BOSTON – One week ago, at a Baker League All-Star game in Philadelphia, Speedy Claxton drove the right side. He pulled up, allowing a defender who had been badly beaten to run past. Then Claxton simply laid the ball in with his left hand. Claxton smiled and knew he was back.
The last time he tried that move, on Oct. 30, Claxton crumpled to the floor, clutching his left knee with his NBA career in serious jeopardy. The former Hofstra star had blown out his left anterior cruciate ligament. He sat the entire season and watched the Sixers advance to the Finals. So it meant something last Sunday when he completed, “the same move I got hurt on.”
“The farther we went, the more it hurt,” admitted Claxton, the Corona, Queens hero – and Christ the King product – who showed he is back physically when he competed in the Shaw’s Pro Summer League here this week. “When it happened, I didn’t know it was that bad. I thought it was a routine sprain. I was just going in for a routine layup and somebody cut me off. We bumped legs together and it kind of shattered.”
So did his heart. After an Honorable Mention All-America senior season at Hofstra, which included his second America East Player of the Year honor, Claxton was the No. 20 pick in the 2000 draft by the Sixers. Forget his size – 5-11, 165 – this guy’s quickness was the key. Claxton operates in three modes: fast, faster and Mabel, get kids in the house there’s a twister brewing.
But then came the injury and the subsequent long hours of therapy, rehab and weightlifting. Claxton, by his admission, is “85-to-90” percent back. Assistant Randy Ayers, who coached the Sixer entry here agrees. But he saw other aspects that were just as encouraging.
“He picked up a couple loose balls where he beat people to the balls and that’s what we’re used to seeing,” said Ayers. “All the work he’s doing . . . shows us he wants to get back.”
Opposing scouts and coaches watched Claxton and saw the expected style and quickness that led to him averages of 6.7 assists, 3.3 steals and 9.3 points in 29.0 minutes through the first three games here.
“It’s an appropriate nickname – ‘Speedy’ ” Pacers’ assistant Brendan Malone said of Claxton. “He’s a tempo-changer. He pushes the ball down the court very hard. [Wednesday] against San Antonio, they put on a clinic on how to run the fast break . . . He has lost nothing in speed and quickness.”
Sixers GM Billy King, already envisioning how “his quickness and his ball handling will benefit us greatly,” recalled how Claxton’s comeback almost occurred three months ago. The club toyed with the idea of placing Claxton on the playoff roster and activating him several rounds deep. It seemed like a good idea at the time to Claxton, who is happy now that it didn’t work out that way.
“Back then, I thought I could have played but right now I see how far away I was so I’m happy that they kept me off. It gave me more time to recover from it, more time to rehab,” said Claxton. “I’m feeling great. The knee is fully recovered and I’m playing really well.
“I’m happy with the way I’m playing, happy with how it’s progressing, which is different [from last year],” stressed Claxton. “I was like, ‘Why did this have to happen to me?’ I was upset. It was my first year in the league I was waiting for it all summer and that happened and it set me back the whole year. Now I’m back at it once again.”
And so one of the alums of Christ the King, which also turned out Jayson Williams, Khalid Reeves and Lamar Odom, among others, is continuing his rehab, trying to make 85-to-90 percent read 100 percent so he can romp in a backcourt with the likes of Allen Iverson or drop off passes inside to Dikembe Mutombo. He says he watched and learned last season.
“And the great thing about him, being a four-year senior, he was ready last year,” King said.
Now, he’s even more ready. After all, he’s already survived the move that could have ended his career before it ever began.