More Help on Way for Serra Basketball Team : Preps: Forward Leonard Butler, one of the top juniors in the state, will transfer to the Gardena school from Leuzinger.

Serra High’s basketball team grew a little stronger Friday when Leonard Butler, a 6-foot-7 forward considered one of the top juniors in Southern California, transferred from Leuzinger to the Catholic school in Gardena.

Butler, who was academically ineligible last season, is the second highly regarded player to transfer to Serra this summer. Rick Price, a 6-6 senior guard rated among the nation’s top college prospects, transferred last month from Long Beach St. Anthony.

The addition of Price and Butler strengthens a team that won the State Division IV title and finished 26-7 last season but graduated its starting lineup.

It is a foregone conclusion that Price will start for Serra next season, and Coach Dwan Hurt indicated Butler has a good chance to join the lineup.

“We have to take a look at the players we have, but there’s no doubt he will contend for a starting spot,” Hurt said.

Although he did not play last season, Butler impressed coaches and scouts with his play this summer. Besides playing for Leuzinger, Butler teamed with Price on the California Seniors, a Slam-N-Jam League all-star team that also included Cameron Murray of Glendora, Toby Bailey of Loyola, Jason Pickett of Banning and Sam Turks of Inglewood.

“I consider (Butler) one of the top 20 prospects in the junior class in Southern California right now,” said Joel Francisco of So Cal’s Finest, a Long Beach-based scouting service. “He’s very athletic and very explosive underneath.”

Hurt got a firsthand look at that talent when Butler scored 35 points to lead Leuzinger to a convincing summer league victory over Serra, which was missing some of its key players, including Price.

“Leonard is a very, very talented player,” Hurt said. “He has a lot of skills and a lot of natural ability, but he also needs to be taught a lot of things.”

One of them is doing a better job in the classroom. Butler sat out last season because his grade-point average was below 2.0. He said one of the reasons he is switching schools is because he believes he can get a better education at Serra than he could at Leuzinger. He said he has raised his GPA to above 2.0 after attending summer school.

“I had to get out of (Leuzinger),” Butler said. “They weren’t doing anything for me over there and I wasn’t helping myself out. At Serra, they said they would make sure I get it done. That’s what I need. I need that discipline.”

Butler said his transfer was also influenced by the unstable coaching situation at Leuzinger. Jimmy Ellis, the Olympians’ coach for the past two seasons, was laid off from his teaching job last month. A new coach is not expected to be selected until September.

“Once (Ellis) left, there was definitely nothing there for me,” Butler said. “I figured if I have to go through a new coach and a new system, I might as well go to a new school.”

Hurt said he was contacted about a month ago by Ellis, who told him that Butler had expressed interest in transferring to another school. Hurt said he had no contact with Butler until the student checked into Serra on Friday.

Butler lives with his grandmother in Hawthorne. He said they plan to move, perhaps to Carson.