Gaines Determined but Calm : Loyola Cager Takes Call to Pros in Stride

Draft day for the National Basketball Assn.: for the college star and prospective pro, a nerve-wracking morning of sweaty palms, sitting by the phone or watching the first round on television, pacing or twitching with anticipation.

That’s the stereotype. But it’s not always the way the story goes.

At least, not in the case of Loyola Marymount guard Corey Gaines, who had better things to do Tuesday than play the nervous suitor.

When the draft started at 9 a.m. Gaines was at UCLA playing ball. Then he came home and took a nap.

A Loyola teammate awoke him to razz him about not going in the first round when the phone call came: The Seattle SuperSonics had selected him midway through the third round, the 65th player chosen overall.

How did he celebrate? He spent the afternoon in a classroom at Loyola where he is finishing studies for his degree.

Gaines was hardly nervous or edgy. “I went and played and was going to run but decided to take a nap,” he said. “I was asleep, Hank (Gathers) called me--he’s teasing me, he said I hadn’t been taken and we’ll be watching you play in Italy. Just then (Seattle) called.”

Gaines took the experience in stride and said not being drafted would have been disappointing “but I wouldn’t have killed myself.” Still, “it helps to get drafted,” he said. “I’m real happy.”

Gaines said the selection by Seattle was something of a surprise because the Sonics weren’t one of the teams that had indicated interest. But he said Lions Coach Paul Westhead had advised him, “ ‘Don’t be shocked if some team gets you that hasn’t talked about you.’ Coach told me that’s how they worked.”

The team also appears to have a suitable style for Gaines. The Sonics like to run and have several all-star caliber, mobile scoring threats led by forwards Xavier McDaniel and Tom Chambers. The Sonics also have a sound point guard in Nate McMillan but had problems finding a backup for him last season and had trouble running when McMillan tired.

“Coach (Westhead) said they need a guard, they need somebody to back up Nate,” said Gaines--already wearing a Sonics cap. He said Seattle officials “told me they know I can push it because they saw me play. I know they like to run. Sometimes last year they couldn’t run because (their guards) were tired. I can run, I can push it. To me it seems as if I’ll still be running the (Loyola) system, just on a higher level.”

Westhead thinks Gaines will get a good appraisal from Sonics Coach Bernie Bickerstaff, and said he thinks Gaines has the skills to fit in with Seattle. “I thought all along he had a realistic chance to be an NBA player, especially as he went through the season,” Westhead said. “I think Seattle’s a terrific organization and Bernie Bickerstaff is a very fine coach. Seattle’s more of an upbeat team than some of the more patterned teams in the league. He got with a run mode kind of team. I think it’s a terrific break for him.

“So the first steps are favorable. The last and final step now (making the team) is up for grabs. He can be an NBA player. He just needs to play hard and be successful--and be a little lucky.”

Gaines was aided, at least on paper, by a series of last-minute trades among the Sonics, Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers. The Sonics drafted Michigan All-American guard Gary Grant 15th but sent him to the Clippers as part of the three-way deal. Since Seattle traded away its second-round selection, Gaines was essentially the only player the Sonics drafted in the abbreviated three-round lottery.

The only other player drafted from Los Angeles-area schools was guard Morlon Wiley of Cal State Long Beach. Gaines was the only player taken from the West Coast Athletic Conference.

The recent sequence of events certainly justifies his decision to leave UCLA--where he had a limited role for three seasons--for a final year as a starter at Loyola. It proved to be a rebirth for the St. Bernard High graduate.

Westhead called the speedy, tireless 6-foot-4 senior the perfect guard in his high-scoring attack as the Lions posted a best-ever 28-4 record. Gaines averaged 17.4 points, 8.7 assists (fourth in the nation), shot 51.8% from the floor and was among the nation’s leaders in three-point accuracy for much of the season, hitting 50.6%.

Gaines noted that before the draft, “I was 12th on a (scouting) sheet (among point guards). When the season started I wasn’t even on the sheet.”

Gaines said he will begin training seriously, then will attend a Seattle rookie camp in mid-July. He’ll play with Seattle’s entry in the NBA Summer Pro League at Loyola. Then the preseason camp begins--and the real competition for a spot.

“I got a shot at it now, a good shot. That’s what I wanted,” Gaines said.