If there was any question whether former Arizona guard/Tucson icon Damon Stoudamire would suffer any glitches in his transition from college to the pros, he answered it Sunday.
In fact, the question was this: "Do you like No Fear?"
"Yeah, I like that No Fear stuff," Stoudamire answered, grinning.
An exchange of phone numbers with the No Fear clothing representative, and that was it. A done deal.
Yes, it appears Stoudamire will definitely fit into the wheeling and dealing of the glitziest and most glamorous of professional sports. After all, the expansion Toronto Raptors saw fit to make the 5-foot-10-inch, 170-pound point guard the first draft pick in the organization's history, selecting him seventh overall last June in the NBA draft.
Someone even dug up the obscure fact that Stoudamire was the shortest player ever to be picked that high since the draft began in 1985. But then, obscure facts never really mattered to Stoudamire that much.
"I haven't really thought about it," he said, furiously signing basketball after basketball for the charities that would benefit from the game. "I was just happy I got drafted, period. If I would've been the seventh or the last pick in the draft, it wouldn't have made a difference to me. I'm just happy I got drafted."
He's right, though. Until midnight Sunday, it didn't matter if you were Maryland's Joe Smith, the No. 1 pick, or Georgetown's Don Reid, the last pick, because the NBA lockout prohibited contact between management and players. Therefore, no negotiations occurred, and no new contracts were signed. It was this reason that Stoudamire couldn't participate in Sunday's game.
But as of Monday, the end of the player lockout, he said he hopes that will change.
"It's over right now, so I'll probably get a chance to sit down and talk extensively with the organization because I haven't talked to them since the draft," Stoudamire said. "The lockout is the only thing that's kept me on hold."
Then again, the lockout kept everyone on hold, including Isiah Thomas, the former Detroit Pistons guard and Toronto general manager, who Stoudamire has drawn more than a few comparisons to. Thomas will likely be in on the negotiations, and, Stoudamire said, maybe a few other things too.
"He says he's going to take me under his wing and everything, so I'm just looking forward to it," he said. "It's going to be fun."
Stoudamire said he spent the better part of the lockout at home in Portland, Ore., "just working out and making appearances," NBA-type stuff like that Ÿ which is strange to hear him say, considering the limelight is a place Stoudamire has always sought with his play, not his face.
And it is his play that has carried him, right up to the seventh pick in the draft Ÿ second only to Sean Elliott, the third pick in the '89 draft, as the highest pick in Arizona history. It is also his play that will get him noticed by the NBA's powers-that-be, who this year invoked a rookie salary cap Ÿ but to Stoudamire, it's just water off a Raptor's back.
"I figure if you're a good ball player, regardless if it's your first year, second year, third year, you're going to get paid down the line," hesaid. "You're going to get rewarded for your hard work. I'm not really worried about the salary cap."
Nothing much really worries Stoudamire, perhaps Arizona's most consistent player during his time in Tucson, from 1991 until last season. The lockout didn't really bother him, because he wasn't truly an official player yet. But for Stoudamire, a player who never had to be told twice to do something, everything will be OK come Oct. 6, when training camp starts.
"I think the toughest part of it has been from the players' standpoint, not being able to talk to the organizations, especially a new organization at that," Stoudamire said. "I think that's what has hurt me the most and probably set the organization back for a little time. We weren't able to have more rookie camps, no free agent camps, so from that standpoint it would be tough for us.
"But I'm pretty optimistic. Toronto's a new franchise. I don't see a big problem with money there. I think everything will be all right. I see myself being there for the first day of training camp."
And if the cloud of the possibility of his first season being cancelled didn't phase Stoudamire, the hype of being Toronto's first draft choice Ÿ well, hey, that's nothin'.
"I thought about it," Stoudamire said. "I think it's going to be a good experience for me. I think I'm the type of player that can handle those type of things. I'm not really worried about it.
"It's going to be a struggle but we'll get it together, maybe not the first couple years but I think eventually we'll be a winner."
After all, it takes one to know one.
Monty Phan is sports editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat.