Bill Willoughby’s career is one of those little-known NBA facts, a cautionary tale of one of the first teenage phenomenons to be drafted out of high school.
His promising career was cut short following a transition into the league so wrought with pitfalls that it still serves as a case study for youngsters following his path.
Standing 203cm tall, Willoughby had unlimited potential when he jumped into the NBA nearly 50 years ago. He was blessed with such amazing athleticism that he is one of the few players known to have blocked Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s famed skyhook at its apex.
Photo: AP
Willoughby made history when, in 1975, he and Darryl Dawkins became the first high-school players selected in an NBA draft.
Despite that, Willoughby — including a 119cm vertical leap — has probably never come to the attention of most fans, quite probably because of the mistakes he made.
“Nobody told me anything,” Willoughby said.
Young players entering the NBA today are protected and looked out for, but Willoughby was not.
Instead, when he was drafted, he had never held a job, could not drive a vehicle and had no idea how to manage money.
So after his playing days, he tried to provide the guidance to others that he had needed. He was a mentor through the National Basketball Retired Players Association — and a role model of sorts, since he graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a degree in communications in 2001 at the age of 44.
“You still got to handle your own money and be taught how to,” Willoughby said. “That’s why when I speak to kids today, I say: ‘Y’all got to know how to write a check and get things notarized and all that — and the younger you do it, it stays with you.’ But they’re not used to that kind of money.”
Unlike Willoughby, Darius Bazley and Jalen Green are young NBA players who were well-informed about their options and have taken full advantage.
Willoughby did have his moments while playing for six teams during his eight-year NBA career.
He said his career highlight was playing in the 1981 NBA Finals.
He was a slender kid — listed at about 93kg — who did not understand nutrition, and that affected his play when the 18-year-old became the second-youngest player ever drafted in 1975. Willoughby was overmatched early in his career playing against “grown men.”
“I didn’t know nothing coming in there,” said Willoughby, now 64. “I’m coming out, I’ve just gone to the prom and I come out there and I’ve got [to play] guys, you know, married with kids.”
Even with the existing NBA safeguards, Willoughby said that young players still make the same mistakes he saw people making in the 1970s and 1980s.
“You can’t go out there and burn the candle on both ends, stuff your pockets and think that’s going to make you have fun and make you happy,” Willoughby said. “It’s not... You don’t have to buy no Rolls Royces, you know, US$40,000 Rolexes and have all these girls on the side just to keep up with everybody.”
Experience is still a cruel teacher for young NBA hopefuls.
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