Think you're having a good summer? Last month, Jeff Withey told Amar'e Stoudemire to come get some. A few days ago, the Kansas center found himself rubbing shoulders with LeBron James. Or maybe just elbows. Whatever. It was still pretty cool.
"He didn't play, unfortunately," says the Jayhawks' 7-footer, who spent last weekend at King James' skills camp in Las Vegas. "I think he was too worried about practicing for the USA (Olympic) team. But I got to see him, and everything like that."
Stoudemire actually did play at his camp in late June, even against some of the college pups. During one session, Withey rose up, reached over with those pterodactyl arms of his, and swatted one of the New York Knicks star's offerings off the backboard and into orbit.
"The Amar'e camp was a lot of drills, a lot of skill work, actually," says Withey, whose Vegas sparring partners included Phil Pressey of Missouri, Mason Plumee and Ryan Kelly from Duke, Tim Hardaway Jr. from Michigan, Creighton's Doug McDermott and Tony Mitchell of North Texas. "But LeBron's was more playing, a lot of 5-of-5 situations, more up and down. It was a good time, thought I did pretty well. Been working on my 15-foot jumper and thought I was able to display that there at the camp."
The San Diego native has been thinking about offense a lot lately. And the fact that he's going to be expected — for the first time in his tenure at Lawrence — to actually provide it. A supporting actor for three seasons, it remains to be seen how well Withey makes the transition to leading man.
"In high school, I averaged 24 a game, so I was able to score pretty well," said Withey, who'd averaged a more modest 9.3 points and 6.2 boards per game for the 2012 national runners-up. "Just getting back that mentality and catching the ball on the block, making a move and getting to the free-throw line — it's going to be a lot of fun. I definitely look forward to the challenge."
Over his first two seasons, Withey could hide in the shadows and roll out the wallflower act while the Morris twins did their thing. Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor drove the train and (deservedly) got the headlines this past winter for Kansas' surprise Big 12 championship and NCAA tournament run.
But there was more to it than that. It's no coincidence that when Withey took another step forward as a junior, the Jayhawks did the same — the big man averaged 10.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in Big 12 play, helping Kansas win 16 of 18 regular-season league contests.
"He needs to be a guy that can get 13 or 14 (points) a game for us," Jayhawks coach Bill Self says of his senior-to-be. "And still, hopefully, protect the rim as well as he did this (past) year on the other end."
The $50,000 question on the Kaw is this: Can Withey make the same jump into the spotlight that T-Rob did a year ago? Assuming he can stay out of foul trouble and on the floor, it's not a leap of faith. Robinson's minutes per game in 2011-12 went up by 2.17 times from his 2010-11 total. But his scoring went up at a greater rate (2.32 times more) because of increased field-goal attempts (5.1 per game to 13.3, 2.6 times more) and significantly improved free-throw shooting, which led to more makes at the charity stripe (1.5 per game to 4.2, 2.8 times more).
Withey is already a better foul shooter than Thomas, with a career average of 73.7 and a percentage of 79.5 a year ago. The big center went to the stripe, on average, once every 6.2 minutes played last year, but was only the third or fourth offensive option at any given time — attempting just 5.4 shots per tilt. If he now takes 12 shots per game, given last year's percentage of .536, that's an average of 6.4 makes — twice his 2011-12 mark of 2.9 field goals per contest.
"(Robinson) had the ball a lot of the time; that's kind of half the battle, too," Withey notes. "Having opportunities to score and having (Self) have the confidence in you and wanting you to score. You're going to score more points because you're going to have the ball more."
Withey wants the ball. He wants to brush up on his left-handed hook. He wants more counter moves, so a defender has something else to think about once Withey has the rock on the block. He wants teams to worry about his jumper.
"Last year, I felt like everybody kind of sagged off me whenever I had the ball in the high post and could kind of double-team T-Rob," says Withey, who's slated to graduate in December with a degree in communication studies. "So this summer, I definitely want to (develop) the jumper to where I can make it automatically, where if I can catch it, it's going to go in as an automatic two points. I'm a pretty good free-throw shooter, so I don't know why I couldn't make the shot."
He wants to get nasty. He wants to get bigger. He weighs 235 now. He'd love to be at 240 by mid-August, give or take a pound. Withey's power clean numbers are up roughly 50 pounds from last summer. He's maxing out on squats at 300 pounds now, or more than 25 pounds from the previous fall.
"Strength is obviously going to be a factor with him," Self says. "He's got to get stronger, (in the) lower body especially."
He wants the garbage points. He wants the same affection that T-Rob gleaned from NBA scouts. He wants the double teams.
"If I don't get double-teamed, I'll be kind of disappointed," Withey chuckles. "It shows respect."
He wants respect. More than that, he wants to earn it.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
