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  Long and winding roads High schoolers Bender, Smith take different draft paths
Posted: Tuesday June 29, 1999 02:01 PM
By Tom Heitz, Turner Sports As the only high schoolers entered in Wednesday's NBA Draft, Jonathan Bender and Leon Smith might seem as though they have a lot in common. Each is 18 years old, stands a shade less than seven feet tall (Bender is 6-11, Smith is 6-10) and amassed impressive stats against strong high school competition. But there is one glaring difference. On Wednesday night, Jonathan Bender will become a millionaire and Leon Smith will not. Bender and Smith are the latest high schoolers to eschew college, throw their names into the NBA Draft (7 PM, TNT) and hope for all the riches that pro basketball has to offer. Remember when we would wince at the news that an 18-year old was heading into the NBA? That was only three or four years ago. Now we've come to expect it. This will be the fifth straight year in which the NBA Draft will feature a player who has just completed his senior year of high school. All this madness started in 1995 when Kevin Garnett, a tall and skinny kid from South Carolina, was the fifth player taken in the draft. At the time, Garnett was widely criticized for his decision to skip college ball and head directly to the pros. "A high school kid just did not possess the physical or mental abilities to handle life in the NBA," we argued. We were wrong. After only two season's, KG signed his record $126 million deal with Minnesota and showed everyone - including high school basketball players - that you can become a millionaire and an NBA All-Star without playing a minute of college ball. And that's what Bender and Smith were hoping when they announced this spring their intentions to enter the NBA draft. But now it appears that only Bender will become the millionaire and get the chance to play in an NBA All-Star game. "Everyone has been impressed with Bender's make-up," said Chris Eckstrand, editor of the NBA's draft guide. "He's a great kid and you can see the talent that he has. In a couple of years he has a chance to be special." Bender was set to attend Mississippi State this fall until he scored 31 points in the McDonald's All-America game. Suddenly, he began to think about life in the NBA. And he liked it. After impressing teams with both his talent and maturity during individual workouts, it now appears that Bender will be among the top ten players taken. "I'm nervous about it, but I'm not scared," Bender said of the NBA. "I know it will be hard, but I plan to just listen a lot." Despite being a rail-thin 205 pounds, Bender might see some significant minutes next year because of his ability to shoot the ball. "He can really stroke it," Eckstrand says. "Right now his inside game is not real strong, but with his ability to face the basket, he'll see time at both forward spots." NBA Director of Scouting Marty Blake, notorious for his criticisms of high schoolers entering the league, was very impressed with Bender. "The kid's got a lot of talent," Blake said last week. "He could go in the lottery. He reminds me a lot of Garnett, except that Garnett was stronger." Over the last four years, there have been nine players who have entered the NBA Draft directly out of high school (not including '99). Four of them have signed or are on the verge of signing lucrative, long-term deals, including Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O'Neal. Not surprisingly, all of those players were picked 17th or higher in the first round. It appears that Bender will be the latest addition to this group. The other five players have not been drafted (Taj McDavid and Ellis Richardson), were taken in the second round (Rashard Lewis and Korleone Young) or were picked at the end of the first round (Al Harrington -- No. 25). None of these players is expected to have long NBA careers, and unfortunately, it appears that Leon Smith will be the latest addition to this group. Leon Smith: Rags to riches?Smith was raised in group homes for most of his life after his mother and father abandoned him when he was a boy. He claims that his lonely childhood has made him stronger. "If all the mishaps in my life hadn't occurred, I wouldn't have turned out like I did," Smith told the Chicago Tribune in April. "I guess [pro basketball] is my destiny." Though Smith was close to signing with Fresno State, he finally decided that he had nothing to lose by entering the NBA Draft. If he didn't get picked by an NBA team, he'd play in Europe. As long as he got paid for playing basketball, Smith wouldn't care. Anything is better than nothing. And he was used to having nothing. "Smith is an unfortunate story," Eckstrand says. "He's not academically orientated - and there's nothing wrong with that - but school is just not for him. The NBA is his best option at this point." Although Smith is 6-10, 260 pounds, and dominated players on the high school level, there are questions as to whether he can hold his own against NBA centers. Smith led Martin Luther King High to the Chicago City Public Championship, averaging 25.5 ppg and 14.5 rpg this past season, but not once did he have to face Shaquille O'Neal. "No one really knows about him," Blake says. "He might go late in the second...who knows?" The strange thing with Smith is that he hasn't been second-guessed for his decision to go pro. It's as though people around the league are familiar with his plight and are more understanding of his decision. The fact that Smith has made no bones about his desire to make money has quieted most of his critics. "If NBA teams are going to give him the money, he has to take the money," Sonny Cox, Smith's high school coach, said. "Until you've walked a mile in his shoes, you should shut your mouth." You can understand both Bender's and Smith's decision to enter the draft. Bender will be set for life once he's drafted in the top 10. And if he works hard and plays well (a la KG) then Bender should sign another lucrative, long-term deal in four years. Similarly, Smith knows he's not going to be a doctor, a writer or a longshoreman. He's a basketball player who needs the money. And you can't fault him for that. Tom Heitz has been involved with Turner Sports production for four years, and currently provides behind-the-scenes analysis for the NBA on TNT.
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