NBA to add Falls' Flynn to exclusive list
21 players frm WNY have been drafted since 1970
Published: June 24, 2009, 12:58 am
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It is a select group of men with Western New York roots who have been chosen in the NBA draft. The list includes a basketball Hall of Famer, a college basketball legend and after Thursday night will include Jonny Flynn and perhaps Paul Harris, two Syracuse University stars from Niagara Falls.
Since 1970, 21 players who attended high school in Western New York were drafted by the NBA, including Bob Lanier, who was picked No.1 overall by Detroit in 1970 from Bennett and St. Bonaventure, and Nichols School and Duke All-American Christian Laettner, who was selected third overall in 1992 by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The list does not include some of the prominent names in local basketball history like Niagara University's Calvin Murphy, the late Randy Smith of Buffalo State or Buffalo native Greg Oden, who was the No.1 overall pick in 2007. Murphy, Smith and Oden did not attend high school in the area.
But it does include players like Gene Roberson, who starred at Burgard and Canisius and was picked in the 14th round by San Diego in 1971, and Lockport's Chip Case, whom the Buffalo Braves picked in the third round out of Virginia in 1972. It includes Hutch-Tech and Canisius' Mike Macaluso, whom the Braves picked in the sixth round in 1973, and Jamestown's Donn Johnston, picked in the 18th round by the Braves in the same year.
All share in the euphoria of being among a select few.
"You're excited," said Dwight Williams, the former East High and Bishop Neumann point guard who was selected in the sixth round by Atlanta in 1979. "Here's the proof that all your hard work has paid off and you're being recognized among the elite. You were the star in middle school, high school and college and now you're going to get paid for making the sacrifices for so long. It's a thrill to be drafted into the league."
Before the league shortened the draft to two rounds and before first-round picks were greeted with a handshake by the commissioner, you were informed the old-fashioned way: by telephone or telegram. That's how Aaron Curry found out he was picked in the fifth round by New Jersey in 1980.
"I think it was Kevin Loughery, who was the head coach at the time, who called me," said Curry, who starred at Neumann and Oklahoma. "He told me congratulations and that they were drafting me to play shooting guard and he would get back to me when it was time for rookie camp. Then they sent me a telegram that indicated when I needed to be there."
Before he was selected in the third round by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982, Willie "Hutch" Jones barely played as a junior at Turner-Carroll and was better known for riding his bike around town. He honed his skills at Park 75 and at Buffalo State before earning a scholarship at Vanderbilt.
"A lot of the guys I played with and against got drafted," Jones said. "[Georgia's] Dominique [Wilkins] came out and [Alabama's] Eddie Phillips did, too, so a lot of people from our conference [SEC] were drafted. Coincidentally, I had good games against them."
Before the draft, Jones and two of his friends ran for eight miles before breakfast. Around noon, they went to the Buffalo Athletic Club for shooting drills. Then during the evening they played pick-up games around town.
"I felt that whoever drafted me was not going to cut me because I was out of shape," Jones said. "That was the least of my worries."
He was rewarded by getting drafted by the defending NBA champions.
"As a kid I thought playing Division I was the greatest, and then I played on that level and the next thing you know I'm in Hollywood," Jones said. "You meet guys like Magic Johnson and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and these are guys who as a kid you emulate in your house when you were playing with a glove and a shoe box. The next day, you're in practice with these guys."
Ed Turner's path to the draft was definitely unique. He didn't play high school basketball at East but he graduated at age 16, just as his basketball skills were beginning to develop.
"I was just playing ball and playing ball and I discovered I was as good as anyone from this area," Turner said. "I played with the Western New York All-Stars during the summer and college coaches saw me and offered me scholarships."
He hooked on at Texas A&I and played center but in the NBA he projected as a point guard, which he says was his natural position. Turner wanted to play for Houston because he knew he would be able to play point guard.
"Houston didn't have a first round pick, and if it was any team other than Houston, I didn't care to go in the first round," said Turner, who was picked by the Rockets in the second round in 1981. "That's what my wishes were, that's what my hopes were and that's what happened."
