Draft-day nightmare motivates Sonic hopeful Olumide Oyedeji

DRAFTED NO. 42 in the second round, this 19-year-old Nigerian wants to beat long odds by making the Sonic roster and proving that the NBA teams who passed him by were wrong about his raw talent and inexperience.

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Olumide Oyedeji joined several friends in a Washington, D.C., home last month to watch his dream unfold on television: becoming a top pick in the NBA draft.

The 6-foot-10 center was projected as a lottery pick because of his athleticism and rebounding skills, but the draft-day experience turned into a nightmare as team after team passed on Oyedeji.

When the first round was completed, Oyedeji left his friends, got into his car and started driving aimlessly. Finally, agent Lon Babby contacted Oyedeji on his cell phone with the bittersweet news: Oyedeji had been selected by the Sonics, but at No. 42 in the second round.

"C'mon, I don't want to go to no Seattle!" responded Oyedeji, who had played for a German club the previous two years. "I'll go back to Europe and play."

After tempering his disappointment with the reminder that he had reached his hoop dreams, the 19-year-old - whose full name is pronounced Oh-LOO-Mah-DAY O-Yeah-DEE-JAY - has joined the Sonics.

But now, more than any player, Oyedeji must prove his worth in the FILA Southern California summer league, which runs through Saturday at Long Beach State's Pyramid Arena.

Because he was chosen in the second round, Oyedeji doesn't have a guaranteed contract. (Only first-round picks such as Sonic swingman Desmond Mason, chosen No. 17, receive guaranteed contracts.)

And since Seattle already has 12 players under contract - the maximum allowed - the odds are against Oyedeji making the Sonics this year.

"The bottom line is we don't have plenty of room on our roster, but things change," said General Manager Wally Walker, who considered selecting Oyedeji with Seattle's first-round draft pick. "We'd like him to make the team. He's got NBA ability. He's just very young and raw. We want him to make the team for the future but he's not a guy who's ready to play much next year, if at all."

To change that assessment, Oyedeji must flourish against other undrafted hopefuls and young players. Although five NBA teams are in this summer league, a sparse crowd of several hundred at yesterday's game made it far removed from the glamour of the NBA.

Through three games, including yesterday's 91-90 loss to the Lakers, Oyedeji has shown the rawness on offense that caused reluctance from teams on draft day. But the Nigerian teenager has displayed shot-blocking ability, an NBA physique better than many older pros, and excellent rebounding prowess.

"I can rebound like Dennis Rodman," Oyedeji said with a slight Nigerian accent, "but I'm not crazy like him."

One NBA skill that Oyedeji has already developed, or overdeveloped, is trash talking.

Oyedeji rattled off the names of top prospects that he claims he outplayed during workouts preceding the draft: Cleveland's Chris Mihm (picked No. 7), Milwaukee's Joel Pryzbilla (9), Vancouver's Stromile Swift (2) and Phoenix's Iakavos Tsakalidis (25).

"They couldn't stop me," Oyedeji declared. "They couldn't do anything."

Oyedeji's most scathing assessment was of Darius Miles, who became the highest prep drafted when the Clippers chose him at No. 3.

"If he comes to my country, he couldn't make my national team," said Oyedeji, who played against Miles in the Nike Hoop Summit April 2. "He cannot make my under-22 team."

Such comments are Coach Paul Westphal's evidence that Oyedeji is obsessed with his draft swoon.

"He's got to overcome the culture shock right now," Westphal said. "He had expectations that were really unrealistic. He's got skills as far as a rebounder. He's got a nice NBA body. He has almost no experience, and people that succeed in this league have experience."

Oyedeji started playing only five years ago after soccer opponents repeatedly remarked about his height.

"They said, `You're too tall; go play basketball,' " Oyedeji recalled. "I said `Okay.' And I started playing."

Oyedeji's main obstacle at first was getting the right shoe size. Although Oyedeji had size 13 feet, he was forced to squeeze into size 11 shoes because he couldn't find the right size. When the pain became unbearable, Oyedeji simply played in slippers or sandals.

"I was growing abnormally," Oyedeji said.

That didn't prevent Oyedeji from being named player of the year as a 15-year-old member of the Ebun Comets in Nigeria's Premier League.

Oyedeji's interest for the NBA peaked while watching the 1996 Finals, with the Sonics and Bulls.

"I saw Sean Kemp just doing a lot of crazy dunks," Oyedeji said, "I said, `Ooooh.' "

Kemp transformed from a "crazy" dunker with raw ability into an All-Star who grasped the game's nuances. The Sonics hope that Oyedeji follows a similar path.

Although he doesn't quite evoke shades of Kemp, Oyedeji was athletic enough to win the 2000 Slam Dunk contest of Bundesliga, the German league. Over the past two years, Oyedeji played for DJK Wurzburg, where he averaged a league-high 15.5 rebounds, 12.4 points and 1.75 blocks last season.

The NBA player whose name has followed Oyedeji since he started playing basketball is Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon, mainly because they are compatriots.

Even Wally Walker couldn't help bringing up Olajuwon's name when talking about Oyedeji: "There was a former soccer player from Nigeria that had a pretty good career."

But the short list of Nigerians chosen in the NBA draft, all centers, hasn't been promising: Yinka Dare, Obinna Ekezie and Michael Olowokandi.

"There's one Hakeem Olajuwon," said Oyedeji, whose name means "warrior," and goes by the nicknames Big O, "O" and Olu. "There's only going to be one Dream. There can never be another Dream. There can never be another Jordan."

Before the draft, Olajuwon watched Oyedeji work out with the Rockets, and plans on working out with his countryman in August.

Olajuwon "told me that when he was my age, he didn't have the skills I had," said Oyedeji, who has five sisters, who all live in Nigeria. "He told me to work hard and stay focused."

Oyedeji's best motivation is being overlooked in the draft. His value was highest in April during the Nike Hoop Summit, which features the best young players in the world. Oyedeji scored 19 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, yet the performance became a distant memory on draft day.

"A lot of people lied to me," Oyedeji said of teams that told him they would draft him if possible. "All the teams that passed me by are definitely going to have a regret because I know what I can do."

The Mavericks - whose general manager, Don Nelson, loves foreign prospects - had shown the most interest in Oyedeji. They brought him to Dallas for five consecutive days of workouts. But during one-on-one workouts, teams weren't as impressed with Oyedeji as he was with himself.

"It's one of the most shocking things I've seen in a long time," said Celtic General Manager Chris Wallace, whose team had the 11th pick. "This was a guy who was heavily scrutinized by a lot of Lottery and near-Lottery teams. And he went in the 40s."

Even if Oyedeji doesn't make Seattle's roster next season, the Sonics own his rights for the next three years. But Oyedeji intends on making the Sonics, then making several teams regret passing him by.

"I take it as a challenge," the warrior said. "I know I lost a lot of money, a lot of pride, a lot of marketing. But this is not the end of the world. I have to continue. I will make the gym my bedroom."

Note

-- Despite Rashard Lewis' visit to Toronto yesterday, General Manager Wally Walker expressed confidence that the Sonics will re-sign their free agent. Lewis intended to play for Seattle's summer league team until being accidently kicked in the shin last week. "I think it's more standard operating procedure," Walker said. "He needs to see what's out there, and we just hope we compare favorably. He got that little injury, and I think he realized maybe he should check out situations just to compare. We understand."