Ivan Chiriaev is a prospect for the National Basketball Association draft because of his size and shooting touch, but he's got a pretty good throwing arm, too.
It's another in an endless line of early-morning workouts at the Mississauga YMCA, and the 19-year-old, originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, is grinding his way through drill after drill, trying to hone his skills to the point that an NBA club will make him a first-round pick at the draft in New York on June 24.
But as a few stray jump shots hit the rim, instead of bottoming through the mesh, the 7-foot-1 forward picks up a bouncing ball, whirls and throws an angry, perfect strike off one of the backboards in the empty gym, the loud bang startling a few joggers winding by on the indoor track above.
He jogs a few laps, casually pounding two basketballs to the floor, before beginning the process again. "Do I have a choice?" he says of his training regimen.
His journey from Russia to the cusp of the NBA, by way of Oakville, Ont., is closer to its destination, but how it will end is still uncertain.
With the draft only eight weeks away, every missed shot against phantom defenders looms larger, and every twinge in a body being put through one workout after another is magnified.
On the positive side, Chiriaev signed with Bill Duffy, one of the most powerful agents in the sport, on Monday, and in a subtle but telling sign, the head-to-toe Air Jordan gear he wore most of the year has been replaced with the latest adidas apparel.
The change of allegiance suggests the shoe company believes enough in his talent to step up the courtship process, which can make a young man wealthy before he even enters the NBA, if the six-year, $6-million (U.S.) contract adidas recently gave to New York City high-school star Sebastian Telfair is any indication.
But most important, after weeks of cooling his heels with only practices, video games and movies to keep him busy, he's got some real basketball to play for the first time since his high-school season ended in February.
"I can't wait," he said. "These workouts are getting boring. Playing a game will be fun."
The Adidas All-Canadian Game, a gathering of 20 of the top high-school basketball players in Canada, will be held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga on Saturday.
Chiriaev is featured on the posters for the event, looking fierce, with his arms folded . It will be a brief but telling test of his NBA worthiness. An expected gathering of NBA scouts will see whether Chiriaev's talents translate well in an open-court game featuring other skilled players.
That opportunity was supposed to have come at the Hoop Summit, held on the weekend of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Final Four tournament in San Antonio, Tex. Chiriaev was invited to play on a world all-star team against the top-10 American high-school players. He was unable to get the required visa, however, and had to drop out at the last minute, leaving some skeptics to suggest that he was dodging competition to preserve his draft status.
He's heard the doubters and read the criticism on Internet message boards. Now he's eager to do his talking on the court.
"I have a lot to prove," he said. "I'm looking forward to making a good impression."
This weekend's game is only the first part of a two-pronged effort to get Chiriaev in front of NBA clubs in the coming weeks.
Duffy has arranged an open individual workout for NBA clubs on May 22 in Chicago. Chiriaev will go through a full range of drills designed to show what Duffy feels is a rare combination of shooting and ballhandling skills for someone more than seven feet tall.
Chris Mullin, a former star with the Golden State Warriors and now the club's executive vice-president of basketball operations, will put Chiriaev through his paces before NBA club representatives.
"It's a demonstration," Duffy said. "I think everyone will have someone there. You can't overlook someone of his talent level, and he's 7 foot 1."
There are questions to answer, however. Chiriaev's performance during the high-school season was uneven at best, and he has yet to play against top competition. Then there was the news conference at which he announced his intentions to enter the NBA draft. It didn't go so well. His third-person pronouncement that "the NBA needs Ivan Chiriaev" was repeated across North America as proof of precisely the opposite.
He has clearly arrived at the point in his journey where his ability must speak, and speak loudly.
"The game and the workout mean everything to him," said Duffy, one of the NBA's most respected agents, with Yao Ming and Steve Nash among his clients. Because there are so many questions and such intrigue about him, the next two months will bring some definition about who he is."
Fourth in an occasional series.