Overlooked Guard Now Hard to Ignore : Basketball: UCI summer league gives Trevor Ruffin second chance after his attitude kept him from being drafted. Lakers might invite him to camp.

Considering he almost single-handedly took the Hawaii Rainbows to the NCAA basketball tournament last season and then led everyone at the NBA’s pre-draft camp in scoring, Trevor Ruffin would have been within his rights to whine about being passed over in the NBA draft.

But Ruffin learned in high school that people don’t like whiners, they like players. So he has dropped the “woe is me” act and let his game do the talking.

And lately, Ruffin’s game has made people wonder why he wasn’t drafted. Through seven games with the Lakers’ summer league team, he is averaging 22 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.2 steals. Against Phoenix Saturday night, Ruffin scored 33 points on 13-of-23 shooting in 35 minutes. And then Monday against Phoenix, Ruffin scored 31 points on 13-of-22 shooting while handing out eight assists and making five steals.

Eric Musselman, coach and general manager of the Rapid City Thrillers in the Continental Basketball Assn., took one look at Ruffin and knew he probably wouldn’t be seeing him in the CBA anytime soon.

“That’s a guy who’s going to be in the NBA,” Musselman said. “He can play.”

Laker General Manager Jerry West wouldn’t go that far, but he seems impressed with Ruffin.

“I was surprised he wasn’t drafted,” West said. “I thought he was a very good player at the (pre-draft) camp in Chicago.”

With the ASICS Summer Pro League at the Bren Center winding down, the Lakers must soon decide whether to bring Ruffin to training camp in Hawaii as a backup point guard for Nick Van Exel. It appears that decision might already have been made.

“We do have an interest in (Ruffin),” West said. “We’re going to try and see if we can maintain that interest in some way.”

Said Ruffin: “Mr. West has talked to me a lot, given me pointers. I’m sure if they were just going to boot me out of here, he wouldn’t be giving me any pointers. I haven’t heard any negative things.”

Ruffin said he would love to sign with the Lakers. But until he actually signs a contract, he is leery of thinking too highly of himself.

As a senior at Bennett High School in Buffalo, Ruffin averaged 37 points and figured every college coach in the nation would come knocking on his door. But Ruffin quickly learned there wasn’t much need for 6-foot point guards with bad grades and bad attitudes.

The only Division I college that offered Ruffin a scholarship was Virginia, but Ruffin couldn’t even accept that because he failed to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test and he didn’t have the grades.

“I was too big for my britches,” Ruffin said. “I wouldn’t say it cost me, but it definitely brought me down.

” . . . My attitude was, I was thinking the world would revolve around me. When you’re young, you think you’re the man. You think you’re on top of the world. But then you realize, Buffalo’s a real small place.”

So Ruffin went to a bigger place--Cleveland--but a smaller school--Cuyahoga Community College--to prove himself. Almost immediately, he proved himself to NBA players such as Ron Harper and Charles Oakley, who played against Ruffin in summer pickup games at Cleveland State.

“I was always picked to run in the first game with the pros, while the people that had been playing overseas were sitting down,” Ruffin said. “If you play basketball, you know that’s an accomplishment. That helped build my inner confidence.”

Ruffin said former Cleveland State Coach Kevin Mackey also built Ruffin’s confidence.

“Coach Mackey told me I reminded him of a guy named Tim Hardaway,” Ruffin said. “I’m thinking, ‘Thanks a lot, but why not Isiah Thomas or somebody like that?’ But once I saw (Hardaway of the Golden State Warriors), I really took it as a compliment.”

And once Ruffin saw Hardaway’s crossover dribble, he decided he would try it himself. Ruffin resembles Hardaway in facial features and muscular appearance, so he figured he might as well play like him, too.

“I’ll let you judge my crossover,” Ruffin said. “I’m my biggest critic, so I’m definitely not going to praise myself. It’s an effective move. Just because it’s the ‘UTEP two-step’ doesn’t mean he owns it. If it works for you, it works for you. Just because somebody has a Porsche doesn’t mean you can’t try to get one, too.

“Hardaway is not scared of anything, so I figure we’re about the same size, same build, why should I be scared? He’s pretty much been my driving force. Once I saw he could make it . . . “

After a year in Cleveland, Ruffin took his Texas two-step to Arizona Western College in Yuma, for, of all things, more recognition. Though Arizona Western is in the middle of the desert, it has a reputation for producing point guards. A decent one named Nate Archibald once played there.

In one season at Arizona Western, Ruffin averaged 30 points and eights assists, breaking all the NBA Hall of Fame guard’s school records. Those numbers were good enough to earn Ruffin a free ride to Hawaii, where he started two seasons. As a senior, Ruffin averaged 20.8 points and was an All-Western Athletic Conference first-team selection and WAC tournament MVP.

While in Hawaii, Ruffin developed a reputation for being a prolific long-range shooter. In a game against Louisville, he had 10 three-pointers in scoring 42 points. In Hawaii’s first-round loss to Syracuse in the NCAA tournament, Ruffin had 24 points, including seven three-pointers.

“He had definite NBA range, which a lot of guys coming out of college don’t have,” Musselman said. “He effortlessly shot the ‘three’ and that stuck out.”

Ruffin’s range has continued to stick out in the summer league. He has made 12 of 32 (38%) from behind the arc. But West says he would like to see more of Ruffin’s passing skills. He is averaging only 3.4 assists and nearly 3.5 turnovers.

“He scores, but the summer league is conducive to scoring,” West said. “He needs to learn how to get the ball to people.”

Ruffin says he is trying.

“I’m trying to look for my teammates first,” he said. “There’s enough time in the game where I don’t have to search for my shot. I can let the game come to me as much as possible.

“But I like to have the ball in my hands as much as possible. That way, you’re always a threat to score. Coach (Larry) Drew told me to think in that nature. It’s an adjustment, but it’s not like I have to fight any old habits.”

Laker assistant Bill Bertka also has been helping Ruffin make the transition from college shooting guard to NBA point guard.

“He showing progress,” Bertka said. “It’s not only the skills part that’s tough, but the mentality of it. People say he’s similar to Tim Hardaway, but he doesn’t make those kind of decisions yet.

“The thing that impressed me in Chicago was how physically strong he is and how he can take it to the basket. He’s also got a very competitive nature and he has a strong inner confidence that reflects well.”

But as Ruffin will tell you, that inner confidence wasn’t always a great reflection on his character. But through hard work, Ruffin has managed to turn a negative into a positive. So even if he doesn’t make the Lakers’ roster, you won’t hear him crying.

“No matter where you go, every day is not going to be perfect,” Ruffin said. “You might as well take the good with the bad. If you can’t get in the front door, there’s always the back door, a window or something. Just getting in the house is the object.”