SoCalHoops High School News

Leon Smith Transfer To Compton,
More To Come--(Nov. 8, 1998)

Like everyone else, we've been reading about the impending transfer of Leon Smith (6'-10" Sr. PF/C) from Chicago MLK to Compton.  We had a very good sense that this was in the works for many months, as we had heard at the Long Beach Fall Hoops Classic that Compton was going to be getting a really big guy, but we just didn't know who was going to be coming, or just how good he really was.

The Chicago Sun-Times ran a story yesterday about how the officials in Chicago were claiming "street agents" were involved in the transfer, that Smith was a "ward of the state" and that authorities in Chicago were going to try to stop Smith from transferring.   We haven't spoken with Smith, but understand that he talked late last night with reporters from the Sun-Times in order to give them his side of the story.  And rest assured, he does have a side to the story and things are not at all like the print media are making it appear.

Smith will enroll at Compton tomorrow.  We don't know what steps will be taken in Chicago to try to stop him from enrolling. He's 18, and while we understand that he had been a ward of the state and living in state-run foster homes, he has already reached the age of majority, so the statement that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday that he would need to "petition for emancipation" would seem not to make any sense at all from a purely legal point of view, but then we haven't researched Illinois law on the subject.

We do know that Smith is a big-time player, very powerful in the post, and the one player who most scouts say has a real potential to turn pro directly out of high school. He was the MVP of the All-Star game at adidas ABCD camp this year, and is probably one of the top 10 players in the country this year as a senior.  We also know that Smith does not want to turn pro immediately, especially after seeing what happened to Korleone Young this year, and he wants to get a college education.  The word is that MLK was not doing all that it could to get him qualified, and that Compton will undertake a series of rigorous night and day classes to get him qualified in his core classes.

With Smith, Compton is an entirely different team, and it completely changes the picture in Division II this year.  If the transfer stands and he joins the team, they will probably be considered the D-II favorites this year, and that includes Dominguez and last year's State Champions, Santa Margarita, and they could even play up in D-I and challenge most of the teams at the highest level.

Stay tuned. There's far more to come about this story in the next few weeks.  

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