Jeffers scarred, but not scared

Every time Othyus Jeffers puts on a basketball uniform, his bullet-scarred thigh reminds him of where he has been and, most important, where he's trying to go.

Growing up on Chicago's West Side, two of his brothers were shot to death, a sister was shot during a 2007 dispute with her boyfriend and Jeffers took a bullet in the same incident.

This guy's a walking testament to toughness. With every stride Jeffers takes during the NBA Summer League at UNLV, he tries to point his future in a productive direction.

Jeffers, a 6-foot-5-inch swingman who played at Robert Morris College in Chicago, is at the Summer League with the Select team from the NBA Development League. The squad is a surprising 2-0 after victories over Minnesota and Sacramento, and faces Phoenix at 7:30 p.m. today at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Like his D-League teammates, Jeffers hopes to catch the eye of an NBA general manager, and he probably has a better chance than most of them. Last season he was voted D-League Rookie of the Year after averaging 20.6 points and 8.8 rebounds in 47 games with the Iowa franchise.

"We're all chasing the same dream," said Jeffers, who will turn 24 on Aug. 15. "We all have something to prove. That's why you see us playing so hard all the time. Everyone on this team is good enough to play in the NBA. We just need the chance."

A chance, indeed. As a teen, Jeffers hardly could have envisioned escaping his bleak Chicago existence of violence, gunplay and death. He changed high schools three times because his mother feared for his safety if he remained in the neighborhood.

Jeffers lived with teammates and coaches. He jokes that he had no money, but at least he had a toothbrush and a comb wherever he slept.

But Jeffers' smile is a defense mechanism, boxing out the pain of his upbringing. His brother Gerome was gunned down at age 16, then brother Edmund at 24.

"It was hard," said Jeffers, one of seven children. "But with faith and staying focused on the goal, things can work out."

Jeffers' optimism and grit were particularly evident after he was shot in the thigh in 2007. A week later, he was plotting his return to the basketball court. After two more weeks, he was playing again.

"My family always told me if you're good at something, you use it," he said. "Basketball is what I'm good at, so I was determined to play as soon as I could."

Jeffers was playing for Illinois-Chicago at the time, but soon transferred to NAIA Robert Morris, where he averaged 24.0 points and 11.2 rebounds. He went undrafted by the NBA, but thrived with the D-League's Iowa Energy.

Jeffers had a chance to join Golden State late last season, but didn't have an agent and rejected the Warriors' offer, believing it was too low.

"It was a misunderstanding on my part," he said. "I don't blame Golden State at all."

As a free agent, Jeffers can go wherever he wants, and the NBA hasn't soured on him.

"He's a tough kid," a Western Conference scout said on the condition of anonymity. "He never takes a possession off, and he plays both ends of the floor. He's not just a scorer. He'll defend, too."

Nick Nurse, Jeffers' coach with Iowa, said: "He's a coach's dream. He was the most competitive kid I've ever coached in 19 years in this business.

"I'll be shocked if he's back in the D-League next season. There's no doubt in my mind he can play in the NBA. Everyone who watches him loves him. But no one will pull the trigger on him."

Nurse didn't realize his unfortunate phrasing, but his point is correct. Until Jeffers gets that contract, he's just another guy chasing a dream.