[draft] OLDER AND WISER
http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/108788941454650.xml
OLDER AND WISER
At 21, Emeka Okafor is a geezer compared with other prospects
in the draft, but he's the safest bet
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
By William Kalec
Staff writer
In a draft polluted with impatient teenagers unable to wait
any longer for their likeness to grace a poster, Emeka Okafor
is the antithesis poster child -- an old man by today's
crib-to-center-court trend.
He's 21, with a bad back, a degree in finance from Connecticut,
and the type of street cred better suited to endorse penny
loafers than sneakers. What you see is what you get -- so
traditional, so blah. A shot-blocker, a champion, an honors
student, a decent inside scorer, a 6-foot-9 space-eater with
arms that stretch from Storrs to West Hartford. There is no
mystery box, there is no suspense to see what rests behind
door No. 2, no real risk, but also no anticipation to wonder,
"What might be, someday?"
That's the situation facing the Orlando Magic, which has the
No. 1 pick in Thursday's NBA draft. Do you take the sure thing
or do you roll the dice and take the box, not knowing what
could happen with a high-schooler such as Shaun Livingston or
Dwight Howard? Well trained in giving generic answers that keep
general managers happy and the media frustrated, Okafor has
steered clear of the top-pick controversy, deflecting any sense
of entitlement that productivity should carry over potential.
"One, two, three, whatever," Okafor said. "If I'm not the No. 1
pick, I'm not going to cry about it. There's 30 guaranteed spots,
and I'm one of them."
It's hard to think Okafor won't be David Stern's favorite handshake
Thursday night -- one of the commissioner's last great hopes to
reverse the baby boom phenomenon of recent years, a topic he's
spoken out against. Okafor, the consensus college player of the
year, never asked for this burden, to show sometimes the spoils go
to those who wait, but he will be forced to join the fight in the
ever-shrinking brigade that includes Shane Battier and Tim Duncan.
If history is any clue, Okafor won't duck the challenge.
He learned this, in part, from his father, Pius. In 1976, Pius left
Nigeria, a country crippled by a civil war in which Pius fought at
the same age kids in America now declare for the NBA draft. With
$400 to his name, Pius moved to Grambling, enrolling in classes for
a year until the money ran out. Unable to find work in Louisiana,
he moved to Houston and settled on a minimum-wage salary that funded
his education at Texas Southern.
"He watched us as a family work very hard to succeed," said Pius,
currently pursuing an advanced degree from a University of Missouri
satellite campus. "From what I went through, coming over here, it
showed him that anybody can make it in life."
Connecticut didn't seriously recruit Okafor -- who was not a top-50
prospect -- until late in his senior year. As a freshman, he
accelerated his curriculum and his game, beginning by taking a
course load that would have him out of Storrs in three years and
started immediately, averaging eight points and nine rebounds.
"I found my groove early at Connecticut and kept on going," Okafor
said.
The next year Okafor averaged a double-double and made everybody's
academic All-American team as he continued working to attain a 3.8
grade-point average. If Okafor was like everyone else -- like all
these dribbling, dunking mystery boxes -- he probably would have
been a lottery pick. Instead, he came back for his junior season
just so he could spend March in a whirlpool, nursing a nagging back
as the Huskies secured their second national title and so Okafor
could finish a legacy that starts at Gampel Pavilion and stretches
to the business school on Hillside Road.
His accomplishments are right there, in front of league executives,
not hidden behind any curtain.
"I've proven myself," Okafor said. "I think a team should pick me,
because I'm a hard worker, I'm mature. . . . I have no ego. I've
never had an ego. I mesh well, and I just want to win.
"I love working hard. That's what's gotten me to where I am. Now
that I've gotten where I am, I still remember what got me here."
. . . . . . .
William Kalec can be reached at wkalec@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3413.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 218.166.197.66
Pelicans 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
11
23
113
145