Halmos Has Speed, Quickness
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usCampbell High head basketball coach Wyatt Tau never has any doubts as to who sets the pace at practice. Junior guard BJ Halmos makes sure he’s the one.
“He’s so fast that at the end of any drill he’s gliding, while the rest of them are still trying to go fast,” Tau said of Halmos, who is projected to start at the off-guard spot. “He’s the fastest guy I have. He’s so fast that when it’s time to make a lay-up, he sometimes has a hard time. I told him,‘Next year, you’re trying out for track.’”
There’s a difference between quickness and speed on a basketball court, and Halmos has both. He also brings an air of confidence to his game.Asked to describe his team in a word, he said, “Quick.”
And asked to describe his own game in a word, he said, “Quick - quicker than the rest of them, I guess.”
The Sabers, who finished 11-6 overall in 2009-10, are hoping their cat-quick instincts will land them a seventh straight state tournament experience in February. Campbell was to open its pre-season last week as host of the annual Saber Invitational. (Their OIA Red West opener is Dec. 7 at home against Radford.)
Halmos has adapted nicely to varsity basketball. His time on the junior varsity team last year earned him a late-season promotion to the varsity. In fact, he took part in both the OIA and state tournaments with Tau last February.
“He caught me by surprise when he moved me up,”
Halmos said. “I wouldn’t have thought I was good enough to move up to varsity,but it was good.It was faster, but it was easier for me because I’m fast.”
Halmos’s role will expand accordingly this season, as his coach is eyeing him for defensive stopper in the back court.
“That’s the plan right now,” Tau said. “He’s going to play against the other team’s best guard.”
Halmos is up to the task, and his energy level knows few bounds.In the early weeks,he’s been following up his two-hour team practice by going out to Asing Community Park near his Ewa Beach home and playing for two more.
“I practice on my shot and my moves,“he said.“I like playing defense. Coach thinks defense is the key. If you can’t play defense, how are you going to get the ball back on offense?”
Although Halmos began playing basketball when he was 12 at the Boys and Girls Club in Ewa, there was no direct line to him becoming the player he is today.His older brother Bishop and older sister Bridgette, however, both played basketball at Campbell.
“It grew on me,“he admit-ted.“I didn’t know how to play at first.I got more used to playing and started liking it.”
Asked when he knew he could play the game, he said, “When I got to Campbell my freshman year and they accepted me on the team.”
Halmos also was a wide-out on the JV football team,so one of his challenges has been making the transition to the hardwood.
“It (transition) is very hard - I lose that basketball mentality and the basketball skills (during football season),” he said.
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