Comfortable on the Court - AT LAST!

The debate over whether high school seniors are ready to graduate straight into the NBA was a hot one in Central Florida last year, but for some reason, DeShawn Stevenson wasn't part of the discussion.

That was a little odd considering Stevenson's history, which many people either don't know or have forgotten, either of which suits Stevenson just fine. He'd just as soon skip over as much of his first five years in the NBA as he can and talk instead about what he's doing this season.

"This is the first time in my NBA career where I feel like I can truly say I'm contributing something to my team," said Stevenson, and he wasn't referring to the 47 percent shooting and 12.7 points a game he was averaging the first six weeks of the season.

"I'm out there guarding the opposing team's best scorer every night and that is helping us win ballgames. It took me a long time to realize that you don't have to score a lot of points to make yourself valuable to your team. You can do it playing defense and contributing whatever you can at the offensive end."

Amen to that, says Magic Coach Brian Hill.

"It appeared to me that from day one that DeShawn had dedicated himself to having a good year by playing within the team concept," Hill said. "He's getting us offense by taking the ball aggressively to the basket and creating a shot, either for himself or for a teammate and he's accepted the fact that he's going to be guarding the best perimeter player our opponent has, whether that be at point guard, shooting guard or even small forward. That's a tough sell for some guys, but DeShawn has accepted the challenge."

Management saw the same thing.

"DeShawn decided he wanted to be a good defensive player last summer, he put in the time and now we're seeing the results," said Otis Smith, the Magic's assistant general manager. "He knows that is what is going to keep him on the floor and make him invaluable to our team.

"To me, that's just part of him maturing as a player and a person. People forget he might be a six-year veteran in this league, but he was only 18 when he started."

Which brings us back to the preps-to-pros debate and why Stevenson should have been a relevant subject when that issue heated up in Central Florida last year.

For those who don't know or have forgotten, Stevenson was one of the original question marks when there was a debate over drafting high school players into the NBA. He originally accepted a college scholarship from Kansas, but changed his mind after graduating from Washington Union High School in Fresno, Calif., and opted instead to make himself available in the 2000 NBA Draft.

He was the 23rd pick in the first round, taken by the very conservative, very successful and very experienced Utah Jazz. Karl Malone, John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek and Byron Russell were in the twilight of their careers so Stevenson was sent to the end of the bench and advised to learn from a distance.

That would be almost the direct opposite of the situation Dwight Howard walked into a year ago in Orlando. Howard was drafted to play right away for a franchise struggling to regain its standing. He was in the starting lineup opening night and the team has played sink-or-swim with him every game since then.

Stevenson, by contrast, was more like a spare part just trying to find a place to fit in when he arrived as an 18-year-old rookie in Utah.

"You find out quickly in the NBA that you've got to carve a niche for yourself if you want to stay around in this league, and there wasn't a niche to be carved in Utah," Stevenson said. "They didn't know what they wanted from me, and I was confused about what I was trying to be.

"I was supposed to be a scorer one year, and then I was supposed to be a jump shooter the next year, and then I was supposed to be a slasher the year after that, but nothing ever really stuck."

Except maybe the notion that he would have been better off serving his basketball apprenticeship at Kansas. The popular talk in Utah was that Stevenson was letting his skills go dormant on the Jazz bench when he could have been honing them nightly at Kansas.

"I used to get the question about missing out on college every week," Stevenson said. "I was going to Kansas with Drew Gooden and if I had gone there, I know we would have gone deep in the NCAA Tournament, but it didn't work out.

"I never doubted myself -- you can't doubt yourself and ever become a player at any level -- but I did wonder if my skills were getting rusty."

He wasn't the only one.

The Jazz lost faith and traded him to Orlando for Gordon Giricek in the middle of the 2003-2004 season. Stevenson didn't make much of an impression here until Hill arrived and wiped the slate clean for every player he inherited.

"I told DeShawn the first time I met him that I didn't really have a good feel for his game," Hill said. "He told me, 'Coach, I'm going to play defense for you,' and he hasn't backed away from that. He was here all summer working out. He was the first guy to show up for preseason drills in September and he was our best perimeter defender from the first day of training camp."

Stevenson smiled broadly when asked what the coaching change meant to his career. He no longer plays with a confused state of mind. He is on the same page with his coach, teammates and the fans in Orlando.

"It helps when your coach really believes in you," he said. "In some places, the coach will say, 'You can't guard that guy or you can't score on that guy, we're going to get somebody else in there,' and it really hurts your confidence. That hasn't been the case here. They gave me an opportunity from day one. Coach Hill showed faith in me so obviously I must be doing something right."

HOME SWEET HOME
He is so comfortable here that he sold his home in Fresno and bought a place in Orlando for his fiancee and their 7-month-old daughter. He outfitted the house with a DJ booth to indulge his passion for music -- he considers himself a historian and expert on R&B and rap -- and maintains a reliable fleet of water vehicles to take advantage of the climate in Central Florida.

"What's not to love about this place?" he asked. "It's warm all the time, you can drive around in drop-top cars, get on your jets skis anytime and cruise on the water ... it has everything I like.

"Plus, it has really helped me grow up and mature. I'm away from my mom and my family for the first time. I'll admit it, I was a momma's boy for too long. Now I have my own family, my own home to take care of. I still love my family in California, but I'm growing up here in Florida and I like that."

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This story originally appeared in the January issue of Magic Magazine. Get your favorite Magic fan a subscription to Magic Magazine! To subscribe call 1-877-841-7070 or e-mail subscription.service@skies.com and specify you want Magic Magazine. A one-year subscription is $18.95 and two-year is just $24.95.