Leo Rautins knew something was wrong when his son scolded him for eating greasy foods one day. The odd role reversal blindsided him.

‘How can you eat that crap, Dad?’ Andy would chide.

Leo’s response was usually a blank ‘Who are you?’ stare. This was the same Andy Rautins that toted around McDonald’s bags like gym bags.

But not anymore. Now he eats greens, chicken, rice, fish – the good stuff.

‘Now he looks at me like I’m some fat slob when I eat,’ said Leo Rautins, Andy’s father and Team Canada head coach. ‘He’s become religious about his body, diet, nutrition, the whole bit.’

But internally, Andy Rautins had an awakening, his dad said. And it was fortified by finally hitting the court.

Rautins, a Syracuse junior guard, capped his one-year anterior cruciate ligament rehabilitation by playing for Team Canada this summer. Actual, competitive game action icing the cake of a mental and physical re-haul. Behind the curtain, Rautins added 20 pounds this offseason, and then he played point guard the entire summer for Canada. No, the Steve Nash-less Canadians did not advance to Beijing. And no, Rautins did not stuff the stat sheet.

But the months of practices and 10 total international games capped Rautins’ comeback to full strength, and then some.

‘He’s a completely different person than he was a year ago,’ said Leo Rautins, who played for Syracuse from 1980-83. ‘Commitment, professionalism, he’s at an entirely different level.’

The summer broke down into three phases for Rautins: training camp (starting June 20), the Olympic Qualifier (July 15) and if lucky, the Olympics in Beijing (Aug. 10). Rautins never rounded third base, but he did fully participate in the first two stages.

After being one of the ‘three most efficient players, statistically’ during the team’s four preliminary games domestically, Rautins’ impact was minimal in Athens, Greece for the Olympic qualifier. During the three games, he played 13, six and eight minutes – totaling only seven points on nine shots.

‘I think the schedule became so intense, it was a lot of stress on his leg early, and that’s where that third stage would have come into play,’ Leo Rautins said. ‘The key with Andy is that we couldn’t push it over the top this early, so we were very careful.’

Through camp with the Canadian Senior Team, Rautins’ practice regimen mirrored a vigilant baseball pitch count. Three straight days, take the fourth off. Bend, but don’t break. And during the games, his dad reacted with a conservative short leash.

Rautins tore his ACL playing for Team Canada one year ago at the FIBA Americas Championship. Nevertheless, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim never discouraged Andy from playing for his dad this summer. As Leo said, a torn ACL can happen in an ‘Archbold or Manley pick-up game.’ Still, this summer was much different than the 2007 Pan American Games, where Rautins devoured minutes and scored 13.4 points per game.

Only this time, Andy just played briefly at the start of qualifier games and sat the rest of the way whenever his knee tightened.

Canada lost to Slovenia (86-70), edged Korea (79-77) and fell big to Croatia (83-62), fresh with Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert getting dismissed in-between. More important for Andy, though, no concerning ill-effects of last summer’s ripped ligaments flared up.

‘I’ve been around him long enough that I knew his threshold by the way he plays or what he tries to do,’ Leo Rautins said. ‘The contribution we could get at that earlier point was worth it.’

Dust collected a bit above his name on the scoresheet, but playing for Team Canada, this summer, did provide a promising reflection of one full offseason packed with daily urgency.

Immediately after last year’s injury, Leo told Andy the season-ending injury could be the best thing for him.

The heart-to-heart hit home.

Nowadays, the guy known as ‘King of the Junk Food’ by his father, reads fitness magazines religiously, never misses a day lifting and rarely puts unhealthy food in his body.

‘Like a lot of young players, he lifted, but I don’t know how committed he was to it,’ Rautins’ dad said. ‘Whereas now, it’s 100 percent commitment to his body.’

The defiant ‘he’s back’ moment came early.

The swift-shooting 6-foot-5 guard first scratched his year-long itch in the shadows of Canada’s developmental team, one week before the main camp. His dad didn’t see him play in the first practice, and Andy’s report only strengthened his worst doubts.

‘I’m not feeling right,’ Rautins told his dad. ‘My defense isn’t there.’

Naturally, Leo expected the worse. But this piece of news was spun in a negative light. Just a couple overzealous closeouts over-magnified.

Developmental coach Chris O’Rourke, who is also the head coach for the University of Guelph in Canada, approached Leo and reassured him that Andy was far-and-beyond the best player on the floor.

The next day, Leo checked out the development team himself. Yep, Andy’s ready, Leo told Andy’s mom over the phone minutes after the practice.

‘Absolutely he was back,’ Leo Rautins said. ‘He was shooting the ball effortlessly at the NBA lines at the Toronto Raptors’ facility.’

O’Rourke said he’s coached many players fresh off knee tears, and that Rautins’ full recovery was clear throughout the developmental practices.

‘He brought a lot of energy,’ O’Rourke said. ‘From what I saw, I don’t think he’s missed a step. It was his first game action, but Andy’s timing and reaction speed was great. He was definitely our best player that week.’

Silver linings abound in Rautins’ up-and-down summer. At point guard – handling the ball with regularity, facing double-teams, breaking presses and creating for teammates – Rautins diversified his game. With Canada loaded at the two and three spots, Leo moved his son to point.

‘Everybody knows he can shoot the ball,’ Leo Rautins said. ‘But the exposure to playing point guard at that level was really good for him.’

And any exposure in general was refreshing, despite Canada’s short run. Andy Rautins got a taste of the real deal north of the border this summer. It’ll get even realer in November.

‘He’s working his tail off and very anxious to get back,’ Leo Rautins said. ‘He can’t wait to put on the Syracuse uniform again … It’s going to be a pretty special when he steps on the court.’

Nichols re-signs with Bulls

Demetris Nichols’ NBA hopes received a shot of life last week, albeit as a 12th man for now.

The Orange’s former sharpshooting guard re-signed with the Chicago Bulls to a one-year deal to complete the team’s current roster – only restricted free agent Ben Gordon is a question mark.

Nichols played 11 games for the Bulls last season. He played 30 total minutes, shooting 5-for-15 from the floor with 13 points. Nichols’ pro prospects got a boost in the NBA summer league this past July where he averaged 13.6 points per game for Chicago (second-best on the team).

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on August 26, 2008 at 12:00 pm