Wilkes Grows Into Big Contributor

What father doesn’t become upset if his son is pushed and shoved during a basketball game?

Jamaal Wilkes, a former NBA player, is one.

“He needs to get knocked around,” Wilkes said of his 6-foot-10 son, Jordan, a junior center at Los Angeles Loyola High.

Wilkes isn’t trying to encourage rough play. He just wants Jordan to experience what a center must endure in the post area, where jerseys are held, noses get bruised and elbows land in the ribs.

Basketball isn’t as easy as it might seem for a big man, but Jordan is learning quickly after spending the first two years of high school mostly on the bench.

As a freshman, he was sidelined with a broken foot. As a sophomore, he played sparingly on the varsity while going through growing pains.

This season, there was much anticipation and the question of whether he could be a major contributor. The answer is a resounding yes.

A week ago, in a Mission League game against preseason favorite North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, Wilkes scored 19 points, had 16 rebounds and blocked four shots in a Cub victory.

“I kind of looked at it as my breakout game,” he said.

He followed that effort with a 24-point performance against Encino Crespi.

“He’s taking great steps,” Coach Jim Williamson said. “He keeps getting better and better. All he needs is experience.”

Wilkes didn’t mind when Harvard-Westlake students in the bleachers teased him about his brother, Omar, the standout guard from last year’s Loyola team who’s now at Kansas.

“Omar’s better,” they chanted.

“I was expecting that,” he said. “They’re really creative, so I was wondering what they’d come up with. It was funny.”

Wilkes seems to have inherited his father’s shooting touch, and his long arms make him an effective shot blocker. As he gains strength, he figures to be a dominant rebounder.

“What’s intriguing about him is he’s highly skilled,” the elder Wilkes said.

Jordan is already the tallest in his family, passing his 6-6 father. But his constant growing came with a price. He was in pain even sitting at a desk.

“You really feel it in the knees,” Jordan said. “It’s not a good feeling, and you really can’t do anything about it. It slows you down and makes different cuts harder than they would be.”

With his coordination improving and pain subsiding, Jordan finally gets to show people glimpses of the future.

“I feel good,” he said. “I’m happy where I am right now.”

After his performance against Harvard-Westlake, Jordan contemplated calling his brother even though it would have been past midnight in Kansas.

“I might have to wake him up because he’ll be pumped up after beating Harvard-Westlake,” Jordan said.

Everyone around Loyola is pumped up that another Wilkes is on the rise.

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Is there any basketball coach who would turn down the chance to have 6-10 twins on his team?

Alex Lopez, the first-year boys’ coach at Woodland Hills El Camino Real, is asked frequently why he doesn’t use his family ties to convince Brook and Robin, his 6-10 sophomore brothers, to transfer from Fresno’s San Joaquin Memorial.

“I’d love to have them play for me, but I don’t want to hurt their eligibility,” Lopez said.

Brook and Robin would have to move to Woodland Hills with their mother. They used to live in the San Fernando Valley, when Alex was a standout at North Hollywood Campbell Hall.

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Players not used to spacious arenas sometimes struggle with their shooting, but that’s not the case with Arron Afflalo of Compton Centennial.

Last season, he scored 42 points at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion and 25 points at the Arrowhead Pond. Last weekend, he scored 27 points at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

“If I could play in an arena every day, I would,” he said. “It’s the atmosphere. I love playing in front of people and I take so much pride, and it’s so much fun.”

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at [email protected].