The 19-year-old Frenchman has whetted NBA appetites like no prospect since LeBron James.
As such, the draft lottery that determines knowledgeable vacation spot for Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-2 marvel who sinks step-back 3s as readily as he swats opponents’ pictures, might be among the many most scrutinized in league historical past.
When ESPN’s broadcast of the lottery commences Tuesday night, on one facet of the image, you’ll see an Ernst & Young accountant dealing with the envelope that may inform the world the place Wembanyama is headed. On the opposite, you’ll see a taller, sturdier man with a pointy go well with and a stern countenance.
That’s Leon Newsome, the NBA’s chief safety officer.
Before he guarded these sacred pingpong balls, Newsome was the second-ranking officer within the U.S. Secret Service, a particular agent who had been chargeable for defending Vice President Joe Biden and first girl Laura Bush. Before that, he was a hotly recruited soccer standout who spurned a Notre Dame scholarship in favor of a extra scholarly life at Princeton. And earlier than all of it, he was a highschool star on the soccer fields, baseball diamonds and basketball courts of his native Baltimore.
Even then, those that knew him say, his 6-foot-6, 240-pound body belied his understated grace.
“If you told me I needed to be protected by someone, he’d be at the top of my list,” stated Tim Holley, who coached Newsome in all three sports activities at Gilman School. “He’s serious, not too serious, but he’s focused. He’s successful because of his intellect; the brawn is just an added feature.”
The draft lottery is a uncommon event for Newsome, 53, to be on digicam after a profession spent quietly aiding highly effective folks. Even now, he’s an nameless face to most of those that pack the arenas he visits — New York’s Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on Thursday — to ensure occasions are continuing safely.
He left the Secret Service to take his NBA job in 2021, however for all of the cool perks (he spoke not too long ago on video with a wall of famous person’s jerseys hanging behind him), he stated nothing can match being second accountable for the company that protects the president. In these cynical occasions, Newsome speaks of public service with no trace of irony.
“Being able to lead an organization that stands for character and integrity and honor, I don’t think anything professionally that I’ll do will surpass that,” he stated.
Those who’ve identified Newsome since his highschool days weren’t stunned by the trail he selected.
“I think he knew he was going places, and that, while he was a gifted athlete, that was not going to be his ultimate meal ticket,” Holley stated. “He really did value his intellect more than he valued his physical attributes.”
Newsome was a fifth grader at Arlington Elementary in Northwest Baltimore, incomes good grades however much less good marks for comportment when a instructor stated he wanted to go someplace he’d be extra challenged.
Bill Greene, a Gilman administrator, took an curiosity in Newsome, who would thrive athletically and academically after he enrolled within the all-boys non-public college for sixth grade.
Teachers and coaches gave him the help he wanted to mature, complementing his mom, Sarah, who nonetheless lives in Baltimore and was his most fixed mentor (Newsome’s father died when he was 6 years outdated).
“You learn we’re all here in service of others,” he stated.
Newsome was simple to identify on the soccer area, the place his mobility and huge wingspan made him one of many high linebacker and tight finish prospects within the nation. As a senior, he returned an interception for a landing towards mighty Poly to assist clinch a convention championship. Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz needed him badly, although Holtz had already signed the nation’s high tight finish, Derek Brown.
Enticing as that supply was, Newsome additionally had the choice to attend Princeton, and former Yale and NFL star Calvin Hill, who had develop into a mentor when Newsome interned for the Orioles, suggested him to think twice about which path can be a greater match.
Perhaps his selection mystified these attuned solely to soccer, however the Robert Frost quote Newsome selected for his senior yearbook web page hinted at waters working deeper in his thoughts: “But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”
Though Newsome stood out as a defensive finish at Princeton, accidents marred the top of his faculty profession, and by that time, he was able to step away from the sphere. He thought he’d go to regulation college till a buddy talked about the Secret Service as an possibility.
“It was easy to see he’d go into something like that,” stated Sherm Bristow, Newsome’s soccer coach at Gilman. “He had that mentality. As an old football coach, I’m glad he didn’t go to Division I, big-time college football. He had so much else that he could do.”
Newsome utilized efficiently to the Secret Service and stepped into an enormous world of safety and investigation that might occupy his consideration for 26 years.
Newsome is aware of the picture most individuals have of Secret Service brokers — strapping guys carrying darkish fits and sun shades as they flank the president — however it was the breadth of the work, the complicated net of private relationships, that intrigued him.
As his profession proceeded down a path removed from the taking part in fields of his youth, Newsome discovered a renewed connection to sports activities via his three sons. The eldest, Grant, performed left deal with at Michigan and now coaches tight ends for Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines after a daunting leg damage ended his taking part in profession. Middle son Garrett pitches for William & Mary whereas the youngest, Gaines, is a highschool freshman in New Jersey, the place the Newsomes (Leon met his spouse, Kim, within the eating corridor at Princeton) dwell.
He was a candidate to switch his buddy, James Murray, as director of the Secret Service, however when the NBA got here calling, Newsome, who had been a clutch-shooting energy ahead at Gilman, couldn’t resist a job that seemed like great enjoyable.
“It wasn’t something that I went out there looking for,” he stated. “But when an organization with a brand reputation like the NBA says they want to talk to you, you have that conversation.”
He has a hand in each main occasion the league holds, from Spain to Las Vegas to Abu Dhabi. Which brings us again to the draft lottery in Chicago.
The thought of high-powered staff executives watching their fortunes rise and fall on the actions of pingpong balls in a lottery machine might sound comedian, however Wembanyama might be the distinction between championship competition and play-in desperation, so Tuesday night’s drawing might be lots severe. Newsome will be certain of it.
“Specifically with the lottery, it is ensuring the integrity of the process when it comes to the actual drawing of the balls and then the packaging of the envelopes, then making sure nothing happens between the time the envelopes leave the drawing room to the time the order is announced,” he stated.
Family members and outdated classmates would possibly ship a couple of teasing texts after they see him up there on ESPN. “Of course,” he stated, laughing.
But Newsome is aware of most individuals by no means get to face a couple of toes away from such happenings — to not point out defend a future president — for a dwelling.
“Having that opportunity, that front-row seat,” he stated, “not many people get it.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com