ADAM GREEN

Green: Valley is desperate for its next star

Feb 28, 2011, 11:05 PM | Updated: Mar 1, 2011, 2:25 am

When I was 15 or so I made it a point to collect as much sports memorabilia as I could of the Valley’s upcoming star players. The late 90s, I decided to build my collection around Jason Kidd, Jake Plummer and Travis Lee.

Fail.

Clearly I bet on the wrong horses at that time, but who could blame me? As a fan I wanted my teams to have stars I could root for, players who would be around for a while and take the teams farther than they had ever been before.

Sure, Plummer took the Cardinals to the playoffs and Kidd was a perennial All-Star, but Lee was a total bust and none of the three left the Valley on a high note.

Now, more than a decade later, the same teams are again looking for that guy, and until they find him us fans will do what we always do: wait and hope.

Who could be that guy?

Well, the Diamondbacks have a 23-year-old kid named Justin Upton, who was an All-Star in 2009 and has the potential to be one of the best players in baseball. However he not only struggled with injuries and attitude last year, but also found himself on the trade block in the offseason.

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Green: Valley is desperate for its next star