HE PERSEVERES : Former Loyola Star Gaines Is Working Hard at Trying to Secure an NBA Job

It has become a touchstone for him. Corey Gaines keeps coming to Loyola Marymount to test his ability.

In 1986, Gaines transferred from UCLA to Loyola Marymount after it became apparent to the 6-foot-4 guard that hopes of a possible pro basketball career were being squelched by a lack of playing time with the Bruins.

His speed, which allows him to burst upcourt with the fluidity of a player on ice skates, fit well into Loyola Coach Paul Westhead’s fast paced offense.

After sitting out the required season, Gaines prospered in 1987-88, when the Lions averaged 110.3 points a game, upset Wyoming in the first round of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament, and finished with a 28-4 record. Gaines averaged 17.4 points a game and almost nine assists.

Now, trying to stay on a higher plateau, Gaines has come back to the court that’s just five minutes from his home in Inglewood.

This time, he has come to participate in the Summer Pro League in hopes of solidifying a spot on the National Basketball Assn. team he joined last March, the New Jersey Nets, or earning one with another NBA team.

“Right now it looks like New Jersey,” he said. “But I really don’t know and I really don’t worry about that right now. Whoever I play for, I’m going to play hard for.”

At the end of last season, the Nets had five guards--Lester Conner, John Bagley, Mike McGee, Dennis Hopson and Gaines.

At least for now, that figure is up to six, since New Jersey signed Oklahoma’s Mookie Blaylock, its first-round draft choice. In addition to Gaines, Conner and McGee are free agents. Gaines says Conner will not return, opening up the fifth spot for him again.

“I’m really in the same position I was in last year because Lester is gone,” said Gaines, who can play either point or shooting guard and is averaging 9.5 points in the summer league. “With Lester gone, Mookie will probably take his spot, which would make me the fifth guard.”

Recently, as he watched the Nets play an NBA all-star team, Net Coach Willis Reed said that Gaines would fit best as a point guard.

“He’s doing a good job out there, but he’s still got to make the team,” Reed said. “I’m confident that he’ll play in the league as a fourth or fifth guard. He works hard and if he continues to develop, he’ll be a good player.”

Westhead agrees that Gaines needs to develop, and he sees a simple solution.

“I think that his future is in the NBA because of his great speed and size,” Westhead said. “The most important thing is minutes. Minutes in the NBA are like plasma. You need them to get better.”

As for his development so far, the 24-year-old Gaines credits Westhead with maximizing his potential through an intensive conditioning program.

“I was in good shape went I got to LMU, but he wanted me in great shape,” Gaines said of Westhead. “He knew that the speed I have with the ball could help him and that helped me with my career. He tried to make me use that speed as much as I could in his offense.”

Whereas Gaines points to conditioning, Westhead thinks that the year Gaines sat out was more instrumental in his improvement.

“When Corey arrived, I wasn’t too certain how good he could be,” Westhead said. “We spent the year he had to sit out letting him evolve. The sitting out was to our mutual benefit. We could see where he was and what he needed to work on.”

Because only Gaines’ speed had been touted, Westhead was surprised by Corey’s shooting ability.

“We worked hard to encourage his shooting,” Westhead said. “I think the year (away from competition) helped give Corey confidence in his shooting.”

Gaines also says the transfer gave him some inner peace.

“It was a good thing for me to transfer to LMU, to a small school,” he said. “I got my mind together there and it helped when I went to the (Seattle Super) Sonics because I kept my mind together there too.”

Keeping his wits about him in Seattle was not that easy. A third-round draft choice in 1988, Gaines was the final player cut.

“The team was going to Utah and the coach called me in and told me that he liked me and that I did everything well, but they wanted to keep Avery (Johnson),” Gaines recalled. “I didn’t let that destroy my mind or get down on myself. It just made me play harder.”

The cut also put Gaines on a flight bound for Rock Island, Ill., and the Quad City Thunder of the Continental Basketball Assn.

“I don’t want to say it was a horrible experience, but it’s hard playing there,” said Gaines, who would, nevertheless, go back to the CBA if he misses again in the NBA.

Tempering the thrill of making the NBA last March was the knowledge that his stay might be brief. NBA teams can sign a free agent for no more than two 10-day contracts, then must either sign him for the rest of the season or release him.

“You could be there for 10 days and gone the next day,” Gaines said. “There isn’t enough time to hit you that you’re in the NBA because you play hard every day.”

These days many NBA, CBA and European scouts are perched in the seats of Loyola’s Albert Gersten Pavilion, watching about 300 players compete for training camp invitations. If Gaines continues to impress coaches and scouts, Loyola will have served him well again.

“I’ve been playing summer leagues in Los Angeles my whole life--the college league, this pro-am league,” Gaines said. “I played in this league last year and played college here. This is my home court so I’m real comfortable here.”