15-Year-Old Man-Child (Not Leroy Jenkins) Brings Age Questions to Recruiting Circuit (plus another nbadraft.net shout out)

Eventually, someone needs to address the elephant in the room about the elephant in the room.

Seriously, I need to see a birth certificate.

Until then, I won’t believe Udoka Azubuike is only 15.

Or rather, “barely 15,” as the 5-star prospect suggested at the NBPA Top 100 camp last month.

A center for Nike Team Florida, Azubuike stands 6’10”. He weighs 268 pounds. The Nigerian—who has only been in the United States for two years and already has offers from Kentucky and Kansas, among others—has hair on his chest and barrels through defenders as if they were bowling pins. All of this, he says, despite never spending a minute in a weight room.

It truly is a sight to behold.

You could’ve seen it for yourself at the LeBron James Skills Academy this week in Las Vegas, but NTF coach Tom Topping told me Tuesday that shin splints will likely keep Azubuike on the sideline for the rest of the summer.

http://youtu.be/J2gm6Rf00C0

I’m genuinely disappointed. I loved watching Azubuike bully opponents at the NBPA Top 100 camp last month and was looking forward to seeing him do it again in Sin City.

Part of me even expected to run into Azubuike at one of Las Vegas’ swanky nightclubs. Heck, if I were working the door, I wouldn’t card him. I may try to hire him as a bouncer, but I wouldn’t question his age.

Unless, of course, he tried to tell me he was 15.

“Honestly, it’s a non-issue,” Topping said Tuesday. “I’ve come across a lot of players who look a lot older than they truly are. Greg Oden looked old, but no one questioned his age because he was from the U.S.

“We’ve seen the documentation (Azubuike) used to get over here. It’s not something we’re remotely concerned with.”

I hope Topping is right about Azubuike, who attends Potter’s House Christian in Jacksonville, Florida.

I interviewed him multiple times at the NBPA camp, and he couldn’t have been a more likable fellow. Warm and polite, laughed and smiled a lot, no hint of an ego.

“He couldn’t be more gentle as a human being,” Topping said.

Yes, if I were a coach, I’d want Azubuike on my squad for reasons far beyond his ability to dunk, rebound and swat shots. Azubuike seems like he’d be an ideal teammate, a highly underrated trait.

That’s why it’d be so disheartening if Azubuike’s reputation were muddied because a coach or handler convinced the vulnerable teen to lie about his age. It’d be a shame if Azubuike turned into high school basketball’s Danny Almonte, a Little League pitcher who lied about his age in 2001.

There are certainly reasons to be leery.

The website NBADraft.net lists Azubuike’s birthdate as September 17, 1999. That would mean he’s still 14. Yet Azubuike told reporters at the NBAP Top 100 camp that he turned 15 in April. Topping said he didn’t know Azubuike’s exact date of birth, but that it was “his understanding” that it was within the last few months.

Whatever the case, someone is providing inaccurate information.

I’ve also had two highly respected national recruiting analysts tell me Azubuike’s handlers contacted them around this time a year ago saying he was about to turn 15—which would make him 16 now. Again, that doesn’t prove anything, but it certainly provides a reason for pause.

Also, how many other newly minted 15-year-olds—especially ones who hardly spoke English a few years ago—are about to begin their junior year of high school? That’s the age of many high school freshmen. See what I mean? There are too many inconsistencies, too many red flags. At the very least, the whole thing looks sloppy.

I asked a college head coach this week if he believed Azubuike had recently turned 15.

“Of course he’s 15,” the coach said, and then he smiled and winked.

I suppose in the end, it really doesn’t matter. Even if someone is fibbing, it won’t prevent Azubuike from signing with a big-name school before moving on to the NBA. And Azubuike’s coaches could argue that there is no reason to lie about his age, as Azubuike is dominating players who (on paper) are two and three years his elder.

Still, until I see a birth certificate, I’ll remain skeptical. Even if someone produced such a document, there would likely be questions about its authenticity.

No matter what happens, I’ll always remember a group of reporters breaking out into laughter after Azubuike nearly ripped down the backboard while dunking at the NBPA camp last month.

“Fifteen years old?” one of the them said. “Seriously, do they think we’re (freakin’) stupid?”

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2123657-15-year-old-man-child-udoka-azubuike-brings-age-questions-to-recruiting-circuit Found via http://ble.ac/teamstream