LJ b BB: The view through the Lenz

Rising junior Otto Lenz,

the man, the myth, the legend.

By Ed Piper

Otto Lenz, 16, has blue eyes. A sportswriter doesn't know this until he sits down with the rising junior on the La Jolla basketball team in the bleachers before the Vikings' last summer league game at Montgomery High, and faces him eye-to-eye.

What does "Lenz" mean?

"Springtime, I think. Something like that."

Wow. I Googled it. True. Very few people know what their names mean, teen or adult.

What does "Otto" mean?

I Googled it. Wealth, fortune.

Wealth or fortune in the spring. That means next spring will be advantageous, if Coach Paul Baranowski's team plays in spring league, which they didn't do this year.

What we really want to know is, how will next winter go? That's when the regular basketball season is.

Lenz, coming off the bench in summer league games, has showed consistency as far as a short-range jump shot. He has a high arch, and a family member said that Otto was struggling earlier in the summer with his shot. But it went in consistently during the recent summer league at Montgomery High, and likely at the various weekend team camps, including UCSD--though he didn't take a high volume of shots.

"Why has your shot been going in lately?"

Lenz: "Just getting rotation on it. Looking at the back of the rim."

"Did someone suggest doing this?"

Lenz: "No, I just tried it. I don't see very well. I wear contacts."

Reporter: "I can't see through the net to the back of the rim."

"Is that your natural eye color?"

Lenz: "Yes."

"What is a favorite dessert?" (since this is a hard-hitting, investigative interview--tongue in cheek).

Lenz: "I'm an ice cream man. Strawberry."

Any toppings?

Lenz: "Straight."

"A favorite food?"

Lenz: "I like tacos. Fish tacos." Spoken like a true San Diegan.

"Talk about the team."

Lenz: "A lot of transition (offense). Pushing the break."

"What does pick-and-pop mean?"

Lenz: "You set a screen. The screener, instead of rolling to the basket, pops out for a jump shot."

"Thank you. No one has ever explained that to me."

"What would your friends say you are like?"

Lenz: "Pretty reserved."

"What do you like to do besides basketball?"

Lenz: "Tennis. I played JV last year."

"How do you like Darice Carnaje as coach?"

Lenz: "Good."

"What is your mental approach?"

Lenz: "Just to play as hard as I can when I'm out there."

"What is something nobody knows about you?"

Lenz: "That's a hard question to answer" (screwing up his expression, trying to think).

"What's an easy question?"

Lenz: "Dunno."

"A member of your family said you were struggling with your shot."

Lenz: "I was last week."

"Is 10 feet out from the basket, in the left half of the key, your favorite spot? (showing him a quick sketch on paper)

Lenz: "Yes, midrange."