Hype Machine Revs Up for Telfair

The playgrounds and courts of New York have produced some of basketball’s finest guards, among them Bob Cousy, Nate “Tiny” Archibald, Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury.

That legacy continues with Sebastian Telfair, a 5-foot-11 senior at Brooklyn’s Lincoln High who could surpass his predecessors at this stage by becoming the first high school point guard to go directly to the NBA.

The long-ballyhooed Telfair, hyped as the next coming of Marbury, his cousin, has signed a letter of intent with Louisville but said he is keeping his options open about possibly turning pro.

“I’m just going to let everything play itself out,” he said Friday at a luncheon for today’s Pangos Dream Classic at Pauley Pavilion. “I signed with Louisville, and that’s definitely where I’m leaning right now.”

After sitting out several recent games because of a sprained right ankle, Telfair said he would play in the 5:30 p.m. game between Lincoln (8-3) and North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake (7-4), the third of five games featuring some of the nation’s top teams and players.

Kiki Vandeweghe, general manager of the Denver Nuggets, will join several other NBA executives at today’s event. Although he is prohibited from discussing high school players, Vandeweghe said it’s conceivable that a smaller point guard could attract the attention of an NBA team on draft day.

“I don’t think the position matters that much,” Vandeweghe said. “It’s more based on the kid and what he can do.”

Critics, including NBA Commissioner David Stern, have fretted about professionalism infiltrating high school basketball. But nearly everyone agrees there is little chance of turning back the clock or the tide of high school players seeping onto NBA rosters.

“I have to be here, it’s part of the business,” Vandeweghe said. “I think all of us wish the kids would go to [college]. But it’s a reality. You cannot deny somebody making a living.”

As a result, high-profile high school players are drawing more attention.

Telfair’s national profile rose dramatically Dec. 11, when Lincoln’s game with Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater was televised by ESPN2 and was viewed by more than 400,000 households.

It had been Telfair’s dream to play in a nationally televised game, just as his friend, LeBron James, did.

James, now playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, single-handedly took high school basketball to another level last season by attracting 1.6 million households to one of his games televised by ESPN2.

ESPN hoped to draw another sizable audience by billing the Lincoln-Edgewater game as a battle of the point guards -- Telfair vs. University of Memphis-bound Darius Washington.

Telfair responded to the occasion, shaking off a sprained ankle suffered in the first half and limping through the second half to lead Lincoln to an 82-77 victory before a celebrity-sprinkled crowd at Fordham University in the Bronx.

Among those watching courtside were New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, rapper Jay-Z and Louisville Coach Rick Pitino, who hopes that Telfair decides to play for the Cardinals.

Those who witnessed the James phenomena last season are convinced that such spectacles focusing on high school standouts are here to stay.

“With all the television outlets, the Internet, the interest, this is not going away,” Pitino told media at the game.

Telfair’s fame has been growing since the fifth grade, when talent evaluators first chronicled his basketball skills.

He receives about 20 pieces of fan mail a week from across the nation. He was pictured with James on the cover of Slam magazine and posed in Dime magazine flashing diamonds and gold jewelry while surrounded by models wearing lingerie.

Telfair doesn’t blink under the media glare, displaying a confidence and maturity beyond his 18 years.

“I think it’s helped me prepare for a lot of things that I’m going through now,” he said.

“Getting a lot of attention at a young age, I’m not big-headed now because I was getting it when I was a child.”

Of course, all the attention wouldn’t mean much if Telfair didn’t have the talent to justify the hype.

Brick Oettinger, a longtime recruiting analyst and editor of North Carolina-based Prep Star magazine, said Telfair is as quick as any NBA guard.

“Other than his size, he has the whole package,” Oettinger said. “And that includes physical strength that he didn’t have a year or two ago. If he were 6-3, I don’t think there would be any doubt he would be going straight to the NBA. And he still could.”

Oettinger said Telfair’s strengths are his court vision, pinpoint passing with either hand and a “devastating” cross-over dribble. Those qualities, along with three-point shooting range, make for “an abundance of highlight-film plays virtually every time he’s on the court,” Oettinger said.

Although many have compared Telfair to Marbury, who also attended Lincoln, Oettinger said the flashy teenager reminds him of Isiah Thomas.

“He’s got the same kind of tools as Isiah -- the quickness, the shot range and touch, the ability to drive and finish strongly,” Oettinger said. “And, if anything, he’s even a more clever playmaker than Isiah.”

Telfair was at a loss to explain why so many outstanding guards have come from New York.

“I haven’t figured it out,” he said. “It’s a coincidence.”

But Telfair did give a glimpse into the future.

“After me, my little brother Ethan is coming,” he said. “So look out for him.”

Ethan, 9, is in fourth grade. Let the evaluations begin.