Former ISU star Curtis Stinson still shining (and waiting) in the D-League

DES MOINES - The confetti fell like swirling snowflakes, engulfing Curtis Stinson as he beamed confidently, hoisting the NBA D-League championship trophy.

The scene: Late last April in Wells Fargo Arena, where the tough-minded point guard keyed an Iowa Energy run to what he considers the second-best basketball league in the world's title.

It was the first career championship of any kind for the former Iowa State star and New York Rucker Park street ball standout, who's made an on-again, off-again home in Iowa the last third of his life.

“Some guys come down here to get the championship or the (NBA) call up,” said Stinson, who has led the Energy to a 22-14 mark this season after an injury-plagued, but productive stint in Slovenia. “No. 1 is the call up, but the championship is (important), too, because you work so hard all season to try to get a call up. But then if you don't, you might as well grind it out and win the championship”

Stinson returned to the Energy in late November, still smarting from surgery performed to remove bone spurs from an oft-sprained ankle.

“I had to sleep in a boot,” he said.

It's a hard-knock life for the Bronx, N.Y. native, who earned the D-League's most valuable player honor last season, but at 29 still awaits his first NBA call up.

He's philosophical about the slight.

“To this day, I still don't know what it is,” said Stinson, who led the Cyclones in scoring all three of his seasons in Ames.

So in a league where the awarding of brief, but well-paying 10-day contracts roughly equates to manna from heaven, Stinson keeps churning out the wins, hits and effort, feet firmly grounded on terra firma.

He's still reaching for the stars - but purposefully, not wistfully.

“I fight, I claw,” Stinson said. “I hurt my ribs. I have back problems, jammed up fingers. And I still go out there and try to play my hardest. I'm going to keep doing it until I can't do it no more. If that (call up) day comes, I will get down on my knees and pray and definitely be thankful for it. But if not, what can I do? I've just got to keep playing and keep moving on.”

Stinson's toughness traces back to his mother, Rosezine.

She taught him how to cook and self-reliance skills at a young age; to respect himself and others.

It's a set of attributes he's passed on to his son, Curtis Jr., who lives with his mother in Ankeny.

Curtis Jr., now five, continues to attend all the Energy home games.

And, like his dad, sets lofty goals.

“After every game, he still tries to dunk on the hoops and do his thing,” Stinson said. “He loves sports. He's an active child and he's a really good child. I love him to death and I'm going to do everything possible for him.”

Modern technology allows Stinson to escape some of the son-based homesickness he faces when playing overseas.

He can place video calls to Curtis Jr. while on the road, rails and skies from Europe to the Philippines. Sometimes Stinson watches his son play with his toys. He's watched movies with him, too, such as “The Incredible Hulk.”

“Without Skype it would just be phone calls and e-mails,” Stinson said. “That would be hard. That would really be hard.”

But nothing's come easy for Stinson, who still maintains close ties to ISU.

He recorded the team's last triple-double before Royce White went for one earlier this season and sees big things for the current Cyclones.

And he's not a new convert.

“I'm not shocked by what they're doing,” Stinson said. “I knew they were capable last year of doing things special. It's just a matter of jelling. You've got all the talent in the world and when it comes together it's hard to stop.”

Stinson speaks from personal experience.

Doubt drives him.

His son's love guides him.

And at the end of the day - and his inter-continental road - that's all that matters.

“I don't feel like I have anything left to prove,” Stinson said. “I just want to play.”