Hoop Dreams

It began with a sheet of paper. An 18-year-old kid wrote down a few words and faxed them to NBA headquarters in New York, declaring himself eligible for the draft.

Not that anyone would consider Ellis Richardson a pro prospect. Just another high school player from the L.A. suburbs, good for 21 points a game, more interested in shooting the ball than playing defense.

Maybe he should have looked for a junior college to play for, as people told him. But he is a player overwhelmed by a boyhood dream. He speaks of it in a voice that sounds too small to be coming out of his 6-foot-4 body. His smile is quick and shy and gap-toothed.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to be like Magic Johnson dribbling the ball upcourt,” he says. “The NBA just appeals to me too much.”

So he telephoned the league office a few months ago and inquired about getting himself into the draft. Just send a brief letter, he was told.

That was how it began. No one, least of all Richardson, could have foreseen what would happen next.

“Oh Lord,” he says. “I never expected to get so much attention.”

Few, If Any, Believers

Anyone who has yet to complete four years of college eligibility can make himself available early for the draft.

“Every year you get letters,” a league spokesman said. “You get your share of frat-house guys who, after an all-night kegger, think it would be funny to declare.”

It is pretty much illegal to deny someone the opportunity to apply for a job, any job, in the United States. So the league forwards every name to its 29 teams, adding a brief disclaimer to the frat-house guys and others who aren’t legitimate high school or college players.

Verified candidates make a second, shorter list that is released to the public. Ellis Richardson of the Parrots of Polytechnic High in Sun Valley is on that list.

The Times first reported the story April 27. The short item made particular note of the fact Richardson was “not even listed among the top 100 high school players in the state.”

But that did not stop the news from spreading.

The next day, Daily News columnist Vincent Bonsignore wrote a piece that not only suggested Richardson “come to his senses” but also chastised his family: “Unfortunately, those closest to Richardson seem to be the ones pushing him the hardest to chase this far-fetched fantasy.”

Richardson was startled. He had expected the media to react to his decision in much the same way it had reacted to his prep career--by ignoring him.

“Those stories tried to put me and my family down,” he said. “It hurt.”

But it did not stop the news from spreading.

Soon, television crews arrived at his doorstep. The nightly news showed footage of a quixotic figure shooting baskets in the park. His name scrolled across the screen on ESPN.

Richardson was eventually mentioned everywhere from the Sporting News to the Washington Post, in stories about the likes of Mike Bibby and Antawn Jamison. Time and again, he was lumped in with the other three prep players in the draft, bona-fide prospects Rashard Lewis, Al Harrington and Korleone Young.

“Most come with can’t-miss credentials,” USA Today delicately noted.

It seemed nothing could derail what Richardson had unwittingly set in motion. An on-line college basketball report quipped: “At least somebody’s still managing to get his 15 minutes of fame.”

Frightening Prospect

Then things got truly weird. The New York Knicks called Poly High to ask for statistics. The Houston Rockets wanted videotape.

Who was this Ellis Richardson?

“Listen, he could be some guy in Hong Kong, but if you don’t go see him, people are going to say you dropped the ball,” said a team executive who asked not to be named.

Some teams turned to Bob Gibbons, who runs a prep scouting service in Lenoir, N.C. Gibbons used to work exclusively for colleges but all that changed when high school players began hurling themselves into the draft, eight of them in the last three years.

Like other scouts, Gibbons scrambled back to his sources, afraid he had missed a gem among the 5,000 players he sees each season. He found that Richardson didn’t even make the all-state team. He found no one who spoke highly of him.

“I join the ranks of those who are confounded,” Gibbons said. “I don’t know why he is doing this.”

Some might say Richardson was unfortunately swayed by his family and by a friend who, as it turned out, might have been the single worst person in the world to get this advice from. Others might say Richardson’s quest is a direct product of the NBA marketing machine, of the millions of dollars the league spends to promote its Magic Johnsons and Michael Jordans. But that doesn’t stop teams from grumbling about having to scout the youngsters it has bedazzled.

