Tuesday, July 18, 2000 | 9:40 a.m.
High school basketball player John Allen used to be pleasantly surprised when he saw Tim Thomas of the Milwaukee Bucks lounging in the stands next to one of his NBA buddies during an Amateur Athletic Union game to cheer on his team.
Now he wonders who Thomas might bring to the game.
"It's kind of funny because you see Tim on TV all the time," Allen, a highly rated guard out of Coatesville (Pa.) High School, said Monday. "Then, you see him and he brings Darvin Ham or someone else.
"It's a lot of fun."
Allen plays on a team sponsored by Thomas called Tim Thomas Playaz that is entered in the adidas Big Time Tournament being played at high schools all over Southern Nevada.
Thomas has two entries in the 312-team tournament that started on Saturday and concludes Wednesday -- the Tim Thomas Playaz Gold team (seniors and two juniors), and the Tim Thomas Playaz Red team (juniors and sophomores).
Since Thomas left Villanova in 1997 for the NBA he has helped sponsor a traveling basketball team -- and he' s not the only NBA player or coach generous enough to open his heart and his wallet.
In this tournament alone, six other current or former players and one coach help subsidize teams.
They are: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant of the Olimpia Milano-Milan team, Seattle Supersonics Vin Baker and Gary Payton of the Payton/Baker Pinnacle team, TNT analyst and former NBA player Kenny Smith of the Aim High team, Golden State Warriors forward Donyell Marshall of the Donyell Marshall Foundation I and II teams, Bucks head coach George Karl of the Friends of Hoop teams and former NBA player Derek Smith of the Derek Smith All-Stars teams.
"I'm just trying to do the best I can to give back," said Thomas, a former AAU player. "One of the things I wanted to do was to get an AAU team.
"It's all in fun. It's basketball, stuff I love. The kids look up to me so I try to come out and support them as much as I can."
Thomas brought Ham, a Bucks forward, to the tournament over the weekend.
Ham said it was the first time he was exposed to high school summer basketball and he was impressed by the caliber of players. Although Ham currently does not sponsor a team, he plans to in the future.
"This is something I definitely look forward to doing," Ham said. "Tim is doing it right now.
"He's having fun with teaching the young guys so it's great. I'm from the Michigan area and I'm gonna get my Michigan team and come down here and wreck shop on the West Coast."
Each summer Thomas runs a camp for high school, college and NBA players in Paterson, New Jersey. He also has a Tim Thomas Playaz team for boys under 14, a team for 15-year-olds and a girls team.
Allen, who says he will attend Temple, Rutgers, Villanova or Seton Hall, started playing on Thomas' team four years ago. Since then, he played for one other team, but rejoined the Playaz because he said it was fun to be on the team.
According to Allen, Thomas takes an active interest by showing up randomly at games and having cookouts at his house.
"Ever since seventh grade I heard of Tim Thomas," Allen said. "He's just a nice, down-to-earth guy.
"He lets us go to his house and has his mom cook for us. He's really cool. He's not cocky or anything like some pro athletes are."
While Thomas said it was his idea to get involved because he grew up playing AAU basketball, there are several reasons players get involved.
Smith has sponsored Aim High for the last eight years.
Roy Beekman, co-coach of the team with Kevin Jackson, said that Smith got involved because his brother Vincent was the coach of a team, but didn't have the funds the team needed to travel to tournaments.
When Smith was available, he would accompany the team on trips, have dinner with the players and even drive the van, Beekman said.
"He doesn't just put up the money," Beekman said. "He talks to the kids about getting an education, about their career aspirations and all kinds of things.
"When Vince couldn't afford to take the kids to different tournaments, Kenny wanted to help because they both wanted the kids to see different parts of the country and experience different cultures, and see how other people lived."
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