But Turner never played in the NBA. Four days before training camp, he suffered a shattered ankle when he was accidentally hit by a shotgun blast. He never played again.
"What's done is done," Turner said.
Williams' story is just as gloomy. As a seventh-grader, Williams worked out at Buffalo State against Smith, and legend has it Williams was the only player who could guard Smith. After a game at Providence College in which Williams embarrassed North Carolina and All-America guard Phil Ford on national television, Al McGuire said of Williams: "Next year, he's going to be the No.1 point guard in America."
But Williams never made it to his senior year. He left Providence after he was convicted of stabbing a fellow student during an argument over a game of eight ball and a $10 bet, an incident Williams said was overblown.
"He could have repaired the cut with a Band-Aid, but he insisted on going to the hospital," Williams said. "They basically took away my career. They tried to make it more than it was and it really wasn't nothing but that's how it goes."
He withdrew from Providence and enrolled at Gardner-Webb but didn't play basketball. Still Williams, one of the best ball-handlers and shooters in Western New York high school history, was drafted in the sixth round in 1979. The Hawks thought so highly of Williams that he didn't attend rookie camp and during training camp he was named the starting point guard.
"My dream was about to come true," Williams said.
But he said his agent, Charles Davis, was dealing with the Hawks in bad faith. Williams said the Hawks wanted to sign him to a three-year deal worth $1 million, but Davis wanted a three-year deal with a player option the third season.
"They were going back and forth," Williams said. "In the meantime, I'm in Atlanta and they put me up at the Marriott Hotel. I stayed there almost a year. Little did I know but Charlie wasn't out for the best of my interests."
They couldn't come to terms on a contract so Williams never played for the Hawks. He got tryouts with Denver and New Jersey but was released.
"I was blackballed," Williams said. "It was never a question of talent, it was a question of who was representing the talent. It was like, "He's a great player, we'd love to have him but he has an [expletive] agent. Now people are like, "He's a loser, he never made it,' but that's not the case."
While Williams didn't make it in the NBA, he and the others will always remain a part of a special group.
"It was a memory I'll always enjoy and cherish," Jones said.
WNYers drafted by the NBA
Jonny Flynn and perhaps Paul Harris will join a select group of Western New Yorkers who have been selected in the NBA draft since 1970.
1970 — Bob Lanier (Bennett and St. Bonaventure) in the first round by Detroit
1971 — Gene Roberson (Burgard and Canisius) in the 14th round by San Diego
1972 — Chip Case (Lockport High and Virginia) in third round by Buffalo
1973 — Arnold Berman (Nichols and Brown) in fifth round by Buffalo; Mike Macaluso (Hutch-Tech and Canisius) in sixth round by Buffalo; Donn Johnston (Jamestown and North Carolina) in 18th round by Buffalo
1978 — George Pendleton (East and Georgia State) in fourth round by Indiana; Mike Russell (East and Texas Tech) in third round by Kansas City; Rickey Williams (Timon, New Mexico and Long Beach State) in 10th round by New Orleans
1979 — Dwight Williams (East High, Bishop Neumann, Providence, Gardner-Webb) in the sixth round by Atlanta
1980 — Aaron Curry (Bishop Neumann and Oklahoma), fifth round by New Jersey
1981 — Ed Turner (Texas A&I, now Texas A&M at Kingsville), in the second round, by Houston
1982 — Willie "Hutch" Jones (Turner-Carroll, Buffalo State and Vanderbilt) in third round by Los Angeles; John Johnson (Nichols and Michigan) in third round by Boston 1982; Mike Phillips (Kensington and Niagara) in the 10th round by Denver
1984 — Jim Johnstone (Lewiston-Porter and Wake Forest) in the third round by Kansas City
1985 — Laverne Evans (Lockport and Marshall) in sixth round by Dallas; Ray Hall (McKinley and Canisius) in the fifth round by Utah
1989 — Cliff Robinson (Riverside and Connecticut) in second round by Portland
1992 — Christian Laettner (Nichols and Duke) in the first round by Minnesota
2001 — Damone Brown (Seneca and Syracuse) in second round by Philadelphia.
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