SirValiant Brown freely admits that greed led to the gaudy point totals that jump off of his college résumé.
The former NCAA Division 1 scoring star at George Washington also doesn’t hesitate to say that greed ultimately cost him a chance at the NBA career he dreamed of.
It’s a dream Brown isn’t letting go of, and the 26-year-old is hoping for a fresh start as he hits the hardwood with the Halifax Rainmen at training camp this week.
“I was greedy, only worrying about myself and how I performed out on the court, and I never did well in a team setting,” Brown says. “But that was in my younger days.”
The 6-foot-1 guard was the one of the NCAA’s most sensational freshman in 1999-2000, when he stormed into George Washington and averaged 24.6 points per game — in large part because he jacked up almost 24 shots per game. He almost became the first rookie to lead the nation in scoring.
His career went off the rails after his sophomore season, when he left school to enter the NBA draft. Rumours swirled that he’d be a top-20 selection, but he didn’t get picked.
Thus began an eight-year minor-pro odyssey that featured a whopping 16 stops, including Greece, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and, most recently, Iceland.
Brown says his decision to leave college was a mistake because he never had a chance to round out his game.
“I take the blame,” he says. “I was just basing it on rumours that I’d be picked. I just said, ‘Oh, wow.’ You’re young. You’re really young. You want to help your friends get out of whatever situation they’re in (financially) and you do it.”
Although fame and fortune have eluded him, the former Atlantic 10 rookie of the year says “it’s been a good journey.”
He sported an old George Washington T-shirt and a Jumpman headband as the Rainmen opened camp at King’s College yesterday, and was a willing participant in the gruelling technical drills of head coach Rick Lewis.
It’s all part of what Brown calls a newfound commitment to team, which he hopes will get him to the NBA.
“Why not?” he says. “Do the right thing, listen to the right people and don’t do it my way, the way I did it in the past. The sky’s the limit, I hope. It’s been a long journey. We’ll see.”
