Long road to the pros

Former Boston College guard hopes to follow other area players who made their way as undrafted free agents

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Christopher Anderson⁄the gazette Former Gwynn Park High and Boston College guard Louis Hinnant hopes to work his way onto a pro basketball roster as an undrafted free agent.

Boston College four-year letter winner and Gwynn Park High graduate Louis Hinnant will probably pass on the festivities.

Hinnant has a major interest in what happens during the two-round, 30-team selection of new talent.

He has played the game his entire life and hopes to continue doing so.

But Hinnant understands he is unlikely to get a phone call from an NBA franchise next Wednesday, although his Boston College graduating class finished with the most victories of any group that has ever donned an Eagles jersey.

‘‘I’m realistic. I’m not really looking at the draft now,” Hinnant said, slightly grunting, while hauling a 30-pound curl dumbbell during a workout last week at the new Capital Sports Complex in Forestville. ‘‘I know the long-term of where I may go. And I have to understand that the NBA is a business. That’s why from this point on, I’m treating everything I do basketball-related like business.”

2006 Gwynn Park graduate Corey Allmond looked on as Hinnant got his reps in. Riverdale Baptist graduate Javon Borum — who attended Gwynn Park as an underclassman — looked on also. Both Allmond, headed to Howard College in Texas, and the Johnson C. Smith-bound Borum have dreams of playing in the NBA.

Players who share that aspiration must understand that despite their successes in high school and college, the opportunity to play with an NBA franchise may never happen — or may have to wait.

Eleanor Roosevelt graduate Eddie Basden and former Gwynn Park standout Sherrod Ford both know the nature of the beast of professional basketball. They were in the same position that Hinnant, DeMatha grad Travis Garrison and his former University of Maryland teammate Chris McCray (Fairmont Heights) currently find themselves in.

Basden spent the entire 2005-06 NBA season with the Chicago Bulls and Ford, who spent this past December and January with the Phoenix Suns, have first-hand knowledge of what Hinnant and others should expect. Neither Basden nor Ford were drafted.

‘‘The opportunity was there for me,” said Ford, who played four seasons at Clemson. ‘‘I was in training camp with the Spurs last summer. They had money problems. I was cut. It’s a business now. That’s how you’ve got to look at it. A lot of teams make business decisions. You might be one of the best players in the camp but it doesn’t work out for the team.”

Hinnant knows what he can do. But most of the NBA teams don’t.

Hinnant had a three-day workout with the Boston Celtics recently, where Roosevelt graduate Delonte West has worked his way into the starting lineup. Hinnant finished first in every drill the Celtics had prospective point guards perform except for pull-ups, where he finished second.

The Celtics told Hinnant he needs to work on his open-court defense, but were otherwise impressed with his performance and even his jump shot, which had been one of the knocks against him during his college career.

But the Celtics and other clubs simply do not have enough evidence that Hinnant can run the motion offense, as most NBA teams do.

While at Boston College, Hinnant knew his primary responsibility was to run the offense and work the ball down low to the Eagles’ imposing frontcourt players. Hinnant insists that he can run the motion offense.

He said anyone who has seen him play pick-up games in county gyms has seen him run the open floor. But because of Hinnant’s low profile in college and the system he played in, NBA teams have no true proof.

Basden dominated his final two seasons for the University of Charlotte en route to winning Conference USA Player of the Year Honors his senior season and back-to-back Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year Honors.

Basden stood confident at this time last year, but he did not hear his name called on Draft Night 2005.

‘‘Throughout the season of my senior year a lot of talk was that I would be a first-round draft pick,” Basden said. ‘‘The [awards] on my resume, I felt that was the topping on the cake, and I did everything and showed every year that I was getting better. When I went to my [pre-draft] workouts, all of them were good and I showed what they expected and more. I had the feeling that I was going to get drafted. When it didn’t happen, it was a shock, but at the same time, nothing is guaranteed and you work and you earn that kind of credibility.”

As Hinnant stepped up and down, straddling 95 pounds on the Nautilus weight bench at the Capital Sports Complex, Roosevelt graduate Delonte Holland counted the number of three-point jumpers he made on the court just outside the weight room. Holland spent last season playing overseas, although he had a spot on the Washington Wizards summer roster last season.

Hinnant is confident his time will come. Chances are that Hinnant may spend time playing overseas, adding that he has drawn a number of offers from teams across Europe.

‘‘The type of player and person that I am, I like to win first,” Hinnant said. ‘‘Out of all the people that I competed against in my position at workouts, I won more games than them while I was at B.C. I wasn’t selfish [and neither were] the people from this area who had the chance to go pro before me. That’s why I think I will have my chance.”

E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.