Monday, April 26, 1999
For every Kobe, there's a Dontonio
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It's all over for Dontonio Wingfield, whom we used to call Baby Shaq. At age 24, he is in the courts instead of on them. He is out of the NBA and living with his mother, paying too soon for a life of bad choices.
Bob Huggins thought Wingfield was going to stay in school another year. This is what the player had told him, just after his freshman season at UC. That was until someone purporting to be Wingfield's agent told Huggins that Wingfield was declaring for the NBA draft.
There are lots of ways to screw up your life. When it comes to college basketball, this is one of the best.
Seattle drafted Wingfield late in the first round. He was with the Sonics two years, then he played at Portland. Wingfield spent so much time on benches, he should have been charged a condo fee.
It's bad-decision time
The NBA draft is approaching and the undergraduates are leaping. Someone from Missouri named Albert White just declared the other day. Forgive me for not recognizing White's talents, or even for knowing who White is.
Elton Brand and William Avery are leaving Duke. Their teammate, Corey Maggette, is thinking about it. Maggette was a freshman last winter, Duke's sixth man. When was the last time a sixth man declared for the NBA draft?
Maggette has great “upside” though. This is what the scouts say. Maggette is 6-foot-6 and has an NBA body. He is likened to Grant Hill. A month ago, NBA personnel types told the Chicago Tribune he'd be the first player taken if he came out.
Maggette averaged 13 minutes a game.
This is wrong. It's nearly immoral. Children without a clue latch onto agents without a scruple, who fill the kids' heads with impossible dreams. And away they go.
Who benefits here?
Not the league, which gets sloppier every year. “The kids aren't fundamentally ready to play,” says Xavier coach Skip Prosser.
Fundamentally, they aren't fundamentally ready to do anything. “They're ill-prepared to handle things physically, mentally and socially” is how Huggins describes it.
No wonder Allen Iverson has surrounded himself with the lackeys he calls his “posse.” Iverson left school after two years. He was 20. His posse is nothing more than a security blanket.
Players are big losers
Who benefits? Not the schools. Huggins says Wingfield as a freshman was “much better” than Danny Fortson. With Wingfield, Fortson and Art Long on the same team, UC would have had an NFL frontcourt.
The players lose the most. Wingfield stayed a year at UC and is out of basketball and in the justice system; Fortson stayed three years and is among the NBA's rebounding leaders. It's the difference between a career and a cup of coffee.
For every Kevin Garnett, there is a Rashard Lewis, for every Kobe Bryant a Korleone Young, and really, who is Kobe Bryant but a terrific talent whose idea of teamwork is having four guys pass him the ball?
Nobody wins when 19-year-olds declare for the draft, but the NBA is powerless to stop it. The NFL wants college players to stay in school three years. It's more a request than an edict. If a player decided to challenge its legality, he'd win.
Corey Maggette hasn't said what he'll do. But since spring break, he has been home in Chicago, where it's really hard to get the Shakespeare notes.
Maggette won't be Wingfield, but if he comes out, he won't be the player or the person he could be, with another year or two at Duke. Maggette could be a great player; now, he's just a great athlete. The NBA has lots of those.
But Wingfield's decision shouldn't be ignored. He could be bumping power forwards now, not (allegedly) his girlfriend. All Wingfield's decision to leave school did was ruin his life.
Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.
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