,” Cleaves says. So are the former Michigan State basketball star’s friends. Lions linebacker Julian Peterson, also a former Spartan, is going to hand out Connor’s latest CD, “The Calling, Pt. 2,” to his Detroit teammates. Cleaves’ strategy is to get Connor’s music “in people’s ears and create a buzz.” The Associated Press; Getty Images file photo
