Street and Smith's

Former Wake Forest guard Steve Lepore has experienced a whirlwind romance with British professional basketball as a rookie for the Brighton Bears.

By Scott Smith
Street & Smith's Editor
Pro Basketball
Brighton Beach (hoops) Memoirs

What does a 23-year-old do when bad knees rob him of a promising senior season in the Atlantic Coast Conference?

He plays some more basketball, of course—but this time he does it for money.

Such is the case today with former Northwestern and Wake Forest guard Steve Lepore, who now shoots his textbook three-point jumper as a rookie for the Brighton Bears of the British Basketball League.

“I’m making $2,750 American dollars per month, with a car, a shared house and a paid plane ticket back to the States at the end of the season,” Lepore says. “The largest crowd I’ve played in front of is 3,000, but we usually play before about 1,000. The fans really get into the games, but they aren’t the most knowledgeable.”

It’s a new kind of adventure for Lepore and five other players who were part of the Team USA Select all-star squad (www.usaselectbasketball.com) that toured Europe in September in search of tryouts for their first job in professional basketball. The tour, put together by former Appalachian State teammates and British professional players Sean Kilmartin and David Lawrence, produced pro hoops jobs overseas for six players. Lawrence’s brother, Renaldo, another former Appalachian player, is the fourth-leading scorer in the history of the English leagues.

The last time Lepore played overseas was 1999 in Portugal, where he was part of the U.S. Junior National Team that won the silver medal in the Junior World Championships. Fresh off an impressive freshman season at Northwestern, the 6-5, 200-pound Ohio native was the second-leading scorer (10.5 ppg) on a U.S. team that included current NBA players Keyon Dooling, Nick Collison, Casey Jacobsen and Bobby Simmons.

While his ACC hoop dreams were derailed by a ruptured patella tendon against Georgia Tech in the first round of the 2002 ACC Tournament—he spent much of his senior season in rehab and on the bench—Lepore is making the most of his second chance at the game he loves.

“Sean’s company [USA Select Basketball, L.L.C.] gave me exposure and instant availability,” Lepore says. “My part of the deal was to perform and have a good attitude off the court.”

In addition to Lepore, James Madison’s Ian Caskill signed with Landstede Zwolle of the Dutch First Division, Austin Peay’s Josh Lewis with Merry Monk Bellina of the Irish Superleague and UNLV’s J.K. Edwards with Quimper UJAP of the French Pro B League, while Youngstown State’s Ryan Patton and Loyola of Chicago’s Ryan Blankston are now teammates for the Sheffield Arrows of the English Basketball League.

After paying a $150 tryout fee and participating in former NBA guard and fellow Wake Forest alum Delaney Rudd’s International Basketball Review in Greensboro, N.C., last June, Lepore and a dozen other players were chosen for the opportunity to play a 17-game exhibition schedule in September against top pro clubs in England, France, Belgium and Germany. Lepore was responsible for his flight to Europe and a rail pass once there. All but six days of his lodging were paid for.

Lepore experienced a shotgun introduction to international basketball, getting thrown into the fire from the moment he landed. Brighton immediately fell in love with his jump shot and offered a tryout on the spot.

“The tryout was one day, seven hours of five-on-five, with 25 guys and four of them making the team,” he recalls.

After that, the Bears made their hot, new prospect change uniforms before the exhibition with Lepore’s Team USA Select, and he proceeded to light up his former teammates with seven-for-seven shooting in an 89-77 Brighton victory. He was signed to a contract the next day.

So far, so good for Lepore and the Bears. With Lepore averaging 15 points on 46-percent shooting, the defending BBL champions got off to a 5-2 start, good for third place behind the London Towers (5-0) and Chester Jets (5-1) in this 11-team league that serves as England’s first division. A former backcourt mate of Lepore’s at Wake Forest, Ervin Murray, signed on with the Birmingham Bullets in late September and is leading the Bears’ rival in scoring so far.

Many players from the U.S. looking to continue their basketball careers begin their search in the United Kingdom, where there are more flexible limits to the number of foreign players a team can have. In the higher-profile (and better-paying) Italian League, for instance, teams are limited to just two “foreign” players.

“In the BBL, they are looking for just solid basketball players, while the Euroleague is looking more for athleticism and height,” Lepore says. “The quality of play here is better offensively [than in college], but much worse defensively. It’s better offensively because of better fundamentals, worse defensively because of the coaching. The biggest adjustment is thinking the game more. There are more set plays offensively here.

“The biggest surprise so far is how undisciplined most of the teams are on defense. It seems like a combination of coaches not knowing it and grown men simply not listening or performing what the coach wants.”

It’s the second consecutive year a member of the Lepore family has made his living overseas. Last year, Steve’s older brother, Chris, served as a Naval intelligence officer on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier parked near Iraq. Now, Chris, a former three-year starting safety for the Navy football team, is back stateside, stationed in Monterrey, Calif., while Steve is on his overseas adventure.

If things continue to go well for Lepore, he may look next season to France, where he could double or triple his salary, or to the lucrative Italian League, where as a second-generation Italian he could play as a native and not count against the limit of two foreign players. No matter what happens, Lepore is just thankful for the opportunity.

“I can’t thank those guys [Kilmartin, Lawrence and partner Nick Melissaris] enough for simply giving me the chance to live my dream,” he says.