What's scary is the way in which one of the characters, William, grows so disillusioned by the sport because of his experiences during high school. He describes it as a job and says if he quit there and then he wouldn't care.
William gets funding for his education, a donor pays his tuition, meaning that this inner city kid can attend a prestigious school in the suburbs.
Unfortunately this isn't the case for Arthur who only gets partial help with his tuition. His parents fall behind on payments as Arthur is forced to attend his local school.
William seems to be more focused and we assume everything will work out for him. We are left to worry more about Arthur who under performs academically and has a turbulent home life (although his mother is a strong and grounded figure, the scene with her graduation was one of genuine joy).
Two scenes stand out for me. The first, near the beginning of the film where Arthur is in the playground showing off his natural basketball talent while in the background his dad is trying to buy drugs.
The second, now older Arthur and his dad Bo play a game of 1 on 1 in which you see just how fractured their relationship has become.
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