He Didn't Know Anything

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In today’s edition…

He “didn’t have a clue.”

And despite discovering the sport at 17 years old, he caught on fast enough.

Five years later, he was the #1 overall draft choice.

Let’s dive in 👇

The Story of the #1 NBA Draft Pick Who Didn’t Pick Up a Basketball Til He Was 17

No time to read now? Click here to save it for later 🐶

This story is the opposite of the path taken by many North American prodigies – who pick up a ball at an early age, dominate their high school ranks, spend a year or two in college, and then get drafted.

Michael Olowokandi’s unconventional journey to becoming the number one overall pick in the NBA Draft seemed more like a fairy tale.

Long before he was selected before future Hall of Fame players Carter, Pierce, and Dirk Nowitzki, Olowokandi was focused more on cricket than he was on hoops. 

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Olowokandi is the oldest of his family’s five children. It wasn’t long before the family relocated to London, England, where he eventually attended Newlands Manor School.

Like most European kids at that time, Olowokandi found passion in cricket, football (soccer), and track and field.

It wasn’t until he was 17 years old that he touched his first basketball.  It’s a fact that seems almost unbelievable.

One day, Olowokandi and a couple of buddies came across a ball in a dusty equipment room.

Needless to say, he was hooked.

With little understanding of the rules and no concept of simple basketball action – like posting up or running a pick and roll – Olowokandi relied on his pure, raw athleticism to get by in pickup games.

Enrolling at Brunel University as part of their mechanical engineering program, it appeared as though Olowokandi planned to follow his parents' advice, using academics to guide his future, while dabbling in sports as a hobby.

While he continued to compete in track and field, cricket, and rugby, he found himself drawn more and more to the hardwood, playing pickup games with friends.

While most 20-year-olds celebrate their birthday by hitting the pub or club, Olowokandi sat in his room and cracked open a copy of Peterson’s Guide to American Colleges and Universities.

Covering over 3,000 post-secondary schools, Olowokandi essentially threw a dart and selected the University of the Pacific, a school that was 5,000 miles and a 12-hour flight away from the world he knew.

Calling the athletic department, he connected with the Tigers’ assistant coach, Tony Marcopulos.

As part of their conversation, Michael told him he was 7’1” and 265 pounds.

With their biggest returning player being 6’10” sophomore Rayne Mahaffey, adding a player with Olowokandi’s measurements was appealing. But there was just one small issue: the Tigers didn’t have any scholarship money left.

Offering to pay his own way, which amounted to roughly $20,000 per year, Olowokandi and Macropulos agreed to his joining the team. While there was some red tape that the big man had to go through – including taking his SAT on three days' notice – he arrived on the West Coast campus a short time later.

Unfortunately for Olowokandi and Tigers head coach Bob Thomason, those random pickup games with friends back home did not translate well into playing competitively against experienced college athletes.

“I didn't have a clue what a zone defense was or a man-to- man," Michael said.

"I must confess this surpassed anything I had been used to."

Whereas most players may have to learn a new system or slight changes in terminology, Olowokandi quite literally had to learn the sport from scratch.

Despite early struggles to figure out an elementary-level three-man weave drill, his dedication to proving himself, along with Thomason’s patience, proved to be compatible.

As a sophomore, Olowokandi averaged 10 minutes of court time in 25 games, producing 4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks. Considering where he’d started, these numbers – although nothing to get excited about – gave hope for his future.

The following season saw Olowokandi put it all together, finishing third in scoring and first in rebounds and blocked shots for a Tigers team that advanced to the Big Dance for the first time in 18 years.

While the team lost in the first round to St. Joe’s 75-65, Olowokandi started to become recognized by some NBA scouts as a player with potential.

“He told us he wanted to be an NBA player. And not just any NBA player – one that made a significant impact,” Marcopulos said.

“It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him it was impossible. But who am I to kill someone’s dream?”

While the Tigers finished atop the Big West Conference regular season standings the next year, they failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament as Utah State captured the automatic bid as the Conference Tournament Champion.

Led by Olowokandi, the Big West Player of the Year, who averaged a conference-best 22.2 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks, the Tigers found themselves as part of the NIT event.

For a player who once struggled to perform a simple bounce pass or execute a left-handed layup, Olowokandi had developed a surprisingly delicate shooting touch and improved court awareness.

