These future NBA stars left their mark in Bay Area
The NBA All-Star Game, exhibition game, that it is, reminded me of days past when college basketball drew elite talent to the Bay Area.
Eight players who participated in Sunday’s game made appearances here when they were still in their formative years:
STEPHEN CURRY >> The Warriors star and twotime MVP played his final college game in the Bay Area.
His Davidson team lost 80-68 at Saint Mary’s in the 2009 National Invitation Tournament, despite 29 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals (and six turnovers) from Curry.
“Hostile crowd, big atmosphere, it was definitely a fun game for all involved,” he said at the time.
It was more fun for Curry’s future NBA rival Patty Mills, who had 23 points and 10 assists and was a winner in the final home game of his Gaels’ career.
KLAY THOMPSON >> In his final collegiate stop here with Washington State, Thompson gave fans a glimpse of what he’d be doing 11 miles away at Oracle Arena, scoring 36 points, including five 3-pointers, in a loss at Cal on Jan. 13, 2011.
Two days later, he scored 21 in a victory at Stanford.
DAMIAN LILLARD >> The Oakland native, a senior at Weber State, arrived back home on Dec. 16, 2011, as the nation’s leading scorer at 26.9 points per game.
Two weeks earlier Lillard scored 41 points against San Jose State. But at Cal, the future Trail Blazers star was held to a season-low 14 points on 4-for-14 shooting against the tight defense of Jorge Gutierrez. JAMES HARDEN >> A decade before Harden assembled his ongoing streak of 30-point performances, No. 17 Arizona State brought an eight-game win streak to Cal on Jan. 17, 2009. Harden scored 26 points, but he was outplayed by the Bears’ Jerome Randle, who had 26 points and 10 assists to fuel an 81-71 Cal victory.
RUSSELL WESTBROOK >> A sophomore reserve in 2007-08 — on UCLA’s second of three consecutive Final Four teams — Westbrook gave no indication of his triple-double capabilities here. But he had 15 points in a victory at Stanford then 11 at Cal two days later, including a flying one-handed jam that got the attention of folks in Haas Pavilion. KAWHI LEONARD >> Leonard still was building the case for his NBA stardom when San Diego State played at Cal on Dec. 8, 2010. But Leonard came off the bench to score 20 points — the exact margin of the Aztecs’ 77-57 victory.
NIKOLA VUCEVIC >> The Orlando Magic big man made his final pass through the Bay Area with USC in February 2010, posting two of his 22 double-doubles that season. He had 21 points and 10 rebounds at Cal, then 19 and 14 at Stanford.
LEBRON JAMES >> The future Hall of Famer never faced Cal or Stanford because he never played college ball. But in the summer of 2001, when he was 16, James played for the Oakland Soldiers at an AAU tournament at Cal’s recreation sports facility.
James, a high school sophomore-to-be and teammate of future Cal players Leon Powe and Ayinde Ubaka, knew how to enjoy summer ball.
He brought an ice cream cone into the layup line before one game, Ubaka confirmed years later.
“Everybody takes everything so seriously,” Ubaka said. “It’s summertime basketball, and he was having fun. Of course, you turn it on during the game.”
• Losses at USC and UCLA stretched the Cal women’s team’s losing streak to five games and dropped them from No. 34 to No. 44 in the RPI computer. But the website RealTimeRPI still projects the Bears (14-11, 5-9 in Pac-12) as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Bears try to end their drought Friday at home against No. 19 Arizona State.
Stanford is pegged as a No. 2 seed and Oregon, despite its loss to Oregon State on Monday night, remains a No. 1, along with Notre Dame, Baylor and Louisville.
• Stanford’s Josh Sharma has scored double figures just 11 times in 115 career games, but the senior center has earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the second time.
Sharma averaged 18 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 17 for 20 from the field in victories over USC and UCLA last week. He collected his first award after posting 23 points and 18 rebounds against Long Beach State on Dec. 29.