He made the New Year’s resolution. Again.

For the fifth time in five years, Billy Edelin bemoaned a season’s worth of box scores, cursed at his hesitancy and then promised himself that 2004 would be different.

I’ll show them I can shoot from the outside. I’ll look for my jumper. I’ll take the 3-pointer – and make it.

It’s more tradition than promise these days. Edelin, a 6-foot-4 Syracuse point guard, swears to embrace the jump shot every year. It never happens.

So far this season, Edelin has launched seven 3-pointers – the lowest total of any starting guard in the 14-team Big East. Even though defenders back away from Edelin, preferring to let him shoot, the SU guard habitually passes or drives to the basket.

‘It’s a problem I’ve got to deal with,’ Edelin said. ‘No matter how much I promise to look for my shot, it never happens. It feels frustrating. It’s like, ‘Why don’t I just shoot the thing?”

Steve Smith spent a year grappling with that question. The head coach at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., worked with Edelin on his jumper after every practice.

From 17 or 18 feet, Edelin’s shot looked fit for an instructional video: feet straight, elbow in and wrist snapped perfectly into the cookie jar. Smith would watch Edelin swish five or six in a row, then ask him to back up to the 3-point line.

‘All the sudden, he’d struggle from out there,’ Smith said. ‘I couldn’t quite figure it out, but he was doing something wrong.’

One afternoon while breaking down film in his office, Smith found his answer: Instead of shooting long shots in one, fluid motion, Edelin would reload the ball and shoot it from close to his shoulder.

‘He had a hitch,’ Smith said. ‘I’m pretty sure he still does. That’s why he doesn’t like to shoot it.’

A hitch? William Edelin doesn’t buy that, not for one second. William has watched his son shoot more than anyone. And if there’s any reason why Edelin doesn’t take many jumpers, it can be found on the playgrounds of Silver Spring, Md. Not on some tape.

Jump shots would never work for a 9-year-old Edelin when he played against older and taller teenagers on the public courts. In order to get his shot off, Edelin would have to twist his body and shoot from weird angles. He learned to shoot running toward the basket and running away from the basket.

‘If he shot standing still,’ William said, ‘they would have blocked him so much he would have been kicked off the court. He never really mastered that stand-still jumper.’

Funny, he seems to have it down pat during Syracuse practices. Fellow guard Josh Pace has grown so used to seeing Edelin rhythmically swish jumpers, he sometimes counts the makes out loud.

‘He can hit something like 10 in a row if he gets going,’ Pace said. ‘I know he can shoot it. That’s not the problem.’

To Pace, the problem just might be in Edelin’s head. During games, with the nearest defender 3 feet away, Edelin does too much thinking and too little shooting. After all, he’s not used to needing his jump shot.

At Oak Hill, Edelin could rely on sharp-shooting teammate Rashaad Carruth to take care of the 3-point responsibilities. Last season at Syracuse, Gerry McNamara, Carmelo Anthony and Kueth Duany shot plenty from outside.

But now Anthony and Duany are gone, and McNamara’s hampered by an injured left groin. Syracuse is desperate for a shooter. Edelin’s not sure it’s his role to fill.

‘During a game, you can kind of tell he’s struggling with whether or not to shoot it,’ said SU assistant Troy Weaver. ‘Shooting has never really been a big part of Billy’s game.’

It better become a big part soon, though. Because as much as Syracuse needs a jump shooter, Edelin needs a jump shot.

Since he can remember, Edelin has dreamed of playing in the NBA. While he wouldn’t be the first guard to make it there without a reliable jumper – Mark Jackson and Eric Snow both did it – he probably wouldn’t survive long.

‘Without a better shot, people aren’t going to look at him too much,’ said one NBA scout who’s watched Edelin play this season. ‘That’s the No. 1 thing he needs to work on.’

Said Edelin: ‘I know the game, and I know that having a better jumper would only help me. That’s why I’m going to start shooting it more. I’m going to work on it until it’s a lot better.’

He’s promised that before.

Published on January 27, 2004 at 12:00 pm