“Me and Maxwell got drafted the same year, and were summer-league teammates,” says Greg Butler, an ex-Knick who took part in a couple of Riley’s New York training camps. “One day we had each other’s summer-league jerseys by mistake. So I walk into Vernon’s room to give him his, and his floor is just covered with beers. Two cases’ worth, with cans scattered everywhere, empty. He was sipping on another as I walked in. But a few hours later, he drops something like thirty points that day. The guy was different.”
