LAS VEGAS -- A playful debate is quietly lingering around the Trail Blazers' organization this week during the NBA Summer League: How to characterize second-round draft pick Jeff Pendergraph?
Goofy?
Eccentric?
Outgoing?
Quirky?
Maybe a little bit of each?
"Let's put it this way: He's a unique personality -- a very unique personality," said Chad Buchanan, the Blazers' director of college scouting. "But in a good way. He's confident and comfortable with himself and he doesn't care what people think about him."
When Pendergraph stopped in Portland for a predraft workout last month, before the Blazers drafted him with the 31st overall pick, he sauntered around the team's practice court flexing his biceps like a body builder as he posed for pictures. Since he's become a professional, Pendergraph has bragged that he no longer needs to create himself in the video game NBA Live and that he intends to buy a new car after he signs a contract -- a used Mercedes.
All this from the person who owns three snakes and two dogs, and recycled through eight cars (or "junkers" that "kept breaking down") during his four years at Arizona State.
The Blazers boasted that they had acquired a gritty, take-no-prisoners tough guy when they drafted him out of ASU. Turns out they also added a fresh personality to the locker room who isn't afraid to admit he's a bit different.
"Just a tad," he said, grinning. "I'm not your stereotypical anything. But I try not to be like that. I don't want to fit into any category. The category I want to fit in is my category. So I like it."
Indeed, Pendergraph seems to relish not taking himself very seriously. In many ways, he said he's a "big kid" who plays video games, enjoys having fun and prefers wearing a smile on his face. It all discourages stress, which makes it "easier to get along in life."
Of course, this all changes when the 6-foot-10 power forward steps on a basketball court.
"As you've seen (in summer league), he's gonna fight you, he's gonna battle you," Buchanan said. "He's not going to back down from anybody. He's kind of got that mind-set. He's a really nice, educated guy, and then you put him out there in a competitive environment and he turns into an animal. He's just got two sides to him."
Pendergraph made himself into a warrior at Arizona State.
He arrived on campus weighing 190 pounds and unable to bench press 150 pounds. He left weighing a ripped 245. He was never counted on to carry the offense and Sun Devils' coaches never constructed game plans around him. But he started a school-record 120 games, played in a school-record 126 and he finished as the sixth-leading scorer (1,588 points) and second-leading rebounder (942) in ASU history.
The Blazers are not counting on him to score or be a rotation player, and they admit he needs to work on his strengths: rebounding and defense. Through four summer league games, he's averaging 11.0 points and 8.3 rebounds..
The Sun Devils ran a zone defense, so he's still learning to rebound in a man-to-man scheme and attack the basket rather than patrol his "zone." His midrange jumper is a work in progress. But Pendergraph is physical around the basket and refuses to be outworked or manhandled.
Proof of that came in the Blazers' second summer league game, when Pendergraph hounded, harassed and generally lodged himself underneath the skin of Rockets big man Joey Dorsey -- to the point that Dorsey drew a technical foul after he flailed an elbow at Pendergraph after being fouled on a rebound.
The Blazers think they have a prospect with intelligence -- he earned an economics degree at ASU in 3 1/2 years -- and drive who could develop into an enforcer.
"He's just going to do all the little stuff and he's going to enjoy doing it," Buchanan said. "He accepts and likes that. He's starting to figure out that his role is to get under guys' skin a little bit. He didn't back down from Dorsey a bit. I told (general manager) Kevin (Pritchard) and (coach) Nate (McMillan) that he's either not smart enough to realize who he's messing with or he's really a tough kid. Some guys kind of put up a front and try to act tough, whereas I think Jeff is legitimately tough."
This mind-set, in part, comes from Pendergraph's time at ASU, where he persevered through career-threatening adversity.
Just before he arrived at ASU, a routine physical examination revealed Pendergraph had a growth on his right knee. A closer inspection showed a tumor. ASU did not clear him to play and his basketball future was in jeopardy.
Pendergraph had surgery on his knee and went into the operating room thinking doctors were going to perform an arthroscopic procedure. Instead, he had a more serious surgery to remove the tumor. It turned out benign and he went on to start 22 games as a freshman.
Two years later, after his sophomore season, Pendergraph encountered another obstacle when ASU coach Rob Evans, the man who recruited Pendergraph, was fired. Pendergraph contemplated a transfer. But he remained loyal to ASU and helped the team reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons this year.
"It was a character-tester early in my career," Pendergraph said of his college challenges. "Some guys don't go through that until they're older, if ever. But, I mean, dealing with it early kind of put me to the fire quickly, and I had to grow up and learn things a lot faster."
So back to the debate: What kind of character is this Pendergraph guy?
"Energetic," said Darren Collison, a rookie with the New Orleans Hornets who played with Pendergraph in high school and as a youth. "That's how he's always been. He's real down to earth. He doesn't really care too much about himself. He cares about others. That's Jeff Pendergraph. He's always going to be like that, always going to be funny."
Notes:The Blazers ended their summer league malaise with a convincing 91-74 victory Saturday over the San Antonio Spurs. It was their first win in four games. ...
The three focal points of summer league -- second-year point guard Jerryd Bayless and rookie forwards Dante Cunningham and Pendergraph -- had standout games. Bayless finished with 18 points and five assists and drained 5 of 9 field goals. Pendergraph registered his first double double (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Cunningham added 14 points on 7 of 12 shooting. ...
Pooh Jeter, in his continuing effort to earn a roster spot with the Blazers, also excelled while making his first start. A natural point guard, Jeter played shooting guard alongside Bayless and finished with a team-high 19 points and four assists. The University of Portland graduate is averaging 14.8 points and 3.8 assists and has made 22 of 40 shots through four games. ...
Former University of Oregon standout Malik Hairston had nine points, two rebounds and one assist for the Spurs.
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