NBA star goal to have all his siblings under one roof

A grown man taking care of business.
Scott Ostler. San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, Calif.:Aug 17, 2006. p. D.1

Caption: Leon Powe is using his NBA money to benefit the community and to help take care of his six brothers and sisters.

E-mail Scott Ostler at sostler@sfchronicle.com
For information on Powe's camp, for players ages 7-18, call (925) 969-3432.

Leon Powe is already out blowing his NBA money.
He's taking care of back-to-school expenses for his six siblings, ages 6 to 20.

He's traveling to basketball camps to prepare himself for his rookie season with the Boston Celtics.

He's kicking in the dough for a free kids basketball camp he'll hold next month at Merritt College.

He's jet-setting. He flew to Colorado to personally thank Dr. Richard Steadman for doing such a great job rebuilding his knee.

Powe and mentor/friend Bernard Ward are founding an agency to place foster children and group-home children in top-flight schools.

Powe regularly springs for lunch for the two or three guys who try desperately to keep up with him at his workouts.

No new car yet. Leon is driving his brother's car. "It's good on gas," Powe says.

And of course there's jewelry. Powe is having a jeweler spiff up his entire collection, which consists of a necklace with a tiny photograph of his late mother.

So Powe's life has been one big party since he signed with the Celtics.

Powe and I are talking one recent afternoon at Cal when his good friend and workout sidekick Vincent Powell arrives for a weight- lifting session. Powe tells Powell that I asked Leon if he has taken any time to relax and celebrate the draft and signing.

Powell laughs himself nearly out of his chair. He's been chasing Powe up Strawberry Canyon and along Baker Beach and around the gym and weight room all summer.

Leon and Vince have their hearty laugh at my expense, and Powe says, "I don't really kick back too much. Work out and go eat, that's about it, that's all we do."

A quick outline of Powe's schedule since being drafted in the second round (No. 49 overall) by the Nuggets, being traded to the Celtics and signing a two-year guaranteed contract for $400,000- plus per:

-Six weeks of hard-core workouts at Baker Beach with other Bay Area players. Some were occasional drop-ins; Powe made every session.
- Working out at Cal, shooting and lifting weights.
- Working out with the Celtics and playing summer league (Powe's five-game averages: 15 minutes, 46 percent field-goal shooting, 3.6 rebounds, 6.6 points).
- Workouts and scrimmages at the Warriors' headquarters.
- Runs up Berkeley's Strawberry Canyon.
- NBA camp in Las Vegas, where he scrimmaged with and sought the advice of stars like Jermaine O'Neal and Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

"That's Leon Powe," says Ward. "Run, lift and shoot."

Powe's money is guaranteed. Not guaranteed are a spot on the Celtics roster, playing time and respect. That stuff will have to be earned.

But it's not like Powe has never scuffled. Fatherless at 2, homeless at 7, eventually into the foster system. His mother, Connie Landry, died when he was a high school junior. He's had two major knee reconstructions.

So there is no cruise control for Powe.

"You just got to keep working hard, there ain't nothing else about it," Powe says. "It ain't cars, it ain't money, it ain't none of that. This is a dream come true, you get to play in the NBA, you want to be the best player you can be. I know I do."

Of this NBA rookie crop, Powe is the mystery man. His stardom at Cal (Pac-10 Freshman of the Year; conference scoring and rebounding leader as a sophomore) was built mainly on his inside power game.

The NBA is a bigger, meaner place. Experts don't agree on Powe's future, and those on the "nay" side say he's too short to dominate inside, and lacks a perimeter game and finesse skills.
Best case: He's the next Ben Wallace. Not-best case: He's Ike Diogu without the glitzy offensive tool belt.

Not to worry, say Powe and Ward.

"Leon's got a jumper," Ward says. "He just didn't have to display that ... at Cal."

Powe says he did fine against NBAers in summer games and at the Vegas camp.

And while the ideal power forward is two or three inches taller than Powe, he says he has added at least three inches to his vertical jump since last season. And he's still working.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers has Powe's number. He told Leon to watch himself and not work out too hard before camp opens.

Leon doesn't kick back, he kicks forward. Ward says he and Powe are working on a plan to eventually collect all of Leon's brothers and sisters, five of whom are in foster care, under one roof. Powe says he wants to be the family and community role model he didn't have as a kid. He says he eventually will earn his degree from Cal.

"My mom told me to finish," Powe says. "I gotta carry that out."

Ward says Rivers and Celtics general manager Danny Ainge already have a nickname for Powe.
"They call him 'The Grown Man.' "