If the ball stayed in his hand a split second longer, Keifer Sykes might have had college basketball’s 2014-15 play of the year.
The 5-foot-11 Sykes drove through the lane and went up for a dunk against Wisconsin’s 6-11 Frank Kaminsky last season. The ball slipped out and the dunk missed, but the statement was made.
“Thank God that @keifer1124 missed that dunk,” Kaminsky tweeted. “Would have ruined my confidence as a basketball player.”
The dunk was a combination of fearlessness, confidence and athleticism that Sykes has taken into his rookie season with the Austin Spurs.
After finishing his college career at Wisconsin-Green Bay as the two-time Horizon League player of the year, Sykes is now a rookie in Austin learning to be a pro.
Sykes was with the San Antonio Spurs in training camp and became Austin’s starting point guard after Bryce Cotton received an NBA call-up. Sykes has averaged 11.8 points and 4.9 assists this season as the Spurs are off to a 9-2 start.
The Austin Spurs will play their first ever game at the AT&T Center on Dec. 29, when they face the defending D-League champion Santa Cruz Warriors. Tickets starting at $10 are available at ticketmaster.com and the AT&T Center box office.
“Austin and the Spurs organization is the place I need to be,” Sykes said. “I’ve only been part of the organization since October, but I’ve already learned so much. I’m picking up something new every day.”
Sykes said his Spurs education began on the first day of training camp, when he was practicing next to Tony Parker and Patty Mills.
He was wowed by their preparation and regimen, and spent much of camp watching them work, soaking in everything he could.
“That, to me, is the Spurs way,” Sykes said. “I saw the way they prep, take care of their bodies, study film and respond to coaches with no time going to waste. Those are the things that build a champion.”
Sykes’ next tutor was in Austin, as he began the season backing up Bryce Cotton. He had a feeling Cotton wasn’t going to be his teammate for long, and he was right.
Just two weeks into the Austin season, the Phoenix Suns signed Cotton.
“Bryce walked me through everything when he was here,” Sykes said. “There’s a lot more to mental preparation in the pros than in college, and Bryce helped me with that. You have to grasp that you have to guard Steph Curry in the NBA, and you have to be at his level for every single possession. Or you’ll be eaten alive out there.”
Austin coach Ken McDonald said he sees similarities between Sykes and Cotton. Both are undersized, as Cotton is listed at 6-1. At the 2015 NBA Draft combine, Sykes was the lightest (167.2 pounds) and second-shortest (5-foot-11 3/4 in shoes) among about 60 draft prospects. Sykes makes up for it with a 45-inch vertical that he showed plenty of times in college.
McDonald said he was impressed by Sykes’ defensive intensity, attacking every possession like a gnat.
“He has all the intangibles - the competitiveness, the will to win, the work ethic,” McDonald said. “Right now, he’s adjusting from being a scorer in college to being a leader. He’s matured quite a bit already in his time here.”
Sykes attended Marshall High School in inner-city Chicago, the home of “Hoop Dreams” star Arthur Agee and another pesky point guard, the Houston Rockets’ Patrick Beverley. He also played on the same AAU team as Milwaukee’s Jabari Parker and former Louisville guard Wayne Blackshear.
But he was often overlooked next to those teammates, and signed with Wisconsin-Green Bay.
It was there, in a football-crazed town, that Sykes stole the show for a few months a year.
He finished his career ranked second in program history in scoring (2,096 points) and as the only player in Horizon League history to accumulate 2,000-plus points, 500-plus assists and 400-plus rebounds.
Sykes’ fearlessness and his attempts to defy gravity drew plenty of attention.
“He was taking over games as a freshman, and you knew then that this kid was special,” Sykes’ college coach Brian Wardle said. “And for four years, he went to work every day.”
Sykes went undrafted, but played with Cleveland in the 2015 NBA Summer League. At the end of September, he signed with the Spurs.
Sykes said he chose a chance to play in the Spurs organization rather than go to Europe because he wanted to follow the paths of Cory Joseph, Cotton and other Austin guards who have made the NBA leap.
And Sykes has never lacked the ability to leap.
“I’m here because I want to be known as a winner,” Sykes said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”
lchan@attcenter.com
Twitter:@lornechan