TRAVELING MAN : Leon Wood Is Trying to Find a Home After Playing for Five NBA Teams in Five Seasons.

Leon Wood sat high in the bleachers at Gersten Pavilion at Loyola Marymount University. He had to wait an hour before he could do his favorite thing, playing basketball, so he settled for his second-favorite thing, watching basketball.

A self-confessed “gym rat” since he was 7, Wood is playing in the Summer Pro League, as he has every summer since he finished his first NBA season in 1985.

But this time Wood is not merely honing his skills.

“I’m trying to make a team, trying to get a job,” he said.

“My first three or four years (as a pro), I was on a team already,” Wood said. “I was pretty much trying to work on certain things. Now it’s kind of hard to just work on certain things when you don’t have a job. You have to do everything and showcase yourself. I’m trying to go out here and play an overall game.”

It’s a strange situation in which to find a player with Wood’s credentials.

He was a two-time CIF Southern Section Division 1-A Player of the Year at St. Monica High and set a Southern Section career scoring record of 2,693 points that stood until last year, when it was broken by Tracy Murray. Wood’s career scoring average of 33.7 points per game is still a Southern Section record.

At Cal State Fullerton, Wood was an All-American and led the nation in assists his junior year. He played on the U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal in 1984, and was a first-round draft choice of the Philadelphia 76ers and the 10th player selected in the 1984 draft.

But Wood has never found a place in the NBA, drifting among five teams in five pro seasons. He has even played in the Continental Basketball Assn. and in Spain.

So what happened?

“I haven’t been in the right place at the right time,” Wood said. “Nobody can question my work ethic or my love of the game. Basically it’s being in the right place at the right time. I haven’t had that opportunity.”

When Wood joined the 76ers, he had to take his place as the fifth guard behind Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Clint Richardson and Sedale Threatt. Later, Philadelphia moved Julius Erving to guard, moving Wood even further down the depth chart.

“I’ve been playing catch-up ever since,” he said.

Wood saw action in only 38 games his rookie season. Things weren’t going much better his second year until a mid-season trade sent him to the Washington Bullets.

Given playing time and the green light to shoot by Coach Gene Shue, Wood responded by setting career scoring highs in four of his first five games with the Bullets, capped by a 30-point performance against New Jersey in his fifth game.

“It was unbelievable,” said Shue, now the general manager of the 76ers. “We felt we had a fantastic player. As the season progressed, I don’t know whether he lost confidence, but his numbers started to shrink. He never really recovered.”

Shue was fired late in the season, and when Kevin Loughery took over as coach, he decided to go with the veterans in the playoff drive, reducing Wood’s playing time.

Wood spent the next season with the New Jersey Nets and enjoyed his most productive year. Playing behind rookie Dwayne (Pearl) Washington, Wood appeared in 76 games. He averaged 22 minutes, 7.3 points and 4.2 assists and made a club-record 60 three-point field goals.

Wood was waived the next season. Since then he’s played with San Antonio, Atlanta, a team in Spain, the CBA’s Santa Barbara Islanders and finally the Nets again this year. Wood’s contract expired at the end of this season, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Laker General Manager Jerry West, at Gersten Pavilion to watch his team’s summer league entry, said that although Wood’s well-traveled past might be a warning sign to some teams, it says a great deal about his tenacity.

“It takes great mental strength and mental integrity to play so long with so many teams,” West said. “To his credit, he’s been able to do that. He loves the game.”

Marty Blake, the NBA’s director of scouting services, has never doubted that Wood could play in the NBA. “I think he deserves a shot,” Blake said. “I think he’s become a better player the last couple of years. He’s matured. And I always thought he gave 100%.”

Wood’s effort has never been questioned. He has been known to ask coaches to make practices more intense and comes to the arena for pregame shooting so early that sometimes the lights aren’t even on.

Maturity, however, takes time to arrive. And Wood, 28, has grown as a player and a person since he became a professional almost six years ago.

“I’m older, I think I’m more experienced,” Wood said. “I know what to expect as far as what coaches look for. They look for the complete package. If you come in as a scorer, they know you can score but they want to see what else you can do.

“I think I’ve gotten a lot smarter. I’ve improved in certain areas. The bottom line is that I’m a lot older and the mentality’s a lot different. I’m married now.”

Basketball now has competition for Wood’s attention from his wife, Tia, and their 14-month-old daughter, Whitney. Wood has begun to take a new, less intense approach to life.

“I went on vacation with my wife for a week after the season,” Wood said. “I’ve never done that before. Now I’m starting to relax. I’m starting to enjoy myself and enjoy basketball while maintaining that eye of the tiger, that hunger.”

