Kelenna Azubuike, bypassed in the draft, played five seasons in the NBA, the first four with the Golden State Warriors under head coach Don Nelson. Here’s Azubuike’s story.
Golden State trailed the Denver Nuggets by six with three minutes left in the second quarter at the Warriors’ Oracle Arena. The Warriors’ Kelenna Azubuike leaped over Carmelo Anthony to grab a defensive rebound, threw an outlet pass, ran downcourt, and set up just behind the three-point line. Monta Ellis whipped a pass to Azubuike, who nailed the three.
Courtesy Basketball Wiki
That play highlighted Azubuike’s great leaping ability, aggressiveness, and three-point shooting touch. It also typified the frenetic style that carried the Warriors to their first playoff appearance in 13 years in 2007 and a stunning 4-2 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. It was the first time in NBA history that an #8-seed had defeated a #1-seed in a seven-game series.
Don Nelson, who has the second-most wins of any coach in NBA history, brought a free-wheeling style to Golden State when he returned to coach the Warriors in 2006. Azubuike, who at 6’5″ can play both guard and small forward, was a model player in Nelson’s scheme.
“He’s a pretty good all-around player. His number one thing is that he has some shooting range,” said Nelson. “He works on defense, he’s a pretty good rebounder, and fits right into our system.”
In 2006-07, Azubuike’s .430 three-point field-goal percentage was second among NBA rookies. He averaged 7. 1 points playing 16 minutes per game. The next season, he played more, providing quality play off the bench to ease the load on star players Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson.
“I’ve got to bring a lot of energy when I come in,” Azubuike said, “and do whatever we need at the time, whether it’s getting rebounds or shooting threes if the right shot is there.”
Azubuike’s path to the NBA was as incredible as the Warriors’ resurgence from the league’s doormat to one of its most exciting teams. Raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Azubuike led Victory Christian High School to the state basketball title as a sophomore. He topped the state in scoring in each of his final three high school seasons, averaging 39.1 points and 13.3 rebounds as a senior. After three years at the University of Kentucky, including two trips to the NCAA Elite Eight, Azubuike decided to enter the 2005 NBA draft. No team selected him.
He was devastated, but the Cleveland Cavaliers asked him to play in their summer league.
“I decided I wasn’t going to give up. I’m not going to let my dream die here,” he recalled. “I decided I belong in the NBA. So I just kept working hard to stay focused. I realized that I had a tough road ahead of me, but I was ready.”
There were more bumps in the road. Azubuike played the preseason for Cleveland, but the Cavaliers waived him before the season began. He signed with Fort Worth in the NBA Development League, where he shot over 50 percent for the season and helped the Flyers win the regular season D-League title. Then the Houston Rockets invited him to training camp.
Kelenna Azubuike: I played well there, but they had too many guys,” says Azubuike.”They signed Bonzi Wells late, so that wasn’t good for me. I realized that I probably wouldn’t make the team. I just kept working hard, and I was ready if they cut me to go to the D-League and then try to get back up.
Houston did cut him. Azubuike went back to Fort Worth and played with passion. After 12 games with the Flyers, he was leading the league in scoring at 26 points per game. Fort Worth coach Sydney Moncrief, a former NBA All-Star who became the Warriors’ shooting coach, recommended Azubuike to Nelson. The Warriors signed him on January 2, 2007.
“He [Moncrief] told me about him, and I just basically took his word,” Nelson recalled. “I had never seen him play. He came in, and he was everything Sydney told me he was.”
Many players have been called up from the D-League, but not many have thrived in the NBA.
“There are other players who have failed their first time around in the NBA,” Nelson noted. “He is one of the guys that the D-League looks to as a success story.”
Courtesy Golden State of Mind
Azubuike easily could have quit, especially after coming up empty in the NBA draft. “It was depressing, and you get tempted to get down on yourself and give up,” Azubuike acknowledged, “but my family was huge. They gave me a lot of support and encouraged me to keep going. And my relationship with Jesus Christ was definitely huge too. I could go pray and read the Bible and get back strong again.”
Azubuike’s parents nurtured his faith as a child, and he recalls asking Jesus to forgive his sins and come into his life when he was five or six years old. “My parents kept me in church, they raised me right, they read the Word a lot,” he said. He admits it is not easy to maintain that spiritual discipline in the NBA.
“It can be a challenge, trying to get into the Word every day,” he explained. “A lot of times we’re on the road, you’ve got early practices or early shoot-arounds. It’s challenging to maintain your routine. And not just make it a routine, but get something out of it.”
Azubuike regularly attended the Warriors’ chapel services, where he was joined by teammates Al Harrington, Troy Hudson, Patrick O’Bryant, and assistant coach Keith Smart, all fellow believers.
Azubuike said that making it to the league the hard way gave him plenty of motivation to stay there. “You’ve got to bring it every game,” he said.
And he did.
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This article first appeared in the May/June 2008 edition of Sports Spectrum magazine.
