Capital Classic Preview Spalding's Gay Is Going Places, But Where? He Signed With U-Conn., But Could Jump to NBA By Jake Schaller Special to The Washington Post Friday, April 16, 2004; Page D01 Mike Glick was pretty sure Rudy Gay's career at Spalding High School would be over before it ever really started. It was early in September 2002, and Gay, a lanky junior transfer from Eastern Tech in Baltimore, had struggled in the Cavaliers' first weightlifting session of the school year. He had a hard time bench-pressing 115 pounds and couldn't keep up with junior varsity players doing sets of push-ups. "He was getting teased by all the kids," said Glick, Spalding's head coach. "I didn't think he'd be back." But the day after that workout at 2:38 p.m. -- three minutes after the final bell rang -- Gay knocked on Glick's office door and asked for the keys to the weight room. "He said he had a lot of ground to make up," Glick said. "That's when I knew he'd be a special player." Today, Gay is a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward who has signed with national champion Connecticut and was named The Post's 2003-04 All-Met player of the year. This week Gay and Glick both insisted Gay would eschew immediate NBA riches and play for the Huskies next season. But the lure of the NBA remains -- "a million dollars is definitely tempting," Gay said Tuesday night -- and it could become harder to ignore if he performs well in Saturday night's national game at the 31st Capital Classic. "Maybe if I score 100 points I'll go," Gay joked yesterday. The deadline for declaring for the NBA draft is May 12. NBA front-office employees are not allowed to comment publicly on high school players who have not officially entered the draft, but they have been in attendance at camps and all-star games and practices -- yesterday's, for instance -- where Gay has shined while playing with players such as Dwight Howard, a 6-10 forward from Georgia who will play in Saturday night's game and already has declared for the draft. Glick said he was contacted by several NBA scouts at all-star games in San Antonio and Oklahoma City who said Gay would be a first-round pick, if he declared. "I think it's difficult for a lot of kids, because there are so many kids now talking about going to the NBA," said Montrose Christian Coach Stu Vetter, who will coach Gay's team Saturday night. "And the success of LeBron James, that's been a double-edged sword. LeBron was certainly ready to go to the NBA, but for every LeBron, there's going to be hundreds that aren't ready to go that might declare for the NBA and are not very successful. Certainly the pressure is on now for someone like Rudy." This season Gay led Spalding to a 30-7 record, a No. 12 ranking in The Post and the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association "A" Conference title. He was a force on both ends of the court, leading the Cavaliers in points (21.2), rebounds (9.2) and blocked shots (3.7) per game. He added 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game, shot 52 percent from the field, 33.5 percent from three-point range and 72.6 percent from the foul line. "He's one of the best high school players I've ever seen," DeMatha Coach Mike Jones said. "We played them our last game of the season, and he maybe had 11 points through the first three quarters and they were losing by five. Then he goes off and scores 20 in the fourth to make sure his team wins." But more than any of his tangible accomplishments, Gay's potential is what makes him so attractive. NBA teams now draft primarily on "upside," and Gay has plenty, coaches say. He has a 7-foot-2 wingspan, a 35-inch vertical leap, the ball-handling skills of a guard, a shooting range that extents beyond the three-point arc and an above-the-rim style that allowed him to win slam dunk competitions at the prestigious Slam Dunk to the Beach and Alhambra tournaments this year. "You can go to NBA games and you won't see too many guys more physically gifted than he is," Bullis Coach Bruce Kelley said. "He's going to create a lot of problems at any level," Vetter added. "He has the ability to take his man off the dribble from the perimeter, yet he can post up inside." And he doesn't turn 18 until August. "The sky's the limit," Glick said. "It's scary to think about how good he'll be when he's a 23- or 24-year-old man and he's completely filled out." Gay grew up playing baseball and did not start playing basketball seriously until the summer after eighth grade. He spent two years at Eastern Tech, his neighborhood school, but then decided to transfer to Spalding, an Anne Arundel County private school whose team plays a competitive national schedule. When he arrived at Spalding, Gay was 6-7, 180 pounds and brimming with potential. In the past, he had played in the post because of his height. But in his junior year at Spalding, Gay was encouraged to play facing the basket -- in part because the Cavaliers had two seven-footers, and in part to capitalize on Gay's skills. Between the end of his junior season at Spalding in March 2003 and the beginning of summer league play in June, Gay grew in stature both literally (an inch to 6-8) and figuratively. In the Cavaliers' second summer league game, he scored 39 points, including eight three-pointers, against Washington Catholic Athletic Conference power O'Connell. He then cemented his status as a top 10 recruit with his performance at the Nike All-American Camp. "That's when he blew up," said Florida State-bound Isaiah Swann, who played on Gay's team at the Nike camp and will play against him Saturday night. "A couple years ago, he wasn't doing anything, but he sprouted. I was like, 'What are you doing scoring 30 points?' He was like, 'I don't know.' " This year, despite increased attention and scrutiny, Gay did not disappoint. And in recent weeks, he has shown he can play with the best prospects in the nation. In the McDonald's All American game in Oklahoma City, Gay scored 10 points, including two three-pointers. "I think I held my own," Gay said. "And if I can hold my own with the best players right now, I won't have much of a problem doing it next year." And for now, it seems as though that will be at Connecticut.