UW's Hawes seems set to go pro

Spencer Hawes was a ninth-grader when Lorenzo Romar first saw him at a football game at Husky Stadium in 2002.

"He was about 6-3, just the nicest kid," said a smiling Romar, casting a glance at Hawes across a room Thursday at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. "He had on a pair of cutoff jeans, not quite as fashionable as those."

Hawes grew. So did the Huskies' interest. He grew to 7 feet tall, and they watched him and worked him and saw his Seattle Prep and summer-league games and sweated out the heavyweight advances made on Hawes by North Carolina and Duke.

They won that recruiting battle, of course. And then Thursday, oh, six months and a week after Hawes enrolled at the UW for fall term, he announced he was going to explore the NBA draft this year.

He's not hiring an agent, preserving his eligibility to return to Washington for a sophomore season. But there was a palpable vibe that Hawes is one-and-done as a Husky, a prospect his comments didn't discourage.

"In terms of any decision, you have to go in focused 100 percent on what your goal is," Hawes said. "I think right now, my mindset is to be as prepared as possible for the draft. If I was on the fence and trying to satisfy both situations [including the UW], I'd be doing myself and the team a disservice."

Which seemed to be a diplomatic way of saying: I'm outta here.

Still, resolution will take awhile. The NBA predraft camp is June 6-10 in Orlando, Fla., and only after that can prospects work out individually for teams. Deadline for withdrawal from the June 28 draft is June 18. Most projections have Hawes at about the 10th pick in the draft. Last year, that was the Sonics' Mouhamed Sene, who got a guaranteed $3.3 million over the first two years.

Hawes talked about trying to find a situation where he can contribute early, not sit, but projecting that with certainty could be difficult.

Hawes may find out that, at 230 pounds, he's too light to make an immediate impact. He might decide there are too many variables in a draft potentially heavy with big men, including Greg Oden, Roy Hibbert, Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Brandan Wright.

He might also decide none of that matters.

Hawes talked about the NBA being a "goal since I was a kid." He didn't say anything about the Final Four being a goal, or the Sweet 16 or even making the NCAA tournament.

Something about the whole thing is unfulfilling. Welcome to the flip side of the Oden-Kevin Durant story of college hoops, 2007, first year of the NBA's 19-year age minimum. Oden got increasingly dexterous as his broken wrist healed and helped Ohio State to the title game, where, after a boffo night against Florida, he solidified his status as the odds-on No. 1 pick. The prolific Durant won player-of-the-year honors. Each seemed to profit richly from the year's experience.

"I think it's a rule that benefits all parties involved," Hawes maintained.

Romar was asked if it was worth having Hawes for a year, if that's the way it plays out.

"Absolutely," he said.

He may have been generous. Hawes led the team in scoring at 14.9 points, but playing in and out of injury and illness, he didn't lead it into the NCAA tournament. Dating to that day the Huskies began recruiting him in 2003, their commitment was immense.

I'm not sure you can conclude Hawes benefited much from a year at Washington, either. In his 10th game, coming back from arthroscopy on a knee, he had 23 points and 12 rebounds against LSU and Glen "Big Baby" Davis. In his 32nd game, against Washington State in the Pac-10 tournament, he played 22 foul-fraught, puzzling minutes, with six points and five rebounds. That stands to be his last college game.

It's not that Hawes is doing anything wrong, just availing himself of the system. But the system would be better if there were a two-year commitment beyond high school — either with or without the option of turning pro immediately after prep graduation.

Here's what I wonder: Does every college freshman with an NBA future invest emotionally and intellectually into the program when one foot might be out the door? Is it easier to just go play Mario Kart than study the extra two hours it might take to get a B on a test than a C? Is it easier to tune out a coach who might be tough to satisfy?

Assessing the year, Hawes said, "I'd look back and say, it was a tough year, individually and as a team. It's hard to say it was a failure, that it was a lost year." On a greaseboard in basketball offices, they keep an inventory of personnel by position, a ready reminder of what's on hand and how recruits might alter it. Romar was asked how he defines Hawes now.

"A question mark," he said.

At best.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com