By David Carducci
Record-Courier staff writer
Most young basketball players grow up with dreams of making it to the NBA.
Obviously, most of those fantasies never come true.
Of Kent State’s 445 basketball alumni, only three former Golden Flashes have tasted life in the NBA — John Edwards, who appeared in a combined 65 games for the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks from 2004 through 2006, Doug Sims, who played four games with the old Cincinnati Royals in the 1968-69 season and Jim Zoet, who played seven games for the Detroit Pistons in 1982-83.
KSU players have less than a one-percent chance of playing in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean their professional basketball careers end the moment they leave campus.
DeAndre Haynes is one of 14 former Flashes playing professionally in a foreign country — and earning a very good living.
“There is money to be made overseas if you play basketball,” said Haynes, the 2006 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, who returned to the Kent State campus this week to work with kids at the Golden Flashes’ summer basketball camp after spending last season playing in Hungary.
“For the most part, teams take care of you over there, and you can save a lot of money if you are smart.
“First, the money is tax free,” Haynes said. “Your team pays your taxes for you. They give you a house. They give you a car. They give you your meals as part of your contract. The only thing you pay for is your gas and if you want to go grocery shopping.”
Kent State head coach Geno Ford spent the 1995-96 season playing professionally for the Leicster Riders in England after finishing his college career at Ohio University, earning a little more than $30,000 in that one season.
“Now guys make more money over there than they ever could in the United States in their first year out with their degree in their chosen field,” said Ford. “Some players have gone to Europe and had horror stories about being mistreated by their team owners, but they’ve always wanted to go back. They are not going to give up an $80,000 to $120,000-a-year job playing basketball to take an entry-level job at some business over here at less than half that.”
Haynes experienced his first horror story this year in his third season of playing in Europe. After building a name for himself with two relatively trouble-free seasons playing in Belgium, Haynes decided to sign with Univer KSE, a team in the central-Hungary town of Kecskemet.
It was a big mistake.
After losses to Dombovar and Albocamp, Univer KSE decided to fine every player on its team 25 percent of their salaries, “and they said it was because they didn’t think we played hard,” said Haynes.
“The next month, we won six or seven games in a row, and when we got paid, the money was missing again.”
Haynes thought about leaving, but he was encouraged to finish the season under the assumption players would get all of their money back should Univer KSE make the playoffs. He played out the string despite a torn hamstring and a sore wrist and averaged 13.6 points and a team-best 3.4 rebounds per game — by far his best numbers in three European seasons.
Univer KSE finished with a winning record at 14-12, but missed the playoffs by one game.
“They didn’t give us our money back,” said Haynes. “And here I am with my fiance and my young son over there with me. I’m supposed to be taking care of them, and I was trying to send money back home to my parents to help them with the economic crisis that is happening in Detroit. I tried to explain it to (the team), but they didn’t care. They were supposed to pay for our airplane tickets, too, and they didn’t do that.”
In all, Haynes said he returned to the United States out close to $20,000.
“That hurt bad,” said Haynes. “But it is a lesson. Now I know how important it is to have the right wording in your contract.”
Haynes’ statistics should help him find a contract with a more reputable team next season. He said he would love to return to Aalst, Belgium to play for Generali Okapi Aalstar, where he played in 2007-08.
Aalst is where Haynes’ pro career took off after a mediocre first season in Brussels.
Signed to serve as backup to former Kent State star Trevor Huffman at point guard, Haynes more than doubled his previous season’s scoring average when Huffman was injured. He finished the year averaging nine points per game, but was scoring at almost a 15 points per game clip with Huffman sidelined.
“They asked me to re-sign, and I should have,” said Haynes. “I loved it there, but when Trevor got healthy, my role kind dropped off a little.
“Trevor was a big help to me,” Haynes said. “When he was hurt, he showed me the ropes and taught me a lot about playing the European game. And the people in Belgium were great. I always had people inviting me to their homes for dinner. Some of the fans came to visit me (in Hungary), and they would get on my Facebook page and ask if I was coming back. After this past season, I realized how important it is to be somewhere where I’m comfortable.”
The frustration of his season in Hungary has not scared Haynes away from trying to find that comfortable situation in another European league next season.
“I’m looking forward to that,” said Haynes. “Playing basketball overseas can be a great thing, but you have to be mentally tough. It isn’t something everybody can do, because you leave so many things behind. You leave your family and your friends. It is a different life.”
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David Carducci can be reached at dcarducci@recordpub.com