Things Change : Basketball Star Blackmon, Home on a Visit From Japan, Discovers That Readjusting Is Hard to Do

A husky Anthony Blackmon looked a bit out of place sitting on the bench at Cal State Dominguez Hills wearing a dark, customed-tailored Oriental suit.

The last time he was there the 6-foot-7 center wore a cardinal and gold Toro basketball uniform on a medium frame, scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds a game en route to being named California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Athlete of the Year.

Currently playing professionally in Japan, Blackmon made his first visit to the United States in December and realized quickly that he had changed, and so had things in Carson. He found it difficult to put his finger on it, he said, but he just felt that things were different.

“I’m just trying to get used to this,” he said.

Blackmon is not the first Toro to land a job in international basketball, but he is, perhaps, the most celebrated. He was a four-year starter, playing in more games than anyone else in the school’s history. He also finished as the school’s leading rebounder and shot blocker and was second in scoring to William Alexander, who went on to professional careers in Chile and Mexico.

Until Coach Dave Yanai discovered him in a high school all-star game, Blackmon wasn’t thinking of playing basketball in college, if he got there at all. He grew up in the Aliso Village projects near downtown Los Angeles, a rough neighborhood that even the good-natured Blackmon thought might consume him with its vice.

But Blackmon, with help from Yanai, survived the ghetto and now he is living in Kawasaki, a suburb of Tokyo, where he plays for the Toshiba Co. team.

Still, pointed out Blackmon, what a difference a year makes. Toshiba is off to a lackluster 3-7 start. A year ago he led the Toros to a 20-10 record and a berth in the NCAA Division II Western Regionals.

Cal State Dominguez Hills, which starts three freshmen, has struggled to a 4-8 record this season. It shows little sign of improvement in its front line. Blackmon averaged about 38 minutes of playing time last year while dominating the post area.

“He is used to winning,” Yanai said.

Blackmon has handled the transition to a different culture very well, Yanai said.

“As a person he is a lot stronger. He has confidence and conviction in what he wants to do. He’s grown up. That’s certainly the way to put it.”

He has grown in other ways, too. Blackmon’s weight has ballooned to more than 230 pounds from 215.

“They have some especially good eatin’ over there,” he said of Japanese cuisine, which apparently has caught his fancy. As a fringe benefit of his estimated salary of $125,000 a year, his employer furnishes a chef in his motel-style dormitory room.

Much of Blackmon’s weight gain, he pointed out, has taken place in his upper torso. The time he used to spend on class work he now uses for weightlifting and cross-country running. In holiday workouts with the Toros, Blackmon’s extra strength showed.

“He’s big and strong,” Yanai said. “The minute he steps on the floor he is assertive. He takes command.”

Blackmon, a black who attended L.A. Wilson High School, is living away from home for the first time. He was warned that Japanese culture tends to be very exclusive of gaijins (outsiders).

“It’s a new experience for me,” Blackmon said. “But it was a chance to get away and learn new things.”

Blackmon says he has learned “a skosh more Japanese,” yet at times the language barrier has gotten in the way.

“The disadvantage is that I don’t speak the language and so I don’t know what is being said in practice,” he said.

Yanai told him to utilize international language of basketball to fill the communication void: “A pat on the back.”

Blackmon scored a career-high 49 points in one of his first games in Japan, but until the last five games, he was not starting consistently.

“I’ve been averaging about 18 minutes of playing time a game,” he said. Another American, veteran international player Danny Davis, 30, has been playing in front of Blackmon.

However, Yanai said he has spoken to club officials in Japan several times and “(Blackmon) is very well liked. He has been well-received. There have been no problems.”

Blackmon said there is a big difference in the caliber of basketball in Japan.

“Japanese basketball is very different. It is very slow,” Blackmon said. “When I first got there it was difficult for me. I know what speed I can go. The Japanese game is slower, so I had to adapt.”

He has been frustrated by the attitude of some of his teammates, he said.

“I just wish the Japanese players would play a bit more with their hearts,” he said.

Said Yanai: “He went over there with the opportunity to help them have a good team, and I think he feels the burden and responsibility (to lead the team).”

Blackmon said he has lots of room for improvement in his play. Yanai says his former pupil used his visit here to get “refocused” on what his role should be in Japan. His team plays five more games, and if it goes 3-2 it will probably qualify for the area playoffs.

“I told him that nothing should keep him from playing as good and hard as he did here,” Yanai said.

Blackmon said he realized that such an effort could benefit him later this year. He plans to return to the United States in the spring with the intent of playing in the Summer Pro League at Loyola Marymount. He says he will also work out daily at Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he hopes to take classes toward his college degree. He says he wants to complete his degree over the next two and a half years by attending school part time. According to NCAA statistics, less than a third of all college athletes graduate within four years.

Blackmon hopes his experience in Japan can help him impress National Basketball Assn. scouts this summer, perhaps landing a tryout in a rookie camp.

“I know my game is a lot better than what they have (in Japan),” he said.

Will he return to the Far East if he fails to register NBA interest?

“We start talking about (my contract for next year) in January,” he said. “I just want to play with Americans that (play like) they want to win.”

Said Yanai about Blackmon moving on to another professional arena: “Those possibilities are avenues (he may be able to) take.”

During his visit to the Toro gymnasium, Blackmon was reminded by an interviewer who had followed his career: “Nothing stays the same.”

The big guy shrugged the shoulders of his pin-striped suit and reluctantly agreed.