Renardo Sidney has almost everything a 16-year-old, 6-foot-10, 245-pound basketball prodigy usually has these days: shadowy sports agents hovering around his family, shoe companies groveling at his feet and AAU coaches vying for his services. But he has never had a high school team, and he doesn't think he needs one.
The days when a college scholarship depended solely on performances in high school passed long ago, but Sidney might be the first athlete to prove that playing against other school teams is unnecessary to become highly pursued in the national market for players.
"I really don't look at high school basketball like I do AAU," Sidney said. "It's not that important. I just like to win tournaments and rings and stuff like that. That [summer basketball] is where it counts. You really don't have to look at high school basketball. I just wait until AAU to show everything I got."
The most important weekend for Sidney over the next year won't be the state playoffs; it will be this upcoming weekend, when he competes against other elite prospects at the ABCD Camp in Hackensack, N.J.
The recruiting publication Hoop Scoop named Sidney, a sophomore, one of the nation's top 15 high school players even though he doesn't play on a high school team. Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons said the Mississippi native has risen faster than any prospect he has ever seen. And the family said it is moving from Jackson, Miss., to California to take advantage of all the opportunities available to Sidney.
To Gibbons, Sidney's growing reputation despite having no high school résumé illustrates the shift in power in amateur basketball "to the n-th degree."
"Whether you like it or you don't like it, that's reality," said Gibbons, whose Memorial Day weekend tournament in North Carolina first showcased Sidney on a large stage last year. "They play far more games after their high school season is over. In this case, he has played every game in an offseason environment."
No allegiance, no problem
Sidney, who described himself as a bored middle-schooler before entering the world of summer basketball, did not play in high school last season because his transfer to a private school did not meet the state's eligibility guidelines. He would have been eligible this fall at the private school, Piney Woods, but Sidney's father, Renardo Sidney Sr., believes his son has outgrown the city and the state.
Without question, Sidney's lack of high school experience has not held him back on the court. Last summer, he was named the MVP of the ABCD underclassmen all-star game. And three weeks ago, he claimed MVP honors for his performance in an elite summer-league tournament in Portland, Ore., where he outshined several senior all-Americans, namely Ohio's O.J. Mayo.
"It's mind-boggling, really," the elder Sidney said. "This kid is competing at this level, never played high school, and he can dominate kids even older than high school. He dominates college guys. If he were just playing in Mississippi, just playing on the regular high school team, no way would he be the number one ninth-grader. No way."
Without an allegiance to a high school program, Sidney and his family are completely immersed in the AAU environment, which is dominated by shoe companies that sponsor touring teams and tournaments in the hopes of landing future endorsement deals with players. Sidney's father was a school security guard who said that as recently as two years ago the family could only afford most nights to eat eggs and toast. Six months ago, he became a Reebok "consultant." His job responsibilities, he said, entail making sure his son plays at their tournaments.
"That's it," he added. "Make sure he gets to [ABCD Camp] and Las Vegas" for Reebok's Big Tim tournament this month.
He said he is under no illusions that Reebok employs him for any other reason than to get close to his son, saying, "Who could argue with that?"
Not Sonny Vaccaro, Reebok's director of grass-roots basketball, who acknowledged: "Absolutely, that is what this is. No different than a college recruiting . . . they only want you to come to my school. The more airplanes we have and the better time we have on a recruiting visit, the better chance I have of getting you."
The elder Sidney said Nike and Adidas made similar offers for his services; representatives still call in attempts to lure the son to their tournaments. The voice mail boxes on his two cellphones are full; he never checks them and does not answer the phone if he sees an unfamiliar area code. He said he has received calls from individuals who refused to give their names but urged the elder Sidney to call back at a specific extension.
"There are so many people coming at" her son, said Sidney's mother, Patricia. "I can't imagine what it will be like in 11th or 12th grade. I've never seen anything like it in my life."
Sidney expects to spend those school years at Artesia High in Los Angeles. But the family says his basketball development will depend much more on his experience with the team he recently joined: the Southern California All-Stars, a Reebok-sponsored AAU team that counts NBA player Tyson Chandler among its alumni. This summer, he's also working out with NBA players and former college standouts at Irvine's Sports Club/LA, a luxurious 130,000-square foot fitness center with valet parking. This for a player whose training regimen 14 months ago included crack-of-dawn hill-running sessions with his father that the two dubbed "The Breakfast Club."
Once the family settles in Los Angeles, the elder Sidney said his son will become an "overnight celebrity."
