Tomasson: Olowokandi leaves a sour taste

Published January 20, 2006 at midnight

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At least they still like him in England.

Michael Olowokandi has been contacted by British officials about playing for his home nation when it gets an automatic basketball bid to the 2012 Olympics in London.

Olowokandi just might take them up on it.

Stateside, though, nobody is seeking out Olowokandi much these days.

The 7-foot Minnesota center is on the trading block. If anybody takes him, it likely will be to clear salary-cap room, because he becomes a free agent next summer.

It has been quite a fall since 1998, when Olowokandi was the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers out of the University of the Pacific. That draft included future All-Stars Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce and Antawn Jamison.

Olowokandi is averaging 6.2 points and 5.7 rebounds this season for the Timberwolves, dropping his career numbers to 8.8 and 7.2, respectively. Can you say bust?

"I've been hearing that for quite some time," Olowokandi said. "What grabs headlines or what sounds good, a short four-letter word, such as bust, that stuff I can't do anything about. I'm very confident in my ability."

Olowokandi at least can take solace in knowing he has little chance of ending up as the biggest bust ever to be a top pick in an NBA draft. Holding a huge lead is center LaRue Martin.

Martin was drafted by Portland in 1972 out of Chicago's Loyola University. Going No. 2 was Bob McAdoo, who went on to win three scoring titles and land in the Hall of Fame.

In four seasons with Portland, Martin averaged 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds. Then he was out of the league, never to be heard from again.

"He wasn't a physical guy," Austin Carr, the top pick in the 1971 draft, said of Martin. "If you wanted to be in the middle back then, you had to take a licking and keep on ticking."

Competition for the silver medal for biggest top-pick bust is fierce. A case can be made for center Kent Benson, who was taken by Milwaukee in 1977 and ended up averaging 9.1 points in 11 seasons with four teams.

Carr also played against Benson. He said the "speed of the game was too much" for the plodder, who was an All-American at Indiana.

In addition to Olowokandi, another active candidate is Kwame Brown, whose 7.6-point career scoring average is the lowest after Martin for any top pick. Brown was selected out of high school and is now with the Los Angeles Lakers after four dreary seasons in Washington.

"Expectations were high because of his size and speed," said Cleveland guard Larry Hughes, who played three seasons with the 6-11 forward-center in Washington. "A lot of people wanted him to do things he's not capable of. There are a lot of tall guys that can't play basketball."

Like Olowokandi, Brown has grown weary of hearing the dreaded "B" word. He is quick to remind everyone he's only 23.

"Someone has a full career ahead of them and you're already calling them a bust?" Brown told The Washington Post before the season. "If I turn it around in L.A., that's all I care about."

Brown is not showing many signs of doing that. He's averaging only 6.3 points as a part-time starter after getting a three-year, $25 million contract last summer from the Lakers.

Olowokandi is finishing up a three-year, $16.2 million deal Minnesota handed out in the summer of 2003. The Denver Nuggets took a long look at him before wisely taking a pass.

"My role (in Minnesota) is to set screens and try to get guys open and play defense and rebound the ball," said Olowokandi, not enthralled with playing a minor role on offense.

How long it remains his role in Minnesota remains to be seen. Olowokandi is a good bet to be dealt before the Feb. 23 trade deadline, which means he wouldn't be around March 15, when the Timberwolves next meet Brown's Lakers.

The Ides of March. What a fitting day for a Bust Bowl.

Precedent for Camby

Lawyers always look for precedent. So should Marcus Camby supporters.

They don't have to look back far.

Two years ago, Seattle guard Ray Allen had played in only 22 of 47 games when coaches voted him into the All-Star Game as a West reserve. That's a lower percentage of games than Camby can end up having played as he seeks his first All-Star berth.

Camby, a Nuggets center sidelined because of a fractured pinkie, has appeared in 25 of 40 games and is hopeful of returning by the end of January. If Camby is not back by Feb. 9, when reserves are announced, he will have played in 25 of 51.

"He's a pretty impressive guy every time he's played," Nuggets coach George Karl said of Camby, averaging 16.9 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots. "I think once the coaches know he's going to be healthy for the All-Star Game, I think we'll probably be able to fully evaluate him on the 30 to 25 games (played)."

Camby doesn't care whether he is selected. If he is, there might be some controversy given his limited activity. There was some grumbling when Allen got the nod, some of it coming from snubbed Nuggets guard Andre Miller.

"To put guys who have been injured half the year on it, that's the politics of it," Miller said at the time. "I'm surprised (Allen made it)."

The Nuggets tonight run into Utah's Mehmet Okur, Camby's main competition for a backup All-Star spot behind Houston's Yao Ming. Okur, averaging 18.1 points and 9.4 rebounds, is starting at power forward but is listed on the ballot as a center, which should be his position when Carlos Boozer returns from a hamstring injury.

Short jumpers

• Cleveland forward LeBron James sure has been wilting a lot lately under pressure for a guy who claims not to feel it. "I don't feel too much pressure," James said last month. "I never have. I don't believe in pressure." James' most recent late-game failing was Wednesday. In his team's 90-89 loss to the Nuggets, James went 3-for-7 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, including a miss that would have tied the score with 0.6 of a second left. When it comes to field goals, the Elias Sports Bureau reports James has gone 2-for-15 in his career on potential tying or go-ahead shots in the final 10 seconds of a game while rival Carmelo Anthony of Denver is 7-for-11.

• Sacramento coach Rick Adelman and Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni were teammates with the Kansas City-Omaha Kings in 1974-75. Adelman never hesitates to extol D'Antoni, who went from a 14-36 stint in his first coaching job with the Nuggets in 1998-99 to Coach of the Year last season with the Suns. "Mike had no chance in Denver," Adelman said. "They gave him that group, and everyone knew it'd be a bad group, and then they let him go. . . . You get a good group, and look what Mike's done."

High pick, low return

A look at the top NBA draft picks with the lowest career scoring averages since the first open draft in 1966 (first team listed drafted player):

Draft Player Teams Years Avg.

1972 LaRue Martin Portland 1972-76 5.3

2001 Kwame Brown Washington, L.A. Lakers 2001-current 7.6

1998 Michael Olowokandi L.A. Clippers, Minnesota 1998-current 8.8

1977 Kent Benson Milwaukee, Detroit, 1977-88 9.1 Utah, Cleveland

1989 Pervis Ellison Sacramento, Washington, 1989-2001 9.5 Boston, SeattleNote: This Does Not Include 2005 Top Pick Andrew Bogut, Who Is Averaging 9.1 For Milwaukee.

tomassonc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5125

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