MAN of STEAL

Brevin Knight dashes through a screen with a burst of speed. His head swivels, his eyes seek out the ball and--WHOOSH!--it sails just past his fingertips, drawing a loud “Ohhh” from the crowd.

Even when he misses a steal, Knight is thrilling to watch.

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 5-foot-10 rookie point guard wears a huge smile and claps his hands, letting them stick together for an angry instant.

So close.

Knight is leading the league in steals and could be starting a renaissance of the “pure” NBA point guard. He’s playing the sport’s most demanding, delicate position as if he’s been doing it forever.

“I never doubted myself at all,” Knight said. “I think that might come from being a little guy playing out in the parks where you have to be tough. Because if you are not, you are not going to be out there playing.”

The Cavaliers selected Knight--or did they steal him?--with the 16th pick in the draft last summer. At the draft combine in Chicago, Knight said: “All the other guys can go home. I’m the best point guard here.”

Turns out he was right. Not even Chauncey Billups, drafted third overall by Boston, has measured up to the numbers posted by the diminutive Knight, who played at Stanford.

Knight, averaging eight assists and nearly three steals a game, was thought to be a future replacement for Terrell Brandon, another 5-10 wunderkind from the Pac-10. Then the Cavs changed direction, trading Brandon, Tyrone Hill and draft picks to get Shawn Kemp from Seattle.

They also got veteran point guard Sherman Douglas from Milwaukee, protecting themselves in case Knight wasn’t ready. But the rookie was so impressive in training camp that the Cavs decided to trade Douglas to Denver in the move that brought Wesley Person from Phoenix to Cleveland. (Douglas ended up with the Nets).

“A lot of people misinterpreted the trade of Sherman Douglas as we didn’t like him,” Cleveland coach Mike Fratello said. “Sherman played tremendous basketball for us. It wasn’t a reflection on Sherman’s play, it was a reflection on Brevin seizing the moment. He had an opportunity and took it.”

Not that Knight doesn’t have a few flaws. He lacks range on his jump shot and confidence in his scoring ability. Besides size, that is about all he lacks.

He has impressed opponents with his quickness, smarts, enthusiasm and gift for playmaking.

“He’s a great passer,” said Clyde Drexler, who first encountered Knight in a Dream Team exhibition against college players in 1992. “He’s got a great attitude and work habits.”

When he’s not setting up Kemp or rookie Derek Anderson for dunks, Knight is driving the other team nuts with his defense. He is slightly ahead of Seattle’s Gary Payton in steals; and Payton is the standard-bearer for NBA point guards these days.

Knight could be the first rookie to lead the league in steals. Seven of the 10 rookies who finished first in a major statistical category ended up in the Hall of Fame.

“Hopefully, I’ll follow in their footsteps,” Knight said.

Unlike Allen Iverson, Payton and Brandon, Knight conjures memories of the days when point guards were passers first and scorers second. His idol is Magic Johnson, who did both.

On draft night, Cavs president Wayne Embry compared Knight with the great Maurice Cheeks, immediately giving the rookie legitimacy.

“Cheeks was the best pure point guard ever,” Charles Barkley said. “No question.”

Knight demanded attention with an NBA season-high 20 assists against Washington on Nov. 22, winning a brilliant duel with Rod Strickland, who had 27 points and 17 assists. He has held his own against the likes of Iverson, Tim Hardaway and John Stockton. Knight didn’t get badly outplayed until he managed only four points and five assists against Payton recently.

Knight, a New Jersey native, gets his moxie from his father, Melvin, an assistant to Bill Raftery at Seton Hall in the late 1970s. He showed an early passion for the game as the Pirates’ ballboy.

“Brevin was just a little rug rat,” Raftery said. “But we always had to drag him off the court. He just loved it.”

But the grind of an 82-game schedule already is taking its toll. Knight missed two games in November with a badly bruised right shoulder, then was hobbled by a sprained ankle.

He has begun to sense how tough it will be to line up against Stockton or Payton, Hardaway or Brandon, and be completely healthy.

“That’s the nature of the league. “I’ve got to be ready to go out and compete with those guys, try to hold them down.”

Easier said than done--much like trying to keep up with Knight.