Undrafted rookie Wiley beats odds, tragedy
PORTLAND, Ore. — Jake Wiley’s incredible odyssey to Friday night’s quasihomecoming as an NBA player against the Trail Blazers is hard to believe, even for the guy living the dream.
He has gone from an emotionally lost teenager who found his father dead in the attic they shared as a home, to three different college stops. He has gone from undrafted unknown to a GLeague prospect to a player the injury-riddled Nets can’t do without.
From invisible to indispensable.
“Jake will be in there. He was good the other night [on Tuesday at Denver], good energy, eight rebounds,” coach Kenny Atkinson said before the Nets’ 101-97 victory. “We need his rebounding and his energy. He plays hard.”
Wiley, who had an assist in five minutes Friday, and one of his college coaches used the same word to describe his rise to the NBA.
“It was surreal,” Wiley said. “It means a lot to be with the team, and whether you play or not, just to cheer these guys on. If you get a chance, you go out and do your best to contribute. It’s really all about just being a positive energy and being a good support guy.”
For Wiley, Friday night was the closest he has come to Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash., one of his three collegiate stops.
It is also closest to Newport, Wash., where he was living with his father, Jeff, when he found him dead of a suicide. And it’s the closest to his own wife and daughter, who were at the Moda Center watching him live the NBA dream few thought possible.
“It’s so surreal, knowing he led the team in rebounding [eight] against the Nuggets in 21 minutes. You talk to people, if anybody said they saw this coming I think they’d be lying,” said Corban University head coach Austin Johnson, who was Wiley’s associate head coach at NAIA Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. “It’s not like he was can’t-miss. ... But he’s the hardest-working basketball player I’ve ever been around.”
Wiley, 23, has had to work for everything he ever has gotten. After his father’s death, he went to Montana for one season, bouncing from basketball to football to track while at the school. He lost his scholarship, took out loans and was working a $7-per-hour job cooking and washing dishes at a retirement home.
He left for Lewis-Clark, where Johnson mentored him. Eventually, Wiley walked on to the team at Eastern Washington, and es- sentially did the same in the NBA. Undrafted, Wiley went to Summer League with the Nets and earned a two-way deal most expected would mean a season developing in the GLeague.
After having been inactive the first six games, Wiley got 4:49 in his debut at home against the Nuggets and a 1:27 cameo in Los Angeles against the Lakers. Then came his 21-minute outing in Denver, when Wiley snatched a team-high eight boards and scored four points.