Although players like Bibby, Carter, Antawn Jamison, and Paul Pierce had more impressive basketball resumes, Olowokandi had put himself in a position to be considered as the top pick in the draft.

“In the beginning, being the number 1 pick didn’t mean much because I figured I had no chance at it,” he said.

“But then, as it got closer, and it came down to Mike Bibby and me, well, then, I got more competitive. Why shouldn’t I be number 1? It was a challenge.”

In an era in which big men were still found in the low blocks and at best stepping away for a mid-range jumper at the elbow, players like Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Arvydas Sabonis, and even Bryant Reeves provided a presence in the paint. 

Possessing the top pick in the draft, many assumed that the Los Angeles Clippers would take Bibby as they, too, were in need of a point guard.

To the surprise of many throughout the league, as well as those in attendance at GM Place, then-Clippers GM Elgin Baylor decided to take Olowokandi.

“If you have a good lightweight fighter and a good heavyweight fighter, who do you take?” Baylor said.

“You always take the good big man over the good little guy. Bibby is a nice player, a steady player. But the upside of Olowokandi is better than perhaps anyone in the draft.”

(Obviously, those words didn’t age well!)

Given that Olowokandi had impressive record-breaking pre-draft workouts combined with his senior season stats at Pacific, Baylor wasn’t exactly far-fetched in his thought process.

However, the Clippers' prized rookie’s fate would fall in the hands of the 1998 lockout that hampered teams from contacting or working with their players.

While Olowokandi’s agent, Bill Duffy, arranged for his client to train with legendary big man Pete Newell, one-on-one drills aren’t the same as 5-on-5 runs, especially for a player who had just picked up a ball for the first time five years earlier.

When the league finally started its 50-game slate, Olowokandi put together a decent rookie season, averaging 8.9 points and 7.9 rebounds, earning a spot on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.

As the first overall pick, a spot on the second team, especially when playing and starting for a lowly team like the Clippers, is nothing to get excited about.

Four and a half seasons in LA proved to be decent, but unexciting, as Olowokandi failed to reach the level of play the team had hoped for.

A free agent in 2003, Olowokandi looked to reboot his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves. While from a team standpoint, he experienced greater success, individually, Olowokandi continued to decline, further earning the tag of one of the league’s biggest draft busts.

After two and a half seasons in Minnesota, he was sent packing to the Boston Celtics, where he finished out his NBA career at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Looking back more than twenty-five years after that draft night at GM Place, it’s easy to focus on two things. One being the fact that only diehard hoops fans knew who the gangly blonde seven-footer from Germany was, and second, what Olowokandi didn’t become.

In desperate need of a superstar, or even an All-Star, Olowokandi was far from either. But that’s not the point in the story, or at least it shouldn’t be.

What fans fail to remember is that Olowokandi turned himself into an NBA-caliber athlete and a multimillionaire within a five-year time frame.

From picking up a dusty, cobweb-covered basketball to earning his way onto an American college roster to becoming the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.

While kids at an early age now have shooting coaches, skills trainers, fitness coaches, and have had a ball in their hands since they came out of the womb, Olowokandi’s journey reminds us that athletic greatness doesn’t always follow a traditional path and that talent can come from anywhere, at any age.

🐶 

Today’s story was written by our friend in the north, Steve Lee 🇨🇦 

If you enjoyed it and know someone else who might find it inspiring, please share it and encourage them to subscribe:

And remember, there are 300+ underdog stories over on my website, Joker Mag. Here are a few you might’ve missed:

• How Charles Bassey Went From a Roadside Chicken Stand to the NBA

• Jacob Tucker: The 5’10” Division III Hooper Who Won the NCAA Slam Dunk Contest

• How Allan Wylie Turned Blindness Into His Biggest Strength & Became a Pro Sports Broadcaster [Exclusive Interview]

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Happy holidays, and thanks for reading 🤝 

Til next time,
Tyler

Extra Innings…

🌟 Trivia Answer: C) 322 pounds. His name was Walter Young, and he came from a town of less than 2,000 people. You can read more about the heaviest players in MLB history here.

🎁 Last-minute Christmas gift idea: my book is perfect for the sports fan in your life. If you order the paperback, forward me your receipt, and I’ll send you the Kindle version for free.

🏈 “The whole crowd started laughing.” But this 5’6” running back got the last laugh (and a Super Bowl ring) – shoutout to my dad for passing this video along!

👀 In case you missed it: How D’Ernest Johnson went from Key West fisherman to NFL veteran

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