Offers abound
The absence of a high school career has not deterred "different people" from offering the family money in return for increased influence with Sidney, his father said. The younger Sidney said those offers come primarily from summer league and high school coaches and have all been refused.
Vaccaro, who has become somewhat of a confidant for the family, said the Sidneys call him when they are offered gifts but he does not ask what they have been offered because "if they tell me, my guilt is bigger." Vaccaro said he tells the family to "stand firm and hold out," but acknowledges the temptation is great.
"That's hard for any rational person to ask them to give up, when they don't have anything in their pocket right now," Vaccaro said. "If you have nothing there, how are you going to say, 'No'? So every once in a while someone gives you something you put it in your pocket or go buy yourself something, who am I to say don't do it?"
Chuck Wansley, one of Sidney's former coaches, said he or family members have also been approached by at least four individuals who claimed they were connected with sports agencies. The men usually initiate a conversation by saying they run a camp or tournament, Wansley said, but eventually explain their true intention — to cultivate a relationship with the family in hopes that they can represent Sidney if he signs a lucrative NBA contract in four years. Vaccaro confirmed Wansley's account and added that at least two were linked to "very big" agents.
"The land mines Renardo will have won't be with ability — it's going to be with people," Vaccaro said. "And for the first time, I can say this: The biggest thing will be people aligning themselves to be an agent for him in four years. . . .
"One-hundred dollars is like a dollar to some of these people [agents]. This is a major investment. You can look him in the eye and say, 'One-hundred million dollars in his career is nothing.' He's right in the middle of it. He's right here in Hollywood. . . . It's show business, and these people are substantial. This is not going to be a walk in the park. The hardest part is going to be when the game is over, not when the game is being played."
Sidney's last in-season performance came in early 2005, when he led Peeples Middle School to an undefeated record, but college coaches have found him. Gibbons said those coaches first recommended Sidney, who can play inside and on the perimeter, for his Memorial Day weekend tournament last year.
Sidney receives about 10 letters a week from colleges, but coaches often go to other measures to try to cultivate a relationship with the player, the elder Sidney said. He said colleges several times have invited him to run a basketball camp at their school for a fee. He has done it once — at a Southeastern Conference school — but declined all other offers because he believes the schools only want to get close to his son.
"It's legal," the elder Sidney said. "My thumb's up for that part. There is a bunch of stuff that goes on that is not legal, but I won't comment about that. I'm trying to make sure he is not doing anything illegal."
More than 10 high schools have expressed interest in Sidney, his father said. Sidney ruled out some because, he said, players on their teams told him they don't always have to do their own work to get grades.
But the Sidney family listened to one recruitment pitch, even though it began surreptitiously. Two men showed up in Mississippi, telling Sidney they were reporters with a new magazine in California and that he was the subject of their cover story.
His mother immediately called Vaccaro; the elder Sidney met the men for lunch. Vaccaro said he believes the two men were trying to persuade Sidney to transfer to Compton's Dominguez High, which is sponsored by Nike.
"It was scary," the elder Sidney said. "That was definitely a Hollywood act. They told me two names, but I don't know if that is their real name. They could have been posing for an agent. . . . So you just never know."
Sidney said he and his family later visited California and the men gave them tickets on the floor for a Los Angeles Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game.
"They took us to the Lakers game; we went out to eat every day," Sidney said. "We hung out, late nights and stuff. We had fun. They showed us a good time. They wanted me to come out here just to visit Dominguez and see if I would like it or whether I'd go to it. We stopped messing with them. I never thought about [Dominguez]. It was in the ghetto."
Their recruitment pitch included a phone call that the men said was from Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. When Sidney got on the phone, the man purported to be Bryant and told him he should stay humble and work hard. To this day, Sidney doesn't know who he spoke to. Bryant could not be reached to comment.
Caught in the middle
Sidney lives the life of someone teetering between the world of a teenager and a quasi-professional. One moment Sidney, polite and with only a wisp of facial hair under his nose, laments being booted off a Disneyland ride because he is too tall. The next, he goes head-to-head with 23-year-old Josh Childress, a double-digit scorer for the Atlanta Hawks, and is not-so-kindly reminded by his summer-league coach that he has "gotta work against NBA players!"
"He is one of a kind," said Cedric Bozeman, the former UCLA standout and one of a handful of former college players to train regularly with Sidney during his recent two-week visit to California.
Instead, he awaits his high school debut.
The elder Sidney believes his son's unique circumstance "gives high school basketball something to think about. A lot of high school coaches want to take credit for getting this kid to this college, getting this kid to that college, when it's definitely not true because kids get seen in the summer time, everyone knows that."