Basketball: Penney going for the money shot

By PETER JESSUP

Kirk Penney is shooting around 400 hoops a day as he adjusts his range to the extra distance the NBA adds to the three-point arc.

Shooting is Penney's prowess and he knows he has to be spot-on if he is to force his way into a contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He is in limbo right now - the Timberwolves have given a strong indication they want him and he's invited to their pre-season veterans' camp starting on October 1, but in the meantime they are off signing big names such as New York guard Latrell Sprewell.

"They said they think I have a great chance of making it, now come and prove it," Penney said in Auckland yesterday as he takes a holiday before pushing on to his goal of becoming New Zealand's second NBA player.

The Timberwolves have watched closely for four years as Penney hung around at the top of the NCAA college championship scoring statistics for nearby Madison University in Wisconsin.

He also feels his case has been helped by the performance of the Tall Blacks at the Sydney Olympics, then last year at the Indianapolis world champs.

The Wolves have two spots left for roster players and can list a further three "injury reserves" ahead of their first game against the Milwaukee Bucks on October 29.

If Penney is chosen he will be on a minimum salary of US$300,000 a year. A regular starter gets more than US$2 million.

"For me it's not about the money, it's about the dream," he said. Only 22, he has been in Wisconsin since he was 17, his path eased from Westlake Boys' High via the North Harbour Kings by Kings import forward Tony Bennett and his father. He has a landscaping degree behind him.

In recent weeks he's played the top summer league tournament with the Wolves and attended an NBA prospects camp at the Moody Bible College in Chicago.

He has no income, relying on the goodwill of backers and former students of Madison who are proud to see one of their graduates doing well.

He hasn't felt out of place against the big names in the summer league. All the talk pre-NBA draft in June was that Penney wouldn't get a go because at 1.96m he was too short. But he hasn't been shown up and he doesn't feel that size is going to count against him.

"Shooting is my thing, that's why they want me. I just have to find a way around."

The NBA arc is 23 feet 9 inches (7.24m) out from the hoop, nearly four feet (1.22m) further than the NCAA arc.

"That's what I've been concentrating on," Penney says. He has his average back to around 54 per cent.

While Penney waits, the only NBA Kiwi, Sean Marks, has been offering support and advice.

"I looked up to Sean. His road is the road I want to travel. It's great to see everything eventuate after you work so hard."

Marks, from Rangitoto College, went to University of California's Berkeley campus on a scholarship before being picked up by the New York Knicks. He was traded to Toronto, released and signed by Miami, where he is off contract and negotiating.

"It's good to know what he went through and what mind-set to take into it," Penney said. "He's in limbo and has been for months."

A Tall Black since 2000, he is talking to coach Tab Baldwin about the Olympic qualifying series against Australia next month, but his availability is not guaranteed.

Two NBL veterans, the Rams' Andrew Gardiner and the Nuggets' Andrew Parke, have announced they will finish their careers this weekend.