BASKETBALL: Flynn is product of NFHS' point guard legacy

By JONAH BRONSTEIN

The Niagara Falls basketball community collectively chuckles each time an analyst questions whether Jonny Flynn can play NBA defense. We know Flynn wasn’t raised on the passive principles of Jim Boeheim’s signature defense, the 2-3 zone. Rather, he’s the latest and greatest in a long line of Cataract City point guards who take pride in going chest-to-chest at the point of attack.

“It’s our trademark,” says Tim Winn, who led LaSalle High School to state championships in 1995 and 1996, then eschewed a scholarship offer from Syracuse to sign with St. Bonaventure, where he recorded 319 steals in four years.

“Even on our worst day, we’re going to defend.”

But, in the run-up to Thursday’s NBA draft, many of the people making public projections of how Flynn will perform in the pros have never seen Winn play, much less Modie Cox, Dewitt Doss, Demondi Johnson, or Marcus Henderson. They evaluate Flynn based on his two years at Syracuse, where he was a brilliant offensive player inhibited by the Orange zone on the other end of the floor.

After Flynn worked out last week for the Sacramento Kings, who hold the No. 4 pick in the draft and seem determined to draft a point guard, a writer from the Sacramento Bee asked Flynn how playing at Syracuse prepared him to defend NBA point guards.

“It doesn’t prepare you at all,” Flynn said with a laugh. “You sit in a zone all day.”

The quote was used in a blog entry titled “Can Flynn defend?” Several other draft Web sites linked to the post. An April scouting report on Flynn written for reputed Web site DraftExpress.com states, “it’s questionable how he’ll be able to defend at the next level given his small size and wavering commitment to defense.”

Paul Harris was Flynn’s teammate for two years at Niagara Falls High School, then after two years apart, they reunited at Syracuse for two seasons of sitting in the 2-3.

“I don’t really get it when people say Jonny can’t play D,” Harris says. “He’s fast, he’s quick, he’s strong, he’s smart. In my opinion, he’s capable of guarding anybody. But people watch us play zone at Syracuse so much, they question our defense.”

Harris has reportedly improved his draft stock in recent weeks by showing his ability to be a lockdown defender during workouts with NBA teams.

With Flynn scheduled to work out for the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, every team picking between No. 4 and No. 10 in the draft will have gotten to evaluate him in person over the past two weeks. At these workouts, Flynn has been put in competitive situations against fellow point guard prospects Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry, Ty Lawson, Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday.

“Jonny’s not ducking nobody,” says Sal Constantino, one of Flynn’s mentors. “That’s his mindset. And that competitiveness, that goes into how you defend. Everybody’s going to be surprised if they doubt his D.”

After a group of point guards worked out in Minnesota on Thursday, a Timberwolves season-ticket holder reported on ESPN.com’s True Hoop blog that Flynn was “by far” the best defender of the bunch.

When Flynn came out of high school, defense was considered to be one of his strengths. He averaged 3.5 steals per game as a senior at NFHS. The following summer, he recorded 22 steals in nine games for the USA Basketball Under-19 squad, which won a silver medal at the World Championships.

“Flynn was the finest on-ball defender to grace the ABCD Camp in a decade,” Sporting News magazine writer Mike DeCourcy wrote last fall, “but choosing Syracuse meant leaving behind his preference for man-to-man.”

In that article, Flynn says, “I love picking up a guy at 94 feet and trying to shut him down.” He also said he often lobbied Boeheim to play more man.

Flynn got his wish on occasion last year. Winn vividly recalls watching Syracuse’s win over Kansas in January, when the Orange switched defenses at halftime and Flynn locked down Jayhawks’ point guard Sherron Collins, another NBA prospect.

“Jonny Flynn is an awesome defender,” Winn says. “He is the total package, defense included. Defense is about having that chip on your shoulder, and having passion. He can play defense against anybody at any level.”

Doss, who followed Winn’s sneaker squeaks at LaSalle and went on to be an all-conference player at Canisius, says Flynn’s game incorporates the best aspects of all the point guards who came before him.

“Tim played great defense, Demondi was an assist guy, and I was more of a shooter,” Doss says. “Basically, with Jonny, you’ve got Tim Winn, Demondi Johnson, and Dewitt Doss rolled into one.”

“They say it’s greater later,” says Winn. “He is a product of the hard-working, blue-collar mentality that our town has. With him and Paul Harris, the time has come — they’re taking our town to another level.”

Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.