Olowokandi is No 1 and on his way to joining the legends

FIRST Michael Olowokandi hugged his parents Ezekiel and Agnes in the green room backstage in the General Motors arena in Vancouver. Then he walked out front, his smiling progress lit by flash bulbs, tracked on camera and relayed on to a giant screen above the stage.

Another screen confirmed the truth of what National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern had just read out and what the 23-year-old from Hendon says he still, several hours on, cannot believe.

That, like legends such as Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Patrick Ewing before him, he is the No 1 pick in the NBA Draft, the outstanding new prospect in North American professional basketball. Not even Michael Jordan was No 1. "The last five minutes before the pick felt like five years," says Olowokandi. "Getting up there and seeing my name at No 1 was unbelievable, especially when I consider where I came from three years ago. As a No1 pick, there are a lot of expectations, a lot of responsibilities. But it's something I can handle. I have to get over it and embark on my new journey." The "new journey" starts with a three-year contract worth GBP 5.6 million with Los Angeles Clippers, an ambitious but inconsistent NBA franchise that ended last season at the bottom of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. That puts him eighth in Britain's list of top sport earners. With their coach of four years Bill Fitch fired, the emphasis now is on rebuilding. Next year they move into a new arena which they will share with their more glamorous neighbours the LA Lakers, home to Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. The denouement in Vancouver early this morning was merely the latest part of an unlikely story from the unusual circumstances that first took Olowokandi across the Atlantic three years ago to the extraordinary progress he has made as a player since and to the position where he could one day become Britain's highest paid sportsman. After two years studying engineering at Brunel, Olowokandi, son of a Nigerian diplomat, decided he wanted to learn to play basketball at an American college. He had little idea about the game (his experience was confined to chuck-abouts with friends) and knew even less about the North American collegiate system. If he had, he may never have called the University of Pacific in Califor-"As a No 1 pick, there are a lot of nia, a respectable enough academic seat but with a history of sporting achievement limited to two women's national volleyball titles in the mid- Eighties. As it was, he picked up Peterson's List of American Colleges directory at his home in Hendon one evening and called the basketball office of the first college he came to. At the other end, assistant coach Tony Marcopolus was minding the office while the secretary took lunch. This chore dated back to an edict laid down by head coach Bob Thomason, who said that someone always had to be in the office to cover the phones. "You never know when a seven footer is going to call," explained Thomason. Marcopolus was sitting down to a salami on sour dough sandwich when the call from Hendon came through. "I know this sounds peculiar," said an English voice, "but I'm seven feet tall and I want to play basketball." The coach was sceptical but intrigued. He explained to Olowokandi that Pacific had no scholarships left and that if he wanted to come, he had to pay his own way ($21,000 a year). In fact, Olowokandi could not have picked a more ideal training ground. "Although it's not where most NBA wannabes would go for fear of becoming lost, it is the perfect place to learn, certainly for a player like Olowokandi to pick up the basic skills," says Phil Taylor, senior basketball writer for Sports Illustrated. "At a North Carolina or a UCLA, where there are plenty of players to chose from, he'd probably never have got the playing time." When Olowokandi arrived in the autumn, he was, "a terrible basketball player, just horrible" according to Marcopolus. "He had no concept of the game," says Marcopolus. "Except for his size, he was the equivalent of an eight-year old, his knowledge was elementary school level if that." Early sessions were spent marking out the court, learning the terminology and rhythms of a game that most American kids had picked up in years of backyard one-on-one. But what was also apparent to the Pacific coaching staff was that their new recruit was a quick learner, a blank canvas which could soak up every sweep and brush of the game, and a wonderful athlete. By the end of the first season, he was making decisive contributions as a late replacement. Progress in the second was hampered by knee and ankle injuries, which limited him to 19 games. By last season, Pacific's entire game plan revolved around their 270lbs centre and he responded by setting new college scoring records and being named Western Divisional Player of the Year. NBA scouts descended on the extra seats set out for them at Pacific's Spanos Center and walked away impressed. "He's got great athletic ability," says Marty Blake, NBA director of scouting. "But the key to him is how far he has come in such a short time. If he's improved this much in three years, how far can he go in another 10? His best basketball is definitely ahead of him." Olowokandi, who is already being compared with Hakeem Olajuwon, the legendary Houston Rockets centre from Nigeria, says: "I feel I'm ready to compete against the best players in the world. If you have the drive to be successful, you will do whatever it takes to become a success."

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