Despite bad bounces, Waiters a Philly court star

After his second tournament, Syracuse offered him a scholarship. He accepted a week later.

With a scholarship in his hand, Brown wanted to send her son to a place that would qualify him for college. She chose South Kent School, a boarding school in rural Connecticut, over Oak Hill Academy.

"It was a different atmosphere for him," Brown said of the strict school. "It was also something different as far as an all-boys school."

Getting away would also help him escape the daily reminder of family losses.

His cousin, Antose Brown, was fatally gunned down in his van in 2006. Another cousin, Isiah Brown, and best friend, Rahmik Thomas, were killed in separate incidents a year later. And a third cousin, Charles Brown, was slain in 2008.

Even now, Waiters must cope with a loss. A fourth cousin, Carl Brown, died in a motorcyle accident last month.

"I'm stressed out still to this day, especially the one that just died," said Waiters, who didn't go into detail about the killings. "I was close to all of my cousins. Everything we did, we did together."

But while at South Kent, he was able to relax.

During that time, his days consisted of going to class, basketball practice, study hall and back to his room to study some more. As a result, Waiters said, he maintained a 3.2 grade-point average.

"South Kent really made me mature fast," Waiters said. "Being up there, you really had to do everything on your own. Your mom wasn't there for you. That really helped me grow."

However, he opted to leave after one year, partly because head coach Raphael Chillious resigned.

"He also left because [Minnesota Timberwolves and former Syracuse point guard] Jonny [Flynn] told him that he and Maalik Wayns could be an all-American backcourt at Roman Catholic," said Chris Clayton, a mentor to Waiters. "He was real hung up on that. He really wanted to go to Roman. But it just didn't work."

That's because, according to Waiters, he was two credits shy of what Roman required of him to transfer.

"He got his heart broken twice by the Catholic League dominance: Neumann-Goretti and Roman," Clayton said.

As a result, Waiters, who has a relationship with Flynn, enrolled at Life Center. The Christian school gave him an opportunity to play a national schedule against the likes of Oak Hill and Findlay Prep of Nevada. He averaged 18 points through the first seven games. In the eighth game, he suffered a broken left ankle against National Christian (Md.), ending his season.

"That was the worst experience ever," said Waiters, who was supposed to make his Philadelphia debut against Academy of the New Church the next day.

Waiters later sat out the Rasual Butler All-City Classic because of a sprained right ankle. He reinjured that ankle at last month's NBA Players Association Top 100 camp.

Instead of taking it easy, Waiters participated in the LeBron James Skills Academy, which ended Thursday, in Ohio.