Ex-Portsmouth star patiently awaiting his turn

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Never mind the 7-foot wingspan, the uncanny quickness or the jaw-dropping dunking ability. Deep into his second season at Georgetown, Vernon Macklin’s best attribute is patience.

While most of the other high school phenoms in the loaded high school class of 2006 are playing starring roles at big-time colleges – at least the ones who aren’t already getting paid in the NBA – Macklin contributes four points and two rebounds a game for the eighth-ranked Hoyas.

The words ''disappointment’’ and “bust’’ often follow Macklin’s name on Georgetown message boards, and even some of those close to the former Portsmouth star privately wonder whether their man chose the wrong school.

Not Macklin. When asked about his limited support role, the 6-foot-9 sophomore looks the questioner directly in the eyes and flashes a seemingly knowing smile.

“It’s OK,’’ Macklin said. “My time is coming.’’

For the majority of the players who shared the floor at the McDonald’s All-American game his senior year, their time is now. Nationally, Macklin’s 2006 class was hailed as the most talented in years, and the subsequent success of those players has put teeth in that assessment.

Five of Macklin’s 11 teammates on the East roster of the 2006 all-star game – Greg Oden, Brandan Wright, Javaris Crittenton, Mike Conley and Thaddeus Young – were first-round picks in the 2007 NBA draft. Oden was the top overall selection.

Of the remaining six, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson are major players at North Carolina. Gerald Henderson and Lance Thomas start for No. 2 Duke. Former Herndon High guard Scottie Reynolds leads Villanova in scoring and assists. And Earl Clark paces Louisville in rebounds.

Then there’s Macklin.

At the time, the former Portsmouth star fit right in. He made all three of his shots and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in the McDonald’s game.

These days, Macklin said he counts many of those players among his friends, that he watches them on television and charts their progress.

Any jealousy?

“Nah,’’ Macklin said. “I’m happy here at Georgetown.’’

Perhaps only those closest to Macklin weren’t surprised when he announced Georgetown as his choice in September of 2005. Throughout his junior year at Norcom, Macklin did little to discourage rumors he might forgo college altogether and head straight to the NBA.

When an NBA rule in the spring of 2005 mandated that players wait at least one year after their high school class graduates to pursue the NBA, that option was eliminated. Macklin acknowledged that he hadn’t even prepared a list of schools to consider.

When he was pressed about potential colleges during his high school days, Macklin usually said his preference was an ACC school. Ideally, he would go somewhere and play with good friend Stefan Welsh, who like Macklin spent his senior year at Hargrave Military Academy.

None of this deterred Hoyas coach John Thompson III. The Georgetown program had struck gold in Hampton Roads in the past with Alonzo Mourning and Allen Iverson. Thompson made it clear he wanted Macklin to be next.

“He was in our gym at least three times watching Vernon,’’ Norcom assistant coach Henry “Barney’’ Stevenson said. “He was really interested. And he was straight-up with Vernon. The two of them developed a really good rapport.’’

During an unofficial visit in the summer of 2005, Macklin said he felt a similar bond with the Georgetown players. And he took particular note of Georgetown’s fabled history of developing post players, from Patrick Ewing to current All-American center Roy Hibbert.

Playing in the ACC, or with Welsh, suddenly no longer were priorities. Macklin wanted to become a Hoya.

Still, a comment he made when announcing his decision raised questions about whether Macklin fully understood what he was signing up for.

“They like to go up and down,’’ Macklin said. “That’s the style I like to play.’’

In fact, under Thompson, the Hoyas run a precision, disciplined attack, the very antithesis of the rip-and-run style in which Macklin thrives.

Hoyas fans weren’t interested in parsing his words. They reveled in the impending arrival of “The Big Ticket,’’ surely the latest in Georgetown’s seemingly never-ending string of quality big men.

“We thought he was going to be our best player,’’ said Bailey Heaps, a Georgetown student who writes for the student newspaper .

All along, Macklin said he knew better.

“All that stuff about me going in and dominating was coming from the outside,’’ he said. “The people who really knew basketball knew I had a lot to learn.’’

Sure enough, Macklin played sparingly as a freshman, with most of his game time spent watching All-Americans Jeff Green and Hibbert star in front of him. With those two leading the way, the Hoyas and Macklin advanced to the 2007 Final Four.

Only Hibbert returned for the 2007-08 season, and reports out of Georgetown referred to Macklin as perhaps the team’s most improved player. But Macklin’s sophomore season began playing out the same as his freshman year – with the big guy earning limited minutes, and often struggling to produce in those.

In early January, Heaps dug up an old quote from recruiting guru Bob Gibbons in which Gibbons compared Macklin favorably to NBA star Kevin Garnett. “I planned to do a column where I led with that quote,’’ Heaps said. “Then I was going to really dissect all the ways this guy’s falling short.’’

Then, Macklin went for 18 points against St. John’s in Madison Square Garden.

At the next Georgetown press conference, Macklin was surrounded by microphones and cameras recording details of his long-awaited Hoyas breakthrough.

“Yeah, it felt good,’’ a smiling Macklin said. “But I’ve still got a long way to go.’’

Indeed, without prompting, Macklin will point out that he still needs to do a better job of rebounding if he wants to earn more minutes. And how he must also address his woeful 22 percent free-throw shooting.

“I make ’em in practice all the time,’’ he said. “Then I get in the game, and I start thinking too much.’’

Macklin’s modest overall numbers have returned since his St. John’s performance. But his teammates say they see a different Macklin. Hibbert, the star who battles Macklin every day in practice, said he sees flashes of dominance in Macklin in workouts. “People won’t believe some of the things he can do,’’ Hibbert said.

Other teammates laud Macklin’s ability to set screens and see the floor. And Thompson, who is limited in his praise when discussing players, offers that Macklin is “progressing well.’’

If he keeps progressing, Macklin could be a centerpiece of the 2008-09 Hoyas, who with Hibbert gone may adopt a more up-tempo style.

And while that would play to Macklin’s natural strengths, he believes two years of banging bodies with an All-American 7-footer has also allowed him to develop the kind of low-post skills he once could only dream of.

“A lot of kids, all they care about is playing right away,’’ said AAU hoops guru Boo Williams, for whom Macklin played. “But it’s not how soon you get there. It’s what you do once you get there.’’

Will Macklin actually get there? The sophomore’s smile suggests he’s pretty confident about the correct answer.

But only time will truly tell.

Paul White, 757-418-1447,paul.white@pilotonline.com