MIKE CHIEN Jason Kapono will wait until the end
of the season to decide if he should declare for the draft.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Next year.
It’s what the fans are talking about. The media
speculates, his teammates don’t know.
But for Jason Kapono, next year isn’t on his mind while
the Bruins are in season. The junior forward has flirted with the
NBA draft each year that he’s been a Bruin.
After the 1999-2000 season, Kapono was told by scouts that he
was one of the top shooters and that he would have a chance at
going in the first round, which got him thinking about cutting his
career as a Bruin short.
At 19-years-old, Kapono was faced with the choice of a lifetime
““ forego his last three years of eligibility for a possible
three-year NBA contract or stay at UCLA and see what college is all
about.
Kapono initially declared for the 2000 draft, but after
consulting outside opinions and getting feedback on where he needed
to improve ““ namely, defensive quickness ““ Kapono
decided to return for his second year.
“I took my time and didn’t sign with anyone, and
came back to school,” Kapono said. “Obviously when
you’re young, you think about only one plan, to play
basketball, but I started to look more at life instead of just
basketball. You look at the fact that even if you do go pro, and
you don’t make it ““ after three years you’re
done, and you’re only going to be 22-years-old or
23.”
After his sophomore year, the Bruins’ leading scorer
didn’t consider the NBA as seriously as he had one year prior
““ the opportunity to play with the 2001-02 squad was too
great to pass up.
“I never wanted to leave school without having won
something,” Kapono said. “I’ve never won a Pac-10
championship, a preseason tourney, a Christmas tourney, or never
advanced past the Sweet 16. You never just want to be known
as…”
As just a great player.
Kapono holds the record for three-point field goal percentage
(.465) and three-pointers scored in a season (84). Kapono has been
a co-MVP and the Bruins’ leading scorer for all three years.
And if Kapono returns for his senior year, he will have the chance
to break virtually every school scoring record.
“He’s sounded more and more like he wants to come
back for his senior year,” head coach Steve Lavin said.
“I’m sure he’ll consider his options, but I
don’t think it’s an automatic he’s going, but I
also don’t think it’s automatic that he’s
staying.
Lavin has helped Kapono explore his options by providing
feedback from NBA sources, namely Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.
“As a coach you want to unconditionally support a player
in whatever his decision happens to be,” Lavin said.
“What I’ve always tried to do is to present a balanced
and accurate view of the advantages and disadvantages of going or
staying.”
When decision time rolls around again this year, Kapono will do
what he’s done twice before ““ get feedback from scouts,
talk with his parents and ultimately make his decision based upon
what his heart tells him.
“There’s some luck to it ““ timing, the kind of
draft it is, if it is my time,” Kapono said.
For Kapono it’s not really about the money. It’s not
that he has trouble in school, he’s been on the Athletic
Director’s Honor Roll a number of times. And it’s
certainly not that he’s not enjoying college.
“It’s just that my dream and my goals have always
been set on pro basketball,” Kapono said. “and if that
time has come for me, I’m ready to go. But if it
hasn’t, it’s not a bad Plan B to come back and play at
such a great school.”