Wood has even forsaken the night life that is an unofficial part of the summer league in order to spend time with his family.

“The only time I used to go out was during the summer league when my friends came to town, but I haven’t gone out yet this year,” Wood said. “I just say, ‘Can’t do it.’ I’ll spend a Friday or Saturday night at home without a problem.”

Wood’s other close companion is his VCR. Whenever he feels down, all he has to do is pop in his tape of the 1984 Olympic team’s games to bring back wonderful memories.

“I had an awesome time,” Wood said. “To finally get that (final) game over with, just to finally see the clock tick to zero and we had that gold medal . . . it was unbelievable. It was in my hometown; people from my high school were in the stands, people from college; it was just unbelievable. The only thing missing was the Russians.”

As far as basketball experiences go, Wood said he has never been through anything like the Olympic team trials in April, 1984. Seventy-two of the nation’s top amateur basketball players convened in Bloomington, Ind., for a week of all-out play to determine who would survive when the roster was cut to 20 players. This all took place under the watchful eye and stinging tongue of Indiana University Coach Bobby Knight.

Future NBA stars Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullen, Alvin Robertson, Sam Perkins and Wayman Tisdale were on that Olympic team. Players of the caliber of Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Chuck Person and John Stockton were cut. Danny Manning, still in high school, also tried to make the team.

“The trials were the best competition I ever had to deal with,” Wood said. “The first week, with three-a-day practices, it was intense. All that you did in college, all that you did the year before, was out the window. Guys were going all out, taking charges; there was blood on the floor--it was very good competition.”

Wood’s toughest challenge came every day in practice, when he had to guard Jordan.

“He did things to me I couldn’t even dream of trying to stop,” Wood said.

Although his professional career hasn’t matched some of his Olympic teammates’, Wood’s outlook for the future remains upbeat.

“I haven’t gotten discouraged,” he said. “I know deep inside that I can play in (the NBA). I know deep inside that I can play with a lot of these guys. The bottom line is you’ve got to wait your turn.”

Wood is still young enough to catch on with an NBA team, but he hasn’t ruled out playing in Europe or the CBA if those are his only options.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle Wood will have to overcome is the reputation he picked up long ago of lacking defensive skills.

“His defense was never that good,” Shue said. “I think he tried to play hard defensively, but he just wasn’t very good at it.”

No matter what he does, Wood said, the label of defensive liability will always be with him.

“My defense has improved,” he said. “I’ve worked hard, and I’ve improved. But that knock, that will never go away. It’s like a power hitter in baseball; people will always say he can’t hit the curve ball.”

Wood said he wants to be a coach when he finishes his career. And he’ll make a good one, according to Joe Weakley, his coach on the NBA Pros summer league team.

“Leon is going to be an excellent coach because he has the knowledge for it,” Weakley said. “He’s very intense about coaching.”

As it is, Wood is practically a coach on the floor, constantly shouting instructions to his teammates.

“That’s what being a point guard is all about,” Weakley said.

Wood wasn’t always a point guard, but Cal State Fullerton Coach George McQuarn persuaded him that playing the position would make him a better professional prospect.

Wood looks like a smaller, quicker version of Magic Johnson as he brings the ball up the court, his body bobbing back and forth, his eyes searching for an open man.

He didn’t always have a passing mentality, but that was before his senior year in high school, when he saw Magic on TV.

“I enjoy watching Magic,” Wood said. “He’s been--it’s kind of hard to say idol; he’s only two years older than I am--but boy, he’s one of the guys I love watching play.”

Wood concedes that his fondness for passing can sometimes be detrimental.

“Now what’s happened is there’s times where my aggressiveness has faded,” Wood said. “I’ll look for an assist instead of going to the hole. Sometimes it’s gotten me in trouble.”

As in a recent game when Wood passed up a fast-break layup to pass to a teammate, resulting in a more difficult shot for the team.

“Leon! Go ahead and shoot that,” Weakley scolded.

Wood’s response was itself Magical: he smiled.

It’s the same smile he flashed every time a friend greeted him as he sat in the stands before his game. And when he’s not smiling, it doesn’t take much to get him to grin. Wood is clearly enjoying his life and enjoying being a basketball player.

“When the fun for me goes out, that’s probably when it’s time to start doing something else,” Wood said. “Right now, I really enjoy what I’m doing.”

Wood had talked for more than 45 minutes. It was finally time to change into his uniform and do what he loves best.

It was time for Leon Wood to play basketball.