La Habra's Sachs defies classification

LA HABRA -Jordan Sachs remembers walking into a grocery store as a sixth grader, looking down at most of the adults, and realizing, "Oh, I'm a lot taller than everyone."

Fortunately for Sachs, none of his basketball coaches ever forced him to exploit that.

Sachs stood around 5-foot-8 as a 12 year old, and he continued to sprout steadily. A senior at La Habra, he's still tall. But, as a 6-4 basketball player, "I'm just one of a million guys."

Some of the differences from the other 999,999: Sachs can dribble with both hands and drive both ways. He'll blow past a forward from the perimeter, or post up a guard inside. He doesn't sink shots from everywhere on the court; he drains them.

La Habra coach Mark Stewart refuses to classify Sachs as a 1 guard, a 2 guard, or even a swingman.

"He's a basketball player," said Stewart, who has used his star at all five positions.

Even when Sachs was a toddling player, "I was lucky enough that my coaches never said, 'You're the big kid; you're going to be the center on the team,'" he said. "That would have crippled me a little bit."

Mark Sachs, Jordan's father, knew all about such predicaments. A former high school player, he tried out for the Cal State Fullerton team as a freshman.

But he was an undersized forward at 6-3, and, "It just wasn't going to work," said Mark, a former sports writer. "So, one thing I really wanted Jordan to be able to do was handle the ball."

His son, he noticed, had an uncanny ability to watch basketball on TV, then incorporate moves he liked into his own repertoire. Wary of the modern NBA game, in which selfish play and lax defense often go hand-in-hand with stardom, Mark showed Jordan old tapes.

The younger Sachs loves Kobe Bryant, but he learned fundamentals from the Boston Celtics dynasties. He absorbed knee-buckling offensive moves from the likes of Pete Maravich, Connie Hawkins, George Gervin and Bernard King.

"I knew that certain types of players would appeal to him from a flashiness standpoint," Mark said. "I just thought it would open up his mind for what you can do on the basketball court - show some athleticism, make plays on the fly and think on the court."

Said Jordan: "It helped me get a grasp on, 'Oh, so you don't have to pull up from three feet behind the arc. You don't' have to do a crazy dunk. You can lay it up, or you can get a good shot.'"

Even now, Sachs is prone to stunning his father, coaches and opponents by unveiling a new twist or shimmy that sends him breezing to the basket for an open layup.

"Sometimes it's happening so fast, I know he couldn't have planned it," Mark said.

Said Stewart: "That's just stuff he does on his own." The coach chuckled, adding, "And we let him."

Sachs leads a talented Highlanders team in scoring (28.3), field goal percentage (54.6), rebounds (7.3), assists (3.9), blocks (2.3) and steals (3.4). He has a clear spot in the debate of: Who's the top player in Orange County who doesn't suit up for Mater Dei?

"He's easily the best player in North County," said Garden Grove coach Ken Frank, who coached Sachs in two fall all-star games. "But there's no sense of arrogance about him."

Sachs' breakthrough came after his sophomore season, his first full year on varsity, when he debuted on the AAU circuit. He faced players from inner cities, other states and other countries. They were quicker and better than anyone he had seen before.

His coach sent Sachs and his teammates to Simms Park in Bellflower, where they matched up with athletes from the NBA Development League and ABA, in addition to former high school stars, whose careers stalled early.

Sachs got a preview of college competition and a taste of basketball beyond Orange County. He began to build his body and his game with fresh purpose.

Sachs returned to La Habra as a "more aggressive player, probably someone that's looking to attack a lot more, and someone who plays with a little bit more of a swagger, plays with some confidence, some intensity," he said.

He learned moves from the park's older players, who also taught him, "You only get one shot at this. This is it. And if you screw it up, you're just going to be one of the guys hanging out at the park, telling people how good you were."

Sachs averaged 20.2 points as a junior, raising his output by almost eight points per game. He led La Habra to a Freeway League title, earning league MVP and all-CIF honors.

However, scholarship offers did not exactly pour in. Sachs is a trim-looking 6-4. Even if his frame belies his strength, he can't strike the pose of a "world beater," as his father put it.

When Stewart asked Sachs for his weight, Sachs said 180 pounds.

Stewart replied, "Is that serious? Soaking wet? With Randy on your back?"

Yet, Stewart allowed, "He's a legitimate 6-4. And if you're 6-4, you've got to have some kind of weight. … He put on some pounds in the weight room. And that's allowed him to finish in traffic, and elevate, and rise up above people and score."

Westmont College, in Santa Barbara, certainly saw it.

"Whatever the limits of contact were, they would go right up to that, in order to keep him interested," Mark Sachs said of Westmont.

Jordan worked out for Fullerton and UC Irvine, and received letters from Penn State and Holy Cross, but Westmont came through with an early offer. During the summer, the Warriors offered a full ride, and it was a welcome opportunity for someone who never planned to stray far from home. Westmont plays in the Golden State Athletic Conference, nearly half of which resides in and around Orange County.

Soon, Sachs will begin preparing for the official conclusion of life as a tall person - supermarket aisles aside. Westmont coaches, he said, want him to be a full-time guard.

"So that's what I'm really going to work on in the offseason, is honing my skills for those two (guard) spots," he said. "My goal is to get significantly better each year I come back."

Contact the writer: jkay@ocregister.com