Keeping Score
By Cindy Luis
English launches
biggest shotIT was some 30 minutes after he had made the announcement that could change his life forever. But for anyone who knew Carl English, declaring early for the NBA Draft didn't change much at all.
It didn't change his little-boy dreams. It didn't change his little-boy hopes.
And it certainly didn't change his afternoon routine.
It wasn't hard to find the Hawaii guard after yesterday's press conference. One just had to listen for the squeak of shoes and the thumps of a dribbled basketball.
All one had to do was just look in Gym II, because English was there, working on his shot.
As usual.
How many times had he tested himself against imaginary opponents, faking one way, then taking off with that all-important quick first step?
This shot, from the college 3-point line, banked in. He rebounded it and recycled it for a putback off the glass.
The next one, beyond the international line, was off the rim. English chased that down and, with only the big fan in the corner waving air to distract him, English shot off the dribble.
Swish.
He'd gone 3-for-4, shooting .750., during that brief span. Few give him even a 50-50 shot at being drafted on June 26.
But English knows all about beating the percentages, about how to avoid becoming just another fisherman in Patrick's Cove, Newfoundland. The odds were not with him to get out of the village, population 50, most of them his relatives.
Few folks thought he'd get a shot at playing in college. Fewer still believed the boy whose parents died in a house fire when he was 5 would become a college graduate.
"I'm sure my family didn't think I'd be getting my degree," said English, who graduates next month with a degree in liberal studies and academic All-American honors. "I don't know if I thought I'd get my degree."
BUTENGLISH has always thought of himself as an NBA player. Even before this season started, he spoke of what he'd do with his first check as a pro: buy an engagement ring for his longtime girlfriend.
English lost a mentor and surrogate big brother when Predrag Savovic graduated last year and headed for the NBA. English spoke with Savovic, now with the Denver Nuggets.
"He said it's tough at the next level," English said. "But he also said you have to follow your heart."
"There's a lot of 'ifs' out there," said Rainbow associate head coach Bob Nash, the No. 7 pick overall in the 1972 NBA Draft. "If I were Carl, I'd have mixed emotions about it, just like he does. The college game is pure, it's fun. When you step over the line into the next world of professional athletics, it's totally different."
Nash's words bring to mind that scene in "Field of Dreams" when Archie "Doc" Graham steps over the chalked baseline to save the Kinsellas' daughter from choking on a hot dog.
But unlike Graham, English has a chance to stay in the college world for another year and pursue his dream next season by pulling out by June 19.
English goes into the draft process with a shooter's mentality. He knows the only bad shot is the one he didn't take.
He has nothing to lose by launching this one. And everything to gain.
Cindy Luis' column appears periodically.
E-mail Cindy at cluis@starbulletin.com