Knock on Wood : Former Titan Star Feels Fortunate to Play Professional Basketball on His Terms

Leon Wood still enjoys coming back to the Summer Pro League each year to play basketball with the latest crop of hot-shooting players emerging from the college ranks.

“I can hear them talking on the bench and on the court about me being ‘The Man,’ the one they want to stop,” Wood said, smiling. “I can hear them say things like, ‘I want Leon, let me have him.’ They’re body-checking me and pressuring me on every play. And I can hear the coaches talking and saying, ‘You’d better get on him or you’re in trouble.’ It sort of makes me chuckle sometimes, just to hear them talk that way.”

Wood, 32, played six years in the NBA and was a member of the 1984 Olympic gold medal team with Michael Jordan. The new kids on the block haven’t forgotten.

Wood refers to the NBA as “ the league,” as if there is only the one true league. But the others in far-flung places also have provided him a good living, along with an opportunity to continue playing. Last season, he played in the Continental Basketball Assn. with Fargo, N.D., until the All-Star break, then moved on to Europe to play in the Italian pro league. It was his fourth year overseas after playing in Germany and Spain.

Wood also has been on Magic Johnson’s touring all-star team this summer.

But the Summer Pro League is mostly for fun, to keep in shape and for him to see how he stacks up against the young pros.

“But I consider it a challenge for me, too,” he said. “Those young guys are always trying to get the best out of me. I know I can’t out-run some of the young, quick point guards now. But I feel I’m still in good shape. I work out every day and do lifting. I’m a little heavier at 210 pounds, but I feel good at that weight. . . . What I’m using to my advantage is the experience and the smarts, and that’s worth something, too.”

Wood says he’s not reluctant to offer some tips to the young players. “I try to help them if I can because I can remember when I was in the same situation that they are now,” he said.

That was 10 years ago. Wood was a first-round pick by Philadelphia after his final season at Cal State Fullerton, where he averaged 20.6 points in 91 games and still holds the school record for season and career scoring. He also led the nation in assists in 1983.

He was the 10th player picked in 1984 and signed a contract with the 76ers for $1.1 million for four years. But Wood never did as well as he hoped in the NBA. He was with Philadelphia for a season and a half, then went to Washington, New Jersey, San Antonio, Atlanta and finally to Sacramento for his final NBA season.

At that point, he had foot surgery and spent the winter as a part-time assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton. “I thought I might be finished playing then, but the foot healed better than I thought it would, and I got a chance to play in the pro league in Germany, so I took it,” he said.

Wood appreciated the opportunity to extend his career.

“I’ve enjoyed playing in Europe, and there’s money there,” he said. “A guard like myself can get around $150,000 to $200,000 for a season, although the big men make the most money over there. The fans are good, too, but you have to perform there. You can’t have any off games, because you’re only playing once a week, and they expect a lot out of the American players.

“I averaged about 20 points a game last season, and I felt good about that. But you have to make some adjustments for the differences in the game there. They play a lot of zone defense, and that can crowd your skills. The Italian players on my team were mostly young, 19 and 20 years old, and it didn’t take long before the other teams started putting a lot of pressure on me. In the playoffs, I saw a lot of box-and-one defenses.”

Wood still loves playing, but he’s at the point where he’s considering other career possibilities. “A lot of guys I know are really afraid to let go of basketball, but I think I can do that,” he said.

He’s weighing two options, however, that would still keep him close to the game.

“I’m thinking about getting into officiating, or maybe even coaching,” Wood said. “I’ve been thinking about officiating for the last couple of years. I think I’d be good at it. I know the rules and the game, and I feel I have good instincts that would help me in officiating. I go to a lot of the Summer League games when I’m not playing and watch the referees work, and I’ve been talking quite a bit with the head referee there.”

Wood said he also may explore coaching possibilities in the CBA.

“I think now the only way I’ll go back to the CBA is as a coach,” he said. “I know the X’s and O’s from playing the game. And I don’t think I’d have trouble with the coach-player relationship.”

Wood, who graduated from Fullerton with a degree in physical education, says he’s also considering a career in law enforcement when he retires. “I have one friend who works for the Secret Service and another who works for the Los Angeles Police Department, and I’ve talked with both of them about that possibility,” he said.

He and his wife, Tia, have two children, and he says they are eager to establish a permanent home after the unsettled life of a pro basketball player.

In the meantime, he plans to continue playing for Johnson’s all-star team. “That’s been nice, because we have several games in a stretch, and then we’re off for a month or so, and I can get back home to be with my family,” he said. “It’s just a question now of whether we’ll be playing enough games in a season for me to just do that, since we get paid by the game. It all depends on what Magic wants to do.”

If he does walk away, Wood says he will be able to do it with no regrets.

“I had six years in the NBA,” he said. “I wish I could have established myself with one team, but a lot of that I had no control over. And that’s what I tell some of the young players in the Summer League. It’s a matter of being in the right place at the right time, too.”