If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, Kansas University’s annual basketball lovefest aka awards night would have been even more lovey-dovey.
No doubt the largest hunk of iffy confection was signee DeShawn Stevenson, the 6-foot-5 guard who went directly from high school to the NBA without having to hear Dick Vitale call him a diaper dandy.
It’s no secret the Jayhawks had too many backcourt stalls empty last season with both point guard Kirk Hinrich and off guard Jeff Boschee averaging more than 30 minutes per game.
I’ve never seen Stevenson play, but surely he wouldn’t have been a liability in that Sweet 16 loss to Illinois when iron men Hinrich and Boschee were plumb tuckered by the Fighting Illini’s relentless quasi-muggery.
By the time the 2000-2001 campaign reached the postseason, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Hinrich was starting at point guard and Stevenson at No. 2 guard. The under-sized Boschee, meanwhile, would have given Kansas a sorely needed three-point threat off the bench a precious commodity that disappeared when Luke Axtell’s health went south.
We’ll never know what kind of a Kansas team this would have been with Stevenson so it’s probably a waste of time even to speculate about it.
Still, I thought you might be interested in an update on the 19-year-old Californian whose first pro season isn’t officially over, but is probably history nonetheless. As you know, Stevenson was selected in the first round the 23rd player chosen in last June’s NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz.
During the last couple of months, Utah coach Jerry Sloan has been playing musical chairs with Stevenson, Quincy Lewis, David Benoit and Scott Padgett, shuffling them back and forth from the injured list even though none of the four is suffering so much as a hangnail.
Stevenson has been on the so-called injured list for the last month or so, and your guess is as good as mine whether they’ll re-activate him and place him on the 12-man roster for the playoffs.
While the Jayhawks were playing in the NCAA Tournament last month, a Salt Lake City writer asked Stevenson if he wished he were in college instead of killing time in Jazz limbo land. Stevenson replied: “I always wanted to go to the NBA, and I’m here. It can’t get no better than that.”
Stevenson’s grammatically incorrect double negative may tell you something about why he had difficulty compiling enough college entrance exam test points to qualify for a Kansas University scholarship.
To refresh your memory, Stevenson fell short on the test twice, then made a remarkable improvement so remarkable that test officials red-flagged his score. The NBA Draft was fast approaching so, rather than take the test again, Stevenson opted to forsake playing at least a year of college basketball.
Even with all that time unsuited in Utah, Stevenson has still played in 38 games or five more than Kansas played during the 2000-01 season. Still, Stevenson has averaged only about seven minutes on the floor. Putting it another way, when active, he spent 41 minutes per game on the bench.
Stevenson’s shooting hasn’t reminded anyone of the Fourth of July. His field goal percentage is .342 (27 of 79). That includes eight of nine misses from three-point range. His free throw percentage is .688 (22 of 32).
For his on-the-job training, Stevenson is earning $830,000 a year. That’s roughly $16,000 a week, or approximately the annual cost of a college scholarship. Stevenson receives a monthly allowance from his mother who has hired a financial adviser to oversee his finances.
“I’m going to be here, and I’m going to be here a long time,” Stevenson told the Deseret News. “So all I have to do is work hard, and do what the coaches want me to do. That’s my job.”
No one ever said the NBA doesn’t pay real money, although you have to wonder about the reality of a business in which a 19-year-old is nearly a millionaire and someone like former Jayhawk Greg Ostertag, who stands 7-2 but is offensively challenged, can earn $5.2 million a year.