'The Legend of Swee' Pea' laments what could have been for Lloyd Daniels
Lloyd Daniels speaks to the crowd at the world premiere of "The Legend of Swee' Pea" on Tuesday in Manhattan. Credit: Neil Best
Lloyd Daniels does not perfectly fit the stereotype of a New York playground legend who never made it because technically he did, playing for six NBA teams over five seasons in the mid-1990s.
But no one, then or now, considers that Daniels to be the Daniels who might have been had he not had his life and career derailed earlier by drug and alcohol abuse and by being shot three times in 1989.
"When he finally went to the NBA it was almost like seeing Paul Bunyan who had had open heart surgery,'' said Benjamin May, whose film on Daniels, "The Legend of Swee' Pea,'' had its world premiere in Manhattan Tuesday night as part of the DOC NYC film festival.
"You could still see the beautiful talent there, but it was 60 percent of what it used to be.''
Daniels, 48, who watched the film for the first time at the premiere, agrees with that assessment, and in the film laments what might have been.
Most powerfully, he revisits the North Las Vegas crack house where he was arrested in 1987, ending his collegiate career at UNLV before it could begin.
May, a radiologist from Minnesota and first-time filmmaker, began his three-year project with a 1990 book by Newsday's John Valenti, "Swee' Pea and Other Playground Legends,'' using it as a "bible'' to identify interview subjects.
(The book, currently out of print, will be reissued with an epilogue next summer.)
After raising funds from various sources, including Kickstarter, May secured the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony's financial and editorial support, and he is listed as executive producer for the project.
Once Daniels came on board, May experienced the ups and downs of working with him that have been part of Daniels' life story since childhood. (His nickname derives from a resemblance to the Popeye cartoon character.)
May includes in the film voice mails from Daniels expressing frustration with the filmmaker -- and at times asking for money.
When asked in a post-screening Q&A about using that material, May said he grappled with "some really difficult questions on how much do you show in order to be respectful to a person,'' but also document all of his sides.
Daniels said he was not offended, bounding up on the stage during the Q&A and saying, "Good job, Ben, I trust you now."
He added, "You just have to see where somebody's heart's at. Ben's a good guy. Sometimes you need a little favor, but I just wanted to see where his heart was . . . It's nothing bad.''
Daniels then took note of the many people from his past in the audience at the IFC Center, across the street from the iconic West 4th Street Courts, which make a cameo appearance in the film.
They included Howard Garfinkel, founder of the Five Star Basketball Camp; famed talent evaluator Tom Konchalski; longtime Cardozo High School coach Ron Naclerio (who collaborated with Valenti on that 1990 book) and others who Daniels singled out for recognition.
Then he announced that he plans to return for another round of rehab with former NBA player and coach John Lucas, "to get my life back together.''
Lucas is quoted extensively in the film and has some harsh words for Daniels, particularly about their time in San Antonio when Lucas coached him with the Spurs.
Others interviewed in the film include former Spurs teammates David Robinson and Avery Johnson and former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, who died in February.
Daniels, who is divorced, has three children, one a recent college graduate, one in college, and a 17-year-old son who hopes to play in college. Daniels himself attended five high schools in three states.
Daniels said the movie "touched'' him and that he cried while watching it. At a post-premiere party he said there was only one thing in it that bothered him: an allegation he threw a playoff game while at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens.
He said he merely was ill that day.
The film was a chance, he said, to provide a cautionary tale for young players of today, including those he coaches in a youth league in southern New Jersey.
"You want to be honest about it; you can't be sugarcoated,'' he said. "That's what I like about Ben. He did a real good job, because if you're going to do something do it right. I could save another kid's life. I could save a grownup's life. There are a lot of people out here struggling.
"You ain't got to just be on drugs. You have gambling problems, sex problems. It's hard out here, man. Every day I wake up is a struggle but you know what, though, every day I wake up I just look up in the sky and thank God I'm here. That's all you can do.''
The film will have one more screening at DOC NYC, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas on 23rd Street in Manhattan. May is seeking a distribution deal.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