Somehow, Richardson came to represent a larger issue. He has neither the grades nor the inclination for college, yet he now embodies all the high school players who turn down scholarships, forsaking their NCAA eligibility for a chance at making the pros. Even in Los Angeles, where Kobe Bryant took that route to stardom, the notion rankles a team executive.

“I’ll tell you, it has made the job more painful,” Mitch Kupchak, the Laker general manager said. “We’re asked to look at 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids. It’s not the right thing.”

But what truly frightens the basketball establishment is that it could get worse.

Next year a dozen Richardsons. Then two dozen.

And not only kids with impossible dreams but kids who know they have no future in the game, who know they will be working in supermarkets and auto body shops after graduation. In the NBA’s nightmare, these kids try the draft just for kicks.

“That’s definitely possible and maybe even likely,” Gibbons said. “How can the league begin to control that?”

Defiant Despite Advice

Hard to imagine all this fuss because of a sheet of paper and an unassuming kid who plays ball at Stonehurst Recreation Center, a city park not far from where he lives with his grandmother and sister.

Richardson is the one with the expensive sneakers and the scruff of a goatee. The one who shoots 500 jump shots a day.

“Trying to keep my game on point,” he said.

Truth be told, he isn’t the first high school player who has tried to go from nowhere to the NBA. There was another one a couple of years ago, that Gibbons can recall.

Taj McDavid was a guard from Williamston, S.C., the only prep player to declare for the draft and go unpicked in recent years. Gibbons said he is not playing anywhere now. A friend said McDavid “hangs out at the mall.”

People have told Richardson he faces a similar fate. When he first mentioned the NBA two years ago, the coach at Poly High offered some gentle advice. Go to a junior college and develop your skills, Jay Werner said. And, for God’s sake, work on your defense.

The harsher words came later, after Richardson made 3-A All-City this year but failed to distinguish himself as anything more than a good player on a not-so-good team. At a recent Valley all-star game, he had only five points and was outscored by 16 other players on the floor.

You’re not ready for the NBA, Werner told him. Or the CBA. Or Europe. The coach said: “There’s just no way.”

But Werner’s voice is lost amid the skepticism and scorn that have rained on Richardson. The player has become defensive. He doesn’t want any more reporters coming to his house or talking to his family. He makes that small voice sound firm.

“I’m not going to let anybody take my dreams,” Richardson says. “You’ve got to make your own decisions.”

The decision was made long ago. He was hanging out at the rec center with a buddy named Red who was visiting from out of town. They filled their summer days with basketball and long talks.

“He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen,” Richardson said. “I told him I was thinking about coming out.”

It was Red who told him: “Go ahead.” It was Red who finally persuaded Richardson to take the plunge, to send that sheet of paper that would change everything.

“I trust him,” Richardson said.

Red’s real name is Taj McDavid.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Quantum Leaps

A look at players who skipped college and made themselves available for the NBA draft: *--*

Year Name Team Round Pick 1974 Moses Malone Utah (ABA) 3 22 1975 Darryl Dawkins Philadelphia 1 5 1975 Bill Willoughby Atlanta 2 19 1989 *Shawn Kemp Seattle 1 17 1995 Kevin Garnett Minnesota 1 5 1996 Kobe Bryant Charlotte 1 13 1996 Taj McDavid Not drafted 1996 Jermaine O’Neal Portland 1 17 1997 Tracy McGrady Toronto 1 9

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* Was drafted out of junior college but never played a college game before turning pro.

CLASS OF ’98

High school players entered in today’s draft: *--*

Player School Ht. Al Harrington St. Patrick’s (N.J.) 6-8 Rashard Lewis Alief Elsik (Texas) 6-10 Korleone Young Hargrave Academy (Va.) 6-7 Ellis Richardson Sun Valley Poly 6-3

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