When you’re 21 years old and your dream kicks you in the teeth, there are two things you can do.
Smush Parker could have given up or go after it again. He could have resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to play in the NBA this season, maybe never. Hey, it’s what most people would have told you to do if David Stern called the names of 58 players at the NBA draft and you weren’t one of them.
But then . . . .
“My father has always given me advice in good situations and bad situations,” Parker said. “He told me to keep my head up. He also quoted one of my earlier quotes back to me – I had said, ‘I’m not going to stop trying. This is my dream.’ And he repeated that to me.”
William “Smush” Parker says he’s always dreamed of playing pro ball. He also says he’s always taken the long road. On Friday night, the road leads back home. The Newark native will return to the metro area – as an NBA player – when he and the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Nets.
“I always look forward to returning to my hometown,” said Parker, who attended Newtown HS in Queens. “They’ll show me some love.”
“Two years ago he was a backup point guard at a junior college and now he’s in the NBA playing,” said his college coach, Fordham’s Bob Hill. “He’s come a long way very quickly.”
Parker grew up an asphalt legend, mastering playground tricks and earning a reputation as a kind of basketball sorcerer. The 6-4 wizard stopped off at Southern Idaho Junior College in 1999-00 before enrolling at Fordham last season, where he averaged a team-high 16.5 ppg.
When he wasn’t drafted, Parker received training-camp invitations from Orlando, Cleveland, Memphis and the Nets. He chose the Magic, reasoning that they were looking for a point guard and at least during auditions, he could run alongside Tracy McGrady.
He did more than that. Parker played in both the Shaw Summer League and the Orlando Pro Summer League, leading the team in points, assists and steals in the latter. His reward? Getting cut.
The Cavs quickly signed Parker on Sept. 25 to compete for the backup point-guard spot alongside veterans Vonteego Cummings and Anthony Johnson. Most people didn’t like his chances. Yet when preseason ended, guess who was left?
“He was a pretty good defender,” recalled Johnson, now with the Nets again. “But other than that, he really didn’t impress me too much. But he was what they were looking for, I guess.”
Once the season tipped off, Parker scored his first basket on an opening-night dunk and matched up against Michael Jordan in the Cavs’ fifth game. Facing the greatest, he scored a still-career-high 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Going into the weekend, he was averaging 3.7 ppg in 8.6 mpg while shooting an impressive 48 percent.
The next step? Filling out and learning the pro game better. Oh, and getting accustomed to small-town life.
“Cleveland is a lot more slow-paced,” Parker said. “Things shut down at 8:00. That’s been an adjustment – if it’s 10:00, I can’t go downstairs and get something to eat.”
Somehow you figure he’ll manage. Even if it means taking the long road.
