Riding A Wave

Growth Curve
Michael Olowokandi's averages during his three seasons at Pacific reveal how a little-used curiosity became a No. 1 draft pick:
SEASONS:	1995-'96	1996-'97	1997-'98
POINTS PER GAME:	4.0	10.9	22.2
MINUTES:	10.3	22.8	31.7
FIELD GOAL PCT.:	52.6	57.0	60.8
REBOUNDS:	3.4	6.6	11.2
BLOCKS:	1.32	1.68	2.88

Michael Olowokandi is going surfing.

It is the first time in his life he has held a board, never mind attempted to stand up on one. There he goes, headfirst, all 7'1" of his chiseled body disappearing into the foamy waters off Waikiki Beach. When Olowokandi resurfaces, sputtering, he pulls himself back onto the surfboard and paddles furiously toward the nearest, and most imposing, wave.

Why push it? Because a professional photographer is chronicling his movements, and Olowokandi, the new center of the Los Angeles Clippers and the No. 1 pick in June's NBA draft, is not in the habit of backing down from challenges. He cannot—he will not—fail to live up to his own expectations.

One more thing. His new NBA pals, who are in Hawaii with Olowokandi attending Pete Newell's Big Man Camp, guffawed when he mentioned surfing. Novices don't catch waves, they are devoured by them. Nobody surfs on the first try.

It can't be done.

For Olowokandi, that is an old and familiar refrain. When he took up basketball three years ago at age 20, he was told that no college in America would give him a chance to play. Once he enrolled, at his own expense, at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., his dreams of a pro career were dismissed as pure folly. Even last season, when he had established himself as a likely lottery pick, some insiders scoffed at the notion of his being the first choice.

"In the beginning, being the Number 1 pick didn't mean much because I figured I had no chance at it," Olowokandi explains. "But then as it got closer, and it came down to [Arizona point guard] Mike Bibby and me, well, then, I got more competitive. Why shouldn't I be Number 1? It was a challenge."

Those close to this 23-year-old rookie say being No. 1 was more like an obsession. It was a way for Olowokandi—who was born in Nigeria, schooled in London and refined as a basketball player at Pacific—to trample the naysayers who thought he was too raw and started too late to make an impact in the NBA. Some compared him with Yinka Dare, another big man and first-round draft pick from Nigeria, whose NBA career has been a bust.

Had those so-called experts seen Olowokandi play? Had they talked to him? He didn't need their validation. Since his parents packed his belongings, kissed his forehead and sent him to a boarding school in London when he was nine, he has counted on one person: himself. "I was watching SportsCenter before the draft, and they were saying Bibby was the Number 1 pick unless Olowokandi dazzled the Clippers with his workouts," he says. "So all of a sudden I have to go in and dazzle them? That motivated me."

He went on a predraft tour. In Phoenix he faced the basket and wowed the Suns with superior footwork. In Vancouver he stunned the Grizzlies with his quickness, the kind that enables him to run the 40 in 4.55. In Denver he flexed his muscles for the Nuggets, dunking one medicine ball after another, setting a club workout record. When he finally got to Los Angeles to audition for the Clippers, he put it all together.