TALL ORDER: His inability to qualify academically kept 6-foot-11 Norvel Pelle from playing at St. John’s and Iona, but he has set his sights on trying to make it to the NBA. (
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Two years ago, Norvel Pelle was part of the initial star-studded St. John’s recruiting class coach Steve Lavin put together to try to put the Red Storm back on the map. Last spring, Pelle was looking forward to an opportunity to get his collegiate career off the ground at Iona.
Now, he’s hoping to forge an unlikely path to the NBA.
Pelle, who was unable to qualify academically to play at either St. John’s or Iona, was one of more than 20 players — all but Pelle with college experience — on hand at the Nets practice facility in New Jersey yesterday for the first of two days of workouts in front of representatives of all 30 NBA teams. He admitted he has learned a lot over the past two years.
“You can’t take anything for granted,” Pelle said after his workout. “You just have to come out every day and play on and off the court.
“You have to just be mature at the end of the day.”
Pelle has had plenty of time to mature and think about things over the last two years. He was forced to sit and watch from the sidelines instead of playing at either college. In the meantime, he moved among three different prep schools, and admitted to feeling rusty on the court thanks to the lack of consistent playing time.
And though he is long and athletic — he’s listed at 6-foot-11 — and showed signs of his ability to disrupt things defensively during the 5-on-5 portion of yesterday’s workouts by blocking some shots, the fact he weighed in at just 207 pounds means the 20-year-old has a long way to go in order to get his body prepared for the physical pounding he would take in the post against NBA competition.
“I have to get in the weight room and get stronger, and I still have to get my conditioning up,” Pelle said. “I still have to learn the game. … I’m definitely rusty out here.”
Despite the obvious raw aspects of both his body and his game, Pelle’s potential has caught the eye of the NBA. Long, athletic big men will always be a precious commodity, which is why Pelle — who was once the top-ranked center in the 2011 draft class and finished as the 23rd overall prospect, according to Rivals.com — got an invitation to both the Chicago predraft camp and yesterday’s workout in New Jersey to show what he’s capable of.
After the long and winding road the Compton, Calif. product has taken just to get to this point, he admitted he didn’t always think things would work out as well as they have to this point.
“In Chicago I definitely did what I had to do, and out here I did what I had to do, also,” Pelle said. “At the end of the day, I know at both places I had some positives, so there should be some positive feedback.”
tbontemps@nypost.com