Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Cavs' Newble took road most traveled
By John Erardi
Enquirer staff writer
If Cleveland Cavaliers wunderkind LeBron James ever gets a head too big for his sweatband, all somebody has to do is point to his teammate, Ira Newble, and say: "Ask him how he made it to 'The League.' "
And then pull up a chair with a big fat cushion on it, LeBron, because Mr. Newble is going to take you on a virtual-reality tour that will make your head spin. The difference is, for the 29-year-old Newble, there wasn't anything virtual about it.
At 7:30 p.m. today, at University of Dayton Arena, the Cavaliers play the expansion Charlotte Bobcats in an NBA preseason game.
Here's the shorthand version of Newble's tour: After high school, he played two years at Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College, then, in the autumn of 1995, arrived - all 6 feet 6 and 200 pounds of him - at Miami University with incoming freshman Wally Szczerbiak.
After Miami, Newble went undrafted not only by the NBA but by the Continental Basketball Association ("a low blow," he remembers it). Over the next five years, he played for the Wisconsin Blast, Idaho Stampede, Columbus Cagerz, Camden Power and Oklahoma Storm.
"That's a tough stretch for a guy who gave up red meat in college but only had the time and the money to eat fast food," Newble said.
"Big Macs? Yeah, I ate Big Macs. I was making $200 a week and making some eight-hour bus trips. But it was good for me. ... It humbled me."
What kept him going? What made him think he could actually play in "The League" when hardly anybody else seemed to think so?
"Actually, I was so far away from the league that I never even dreamed of playing in it," he said. "But I remembered something (Miami) coach (Charlie) Coles said to me: 'You are going to play somewhere professionally. I don't know when or where, but you will get there.' "
Newble, who played mostly in the low post at Oxford, hired a personal trainer who got him up at 6 a.m. every day. Together, they worked on his perimeter game. Midway through his CBA run, Newble was astonished that somebody actually saw something in him and invited him to a Milwaukee Bucks camp and, later, a San Antonio Spurs camp and a brief stint with the Spurs (27 games) in 2001.
Then - finally! - came his breakthrough: a 10-day contract with the Atlanta Hawks in January 2002.
"My defense is what got their attention," Newble said. "You've got to do something to make management notice you. Everybody can score in the NBA."
Newble's play sparked the team, which earned him a second 10-day contract, and then a contract to finish out the season.
He has been in the NBA ever since. This is his second year with the Cavs. Last season, he played hurt (tendinitis in his left knee), but he still managed to average four points and 2.4 rebounds a game.
"Coach Coles and my parents (Ira and Barbara) believed in me," said Newble, now 6-7 and 220 pounds. "It's a great help to have that support system. You can do it if you have that. I'm proof of it."
And what about James?
"I was like most everybody else when he first came into the league," Newble said. "I thought, 'He can't really be that good, can he?' Seeing it first-hand, I can say it's a Tiger Woods kind of thing. I've seen LeBron do things that make me say, 'Kids his age aren't supposed to be able to do that.' He hasn't even learned the game yet. When he does, he's going to be Jordan-like. For me, it's fun to be part of the whole circus."
Preseason NBA
The Cleveland Cavaliers play the Charlotte Bobcats at 7:30 p.m. today at University of Dayton Arena. Tickets - $48 (limited number), $40, $25, $15 - are still available at 