‘I wanted to give back’: Former Miami Heat 1st-round draft pick Tim James now serving in Iraq

Tim James: Former NBA player now with Army in Iraq

MIAMI — Tim James apologized for being late. A rough day at work, said the Miami Heat’s 1999 first-round draft pick. Vehicles broke down, problems flared up, and he simply fell behind.

Such things can happen on the front line of war in Iraq.

A former NBA player who often wondered about his true calling, Tim James is now a U.S. Army soldier, stationed at Camp Speicher, some 85 miles north of Baghdad. It’s a transformation that even many of the people closest to him never saw coming.

In layman’s terms, he’s part of the unit tasked with watching and catching the bad guys before they plant bombs.