Big Center of Attention for Small Atlanta School

The student body at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy barely exceeds 100; its boys’ basketball program is only 6 years old.

But as each week passes this winter, this kindergarten-12th-grade private school in the heart of the South is getting prominent mention in newspapers, on message boards and in courtside conversations across the nation.

The biggest reason -- big as in nearly 7 feet tall -- is senior center Dwight Howard II, projected by experts to be a top pick in the NBA draft in June.

Howard and his teammates are in Southern California to play in the Pangos Dream Classic on Saturday at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. The Warriors will play Compton Dominguez at 7 p.m. in the fourth of five games that will display some of the best teams in Southern California and across the U.S.

Along with Howard, two other players scheduled to compete, 5-11 point guard Sebastian Telfair of Brooklyn Lincoln and 7-1 center Robert Swift of Bakersfield, are considered possible first-round picks in the upcoming draft. Telfair, however, has an injured ankle and his status has not been determined.

Howard gave notice that he should be pegged as the top high school player in the nation in June, when he was chosen as the best player at the NBA Players Assn. Top 100 Camp in Richmond, Va. Three weeks later, he cemented that distinction at the prestigious ABCD camp in Hackensack, N.J.

Many who have seen Howard play liken him to Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who went straight from high school to the NBA in 1995, and Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs. Many say Howard, who weighs 255 pounds, has more athleticism than Duncan and can be more physical than Garnett.

Only Georgia and Georgia Tech have continued recruiting Howard, said Southwest Atlanta Christian Coach Courtney Brooks; the rest have long ago given up hope that Howard will play college basketball.

“After such an awesome camp at ABCD, schools like Florida and Florida State just said this kid’s a pro,” Brooks said Thursday before his team was scheduled to fly to California. “It’s not a foregone conclusion, though. He’ll make his decision at the end of the season.”

Brooks came to Southwest Atlanta Christian when Howard was in eighth grade. After the basketball team won only seven games that season, Brooks said Howard and the other incoming freshmen spent most of the summer in the gym working on their game. Because Howard broke his leg at the end of his freshman season and could not participate in summer camps, he was still relatively unknown heading into his sophomore year.

“He blew up on the radar after his sophomore year,” Brooks said.

The coach said he has been most impressed watching Howard’s ego stay intact while his reputation has ballooned.

Despite earning all-state honors his sophomore and junior seasons, dominating at summer camps last year and putting himself in position to become a wealthy man at age 18, Brooks said Howard’s attitude and work ethic have not wavered.

“You’re not going to find a better person that’s in the same position he’s in,” Brooks said. “He’s very humble. He’s a kid. He has a little boy smile about him and a peace that’s God sent.”

Brooks said his children, ages 4, 6 and 9, are Howard’s biggest fans. Before Howard travels to a tournament or camp, they often ask to come to school and wish him goodbye.

“He’s the type of kid, if you have a little boy or girl, you would not mind having them around him,” Brooks said. “He understands the power of his influence right now.”

Howard averaged 26 points and 25 rebounds a game while leading the Warriors to the tournament title earlier this week at the Slam Dunk to the Beach in Lewes (Del.). For the season, he’s averaging 27 points, 18 rebounds and eight blocks a game.

“He’s very consistent,” said Brooks, who will also coach the Warriors at tournaments in South Carolina and New Jersey this winter. “I’ve coached about 80-something games with him and I’ve never had to worry about what he’s going to give me.”

Brooks is so confident of his ability, he wouldn’t fret if Howard decided to dribble the ball up the floor with the game on the line.

“Most people, if they had a 7-foot player dribbling the ball the length of the floor with 10 seconds remaining, would say, ‘Get it to the guard,’ ” Brooks said. “I wouldn’t blink and I wouldn’t call timeout. If the ball is in his hands, he’s going to do something good with it.”

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*--* Boys’ Basketball

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* What: Pangos Dream Classic

* Where: at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA

* When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m., Los Angeles Price vs. Riverside King; 4 p.m., Seattle (Wash.) Rainier Beach vs. Bakersfield; 5:30 p.m., North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake vs. New York Lincoln; 7 p.m., Compton Dominguez vs. Southwest Atlanta Christian; 8:45 p.m., Woodland Hills Taft vs. Reseda Cleveland.

* Top players: Dwight Howard, 6-11 center, Southwest Atlanta Christian; Sebastian Telfair, 5-11 guard, Brooklyn Lincoln; Robert Swift, 7-0 center, Bakersfield, who has signed with USC; Chester Giles, 6-11 center, Seattle Rainier Beach, who has signed with Miami; Jordan Farmar, 6-2 guard, Woodland Hills Taft, who has signed with UCLA; Nick Young, 6-5 forward, Reseda Cleveland, who has signed with USC.

* Tickets: Available through Ticketmaster, $10-20.

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