USA TODAY International Edition
Touted Preston finds his place
6- 10 forward happier after settling in at Oak Hill
Billy Preston is 19 spots too low with his No. 20 overall ranking in the ESPN 100, at least as far as he’s concerned.
“There aren’t 19 players in the country better than me,” said Preston, a forward at Oak Hill Academy ( Mouth of Wilson, Va.). “I just don’t see that.”
He certainly has a case. At 6- 10, Preston has the skills of a polished guard, a solid jump shot and the type of athleticism that would make most NBA players envious.
“I’ve never coached a player at his size with his skills,” said Oak Hill coach Steve Smith, who has coached multiple NBA AllStars such as Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant. “I don’t think he’s fully aware of how good he is, but he’s starting to realize it. He’s just happier now.”
Preston looked plenty jovial in the No. 2 Warriors’ 84- 55 victory against Cannon School ( Concord, N. C.) on Saturday in the Phenom Hoops National Showcase. In two games in the event, Preston averaged 20 points and 15 rebounds.
“I’m finally in a place where I’m having fun and not worried about anything but school and basketball,” Preston said. “Just being able to say that is big for me. I haven’t had that in a long time.”
Oak Hill is Preston’s fifth school in five years.
Last season, he played at Advanced Prep International ( Dallas), which had issues with player eligibility after the season concluded. That followed time as a sophomore at Prime Prep in Dallas after a midseason departure from Redondo Union in Southern California. ( His mother said at the time the move away from Redondo Union was an academic issue related to block scheduling and not related to basketball.) He spent his freshman year at St. John Bosco in Bellflower, Calif.
Preston readily admitted that the constant relocating came with a negative connotation that has been hard to shake.
Still, that hasn’t stopped college basketball heavyweights such as Indiana, Kansas, Syracuse and Southern California from applying the full- court recruiting press. He has tweeted he plans to announce his decision this week.
“I definitely feel like I’m misunderstood, but, at the same time, I understand why people think what they think,” Preston said. “I can’t worry about what other people think, though. Things are just different for me now. I always wanted to play for a coach that I would do anything for, and I’ve definitely found that in Coach Smith.”
The Warriors are the defending Dick’s Sporting Goods High School Nationals champions, and Smith said that, in order to repeat, the Warriors will rely heavily on Preston.
“I used to watch him last year, and he just wasn’t engaged and he’d just go through the motions, but I told him before he came, ‘ You can’t play like that if you want to play for me,” Smith said. “Since he’s been here, it’s been like night and day. He’s a great kid, and he really just wants to get better.”
In the last three months, Preston said he added 10 pounds of muscle, revamped his diet and improved his jump shot and agility. “Coach Smith is a legend, and he’s just someone I can look up to in a lot of different ways,” Preston said. “When I’m playing, I don’t want to let him or my teammates down. I haven’t always been able to say that, but I know he cares about me. That’s big for me.”