Basketball has taken Scruggs everywhere but NBA

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Energy’s big man has played professional hoops on four continents

By John MacKinnon, The Edmonton JournalMay 9, 2009 8:02 AM

You’d have to think going from leading Georgetown to an upset victory over Syracuse in the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden almost a decade ago to being the big shooter with the Edmonton Energy in the scrappy, up-tempo International Basketball League is a long, strange basketball ride.

But there six-foot-11, 235-pound Lee Scruggs was Friday night, deploying his sweet jump shot in front of a half-full MacEwan College gym on opening night for the Energy.

Hey, it’s still basketball. Speed and scoring are the big selling points of the IBL, with its 22-second shot clock, 200-point games and paucity of time-outs.

There was rarely a dull moment in a 114-96 Edmonton victory over the Vancouver Titans. The big time it isn’t, but the IBL is entertaining.

Every now and then, a very animated public-address announcer tried to get the old dee-fence! chant going, and the Energy did keep the Titans under 100 points.

But who’s kidding who? This is a run-and-gun league by design -- the halftime score was 50-48 Edmonton -- and nobody’s complaining about that.

Not the gentleman of a certain age who gave his wife a twirl on the floor at halftime to the strains of Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Takin’ Care of Business.

Certainly not Scruggs, back for his second summer session in Edmonton after playing for the late, unlamented Chill last season.

Actually, Scruggs did have issues with a balky back that had him doubled over in pain once or twice during the game. He pumped in 10 points, mostly in the first half, before his back seized up.

By the fourth quarter, he was lying prostrate on the gym floor, assuming a familiar position for a basketball player whose back won’t co-operate.

That aside, it was all good for Scruggs and the home team, who improved their record to 2-1.

Since March 2000, when he matched up against Syracuse’s Etan Thomas, scored 20 points and pulled nine rebounds for the Hoyas at the Garden, Scruggs’ journey sure has taken him places. Just not the NBA.

Unchosen in 2001, his NBA draft year, Scruggs spent a couple of seasons with the Asheville Attitude of the NBA’s Development League, had a short stint with Guaros de Lara in Venezuela, a cup of coffee with the Dakota Wizards of the Continental Basketball Association, toiled one season for Namika Lahti of Finland’s Korisliiga and another for the Beijing Aoshen Olympians.

In 2008-09, he was a starter with the Minot Skyrockets (CBA), playing nine games for them before travelling to Cyprus, where he played for Aek. The club made the playoffs, but ran into financial difficulties when several team sponsors withdrew.

That’s an occupational hazard in minor-pro basketball, as Edmonton found out last season, when Troy Barns, owner of the one-and-done Chill, vanished at season’s end, leaving a trail of unpaid bills.

Anyway, if the financial issues in Cyprus were bad, all in all, Venezuela was the worst.

Last season, Scruggs told The Journal’s Chris O’Leary:

"I was staying in a run-down hotel with just a mattress on the floor. There were chickens running around the hotel. It was bad.

"I do believe during the time I went there, that there was a civil war going on in Venezuela. There were militants riding around in Jeeps with guns. It was bad. I stayed there about two weeks and me and another American guy, we snuck out in the middle of the night, got our own plane tickets and came home."Obviously, a guy with NBA ambitions will go to great lengths torefine his game, and Scruggsbelieves his Edmonton experience does precisely that."Most definitely, because financially you’re not going to make a lot of money playing in this league," Scruggs said. "It’s all about lovefor the game and coming here and trying to get better as a player."I came back because of my teammates and coach Sir."His love for the game clearly hasnot waned during his eight-year odyssey around the basketball world."I’ve worked hard, I’ve taken my chances when they came," Scruggs said."Unfortunately now, I just turned 30 and the NBA opportunity isstarting to fade."But, of course, that’s still my lifetime goal. But I’m happy playingover in Europe. I’ve been blessed to play the game of basketball."I’ve seen a lot of places. The game has treated me good. I can’tcomplain. I’m not making NBAmoney, but when I first startedthis game, I played for the love ofit. I still love the game, that’swhy I’m still playing."One wag on a Georgetown alumni website summed up Scruggs’ journey this way: He’s Will Farrell in Semi-Pro, but with more pathos.Not to mention that temporarily wonky back, and a summer home in Edmonton.

jmackinnon@thejournal.canwest.com

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