PHILADELPHIA – Don’t try calling him.

That cell number you snagged, Donte Greene’s number, the one you called him on to say he was a fool for leaving the Syracuse men’s basketball team after his freshman season? To remind him that no one would want him when the NBA Draft rolls around Thursday?

Don’t bother. Greene changed his cell number weeks ago. New digits for a new life, now that his college one is finished. He closed his Facebook wall too. Same thing with his MySpace account.

Greene wants to close this chapter of his life, to move on from Syracuse. But he still gets messages – he’s gotten thousands at this point, he said – from Orange fans, ripping him for leaving too soon, for taking his shooting stroke and his 17.7 points a game and turning pro.

‘I don’t get no love from up there,’ he said. ‘That’s crazy, man.’

He’s considered a first-round pick, if not a lottery selection in Thursday’s draft. In the choppy waters of mock drafts, ESPN basketball analyst Chad Ford predicts the 6-foot-9, 221-pound forward will be selected 25th by the Houston Rockets. Greene had been the 15th pick in Ford’s mock the week before. A lack of seasoning, Ford wrote, was the reason for Greene’s fall in his virtual draft world.

Another site, Draftexpress.com, has the Golden State Warriors snatching him in the 14th slot.

Greene has heard talk like this from all over the place. He visited the Los Angeles Clippers, who own the seventh pick, on Monday and the Washington Wizards, who own the 18th pick, on Tuesday. His basketball friends from Baltimore, like Syracuse legend Carmelo Anthony and three-time NBA champion Sam Cassell, have offered advice.

So who knows? Greene says he’s sure of one thing.

‘I’m getting drafted, I’m going lottery, trying to go down top 10,’ he said two weeks ago, as a trainer wrapped his knees following an audition for the Philadelphia 76ers and their 16th pick – just outside the lottery, but not outside the cocoon of the first round and millions of guaranteed dollars.

‘So let me go. I’m not coming back to school.’

He made that official on May 29, when he signed with agent Bill Strickland and brushed aside three more years of eligibility. Thursday, the door will slam on his brief collegiate experience.

Because Donte Greene is gone, both literally and figuratively, from the Syracuse men’s basketball program. Gone from the team, and gone from whatever warm spot he may have carved in the hearts of Syracuse fans.

These days, that soft space seems far away. A place in the heart? Please. He’s closer to the spleen, more likely to receive a thumb in the eye instead of a warm welcome if he returns to campus any time soon. To many fans, he’s the Judas who had the audacity to wear that ridiculous ‘Don’te Leave’ shirt and still leave.

It started when he declared for the draft, just two weeks after Syracuse crashed out of the NIT and finished 21-14.

Comments on stories from The Daily Orange Web site discussing Greene’s departure ranged from condescending to raging.

‘Good luck in the NBDL, Donte!’ one wrote.

‘Selfish,’ another wrote. ‘Underdeveloped. Not as good as he thinks. Congratulations Donte, you’ll be the next NBA journeymen [sic].’

A third summed things up: ‘What a fool!’

They could accept his struggles, his on-court inconsistency, when he was a member of the team.

They could accept the nine points in a March loss to Louisville, because in the previous game he had dropped 18 in a win against Georgetown.

But leaving so soon? That was harder to stomach

It spread to his profiles on Facebook and MySpace. Then someone got his phone number, and the calls poured in, just like they did when the Orange played Virginia earlier this season. Cavalier fans harassed Greene via phone days before the game.

Greene responded with 20 points to lead the Orange to a road win.

But that was a long time ago, before injuries (Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins) and suspensions (Scoop Jardine) and mistakes (remember that Pitt game?) derailed the Syracuse season and sent the young team to the NIT for the second year in a row.

More importantly, that was before Donte Left. That’s when his reputation soured.

Others, of course, knew the score. Jim Boeheim went on ESPN Radio 1260 and said he had seen this coming.

‘He made up his mind last year at high school that he was going to put his name in,’ the Orange head coach said at the time. ‘. . . It’s never been a secret. He had a solid year.’

Greene led the Orange in scoring and added 7.2 rebounds a game. One year in the NCAA was all he needed to prove to himself he could handle the NBA.

It’s not that complicated. He left because he wanted to. He felt he was ready.

Even if other freshmen declared for the draft – stars who shone brighter last year such as Memphis point guard Derrick Rose, Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley, Southern California shooting guard OJ Majo – Greene wasn’t worried.

He likes how he matches up against the other small forwards in the draft, like West Virginia’s Joe Alexander.

‘I feel like in this draft, I’m the best small forward, hands down,’ Greene said after the 76ers workout. ‘I’m not trying to come off cocky or anything, but I’m just that confident in myself.’

Others see that – how his mix of sweet shooting and athleticism might mesh with an NBA lineup.

‘He’s a big-time offensive talent,’ said Tony DiLeo, the 76ers senior vice president and assistant general manager.

DiLeo liked how Greene could shoot from the outside and take players off the dribble. He needs to bulk up, but in a league that’s getting faster and smaller, he could play both small and power forward. The 76ers exec mentioned him in the same breath as Orlando Magic forward Rashard Lewis, not the first person to do so.

Like Greene, Lewis was criticized for leaving for the NBA early – he jumped straight from his Texas high school into the 1998 draft and was selected in the second round. Like Greene, Lewis fit somewhere in the haze between small and power forward. Like Greene probably will, Lewis needed time to develop.

He did. Lewis blossomed after a few years in the league, and signed a $118 million contract with the Magic last summer.

So that’s one route.

Another route, the one those on fan message boards seem to see as more likely, would be failure.

But if Greene is chosen in the first round, as per NBA rules regarding guaranteed contracts, he will earn millions even if he does flame out. Not shabby.

And if Greene needed further incentive, he only had to look down the bench last season and check out Devendorf and Rautins, street clothes covering their shredded knee ligaments.

Things happen. Injuries happen. Players leave.

The point is, Greene says he’s moved on from Syracuse.

You should let him, he says.

‘Ya’ll need to let it go up there.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on June 25, 2008 at 12:00 pm