He saw “greatness” in the Lakers when they were at their worst
You’d have to look closely or you’d miss the homemade sign nailed to a telephone pole outside the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo, California.
It’s just outside the entrance to the players’ parking lot, but many of them miss the blue-and-yellow words as they drive in.
“I SEE GREATNESS IN YOU,” it says.
The sign gives no indication of who “I” might be, who “you” are, or what greatness you possess. But in a small but meaningful way, the message has inspired Lakers coach Darvin Ham as he leads the team in their Western Conference Semifinal against the Golden State Warriors.
Ham has even forged an unlikely friendship with the man who put up the sign: Terrance Burney, a basketball-loving airline whose home is filled with inspirational signs. Burney’s unwavering positivity has charmed prominent athletes and entertainers.
“It’s not just some slogan he’s trying to get picked up by some corporate sponsor or something,” Ham said. “It’s something he really believes in. I love it.”
Neither rich nor well known, Burney, 40, works for Delta Air Lines and lives in Los Angeles with his German Shepherd, Ziva, and his girlfriend, Crystal Lewis.
He stands outside the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles after most of the Lakers’ home games holding a handmade sign with his message in hopes that whoever sees it will feel happier, lighter, or perhaps even more confident.
“When I say to people, ‘I see greatness in you,’ it means, ‘I see God in you,'” Burney said. “So this is something God told me to do, you know?”
Burney first held up a similar sign 15 years ago on a street corner in Highland Park, Michigan, a small town surrounded by his hometown of Detroit. He said prayer brought him to that.
In the years since, he has taken his board around the world and flown for free as an airline employee. He has shared his message on street corners and during protest marches, in small gyms and outside professional arenas. He has called it out as a contestant on “The Price Is Right.”
“He’s like the Forrest Gump 2.0,” said Morris Peterson, a former NBA player who became close to Burney after a charity event Peterson organized with the rapper Snoop Dogg to support people affected by the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. “He’s just everywhere. He’s everywhere. You might see him in Paris with the sign.
Burney played basketball for a year at Prairie View A&M University, and in the years since, he was often asked to participate in fetch games and training. In 2007, he was preparing to train with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, then the G League affiliate of the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, when he saw Rasheed Wallace, then playing for the Pistons, at the bar of a TGI Fridays. .
“Excuse me, sir, your turnaround jump shot is the best in the history of a turnaround jump shot,” Burney recalled to Wallace. “How do you get on people who are taller than you?”
Wallace rose from his chair and demonstrated his method. The two had a few beers together and a friendship developed.
Wallace and Ham, the Lakers’ coach, had grown close over the years through NBA circles. Early this season, Wallace planned to visit Ham’s house. He asked if Burney could come along.
The Lakers had started the season 2-10. Ham struggled to get the most out of the team’s top two players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Not many people would have used “greatness” to describe something that happened to the Lakers. But Burney does.
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, coach. You’re going to be great. We’re going to be great. I see greatness in you,'” Ham said.
Ham trusted his lecture on Burney, so they kept in touch. Burney texted Ham to inspire him. The Lakers’ fortunes began to change, which probably had more to do with their dramatic trade deadline makeover than Burney’s sign. But he believes something bigger was going on.
Before Game 4 of the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Burney texted Ham that read, “Your PEACE brings PEACE to others!! I SEE GREATNESS IN YOU!!”
The Lakers were 6 points ahead of the Grizzlies that day.
“Everyone wants to be seen positively and you need — not just in basketball, NBA basketball, in life in general — good vibes, good energy and people who believe in you,” Ham said. “And he represents that.”
The sign outside the Lakers’ practice facility has been there for weeks. Davis first saw it on May 1, just before the Lakers left Los Angeles for their series against Golden State in San Francisco.
He assumed a fan had left it there and didn’t give it a second thought.
The next day, Davis scored 30 points with 23 rebounds, joining only four other big men in Lakers history with at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game. His performance helped the Lakers defeat the Warriors in Game 1 of their series.
“Soooo he saw the board before he won a RECORD setting??” Burney said in a text.
He couldn’t be convinced it was a coincidence.