Scoring comes easy for Streett

Trinity Prep’s junior guard tries to involve teammates while averaging 25.2 points

By MARTY JAMES
Executive Sports Editor

Dan Streett, a junior point guard and three-year starter, is the top scorer for the Trinity Prep boys basketball team.

But he’s not looking to shoot all that often when directing the Crusaders on the offensive end of the floor.

“I know that my role usually is to score, but I try to get other people involved and get the team going first,” said Streett, who was Second-Team All-Napa County and Second-Team All-Sacramento Valley Christian League last year. “I’m not looking at stats or to score a certain amount of points — that’s not going to satisfy me. What really satisfies me is how well our team plays.

“If I shoot and score a bunch of points but my team loses, I’m not happy. I just want to do whatever it takes to win that game. I don’t have a certain number of shots that I need to take.”

When it comes to scoring, Streett has been like a machine for Trinity (2-2 Northern Pacific Athletic Conference, 8-10 overall). The 5-foot-9 junior was averaging 25.2 points, 4.3 steals and 2.8 assists per game with 36 treys through the first 15 games of the 2006-07 season. He also gets to the free-throw line a lot, and was shooting 67 percent (94-of-139) as of Jan. 19. He scored 36 points — a season high — against PUC Prep and Sacramento Lutheran.

He’s producing those lofty numbers playing a position for the first time, as his responsibility is to distribute the ball and to keep it moving.

His older brother, Paul, a freshman at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, was Trinity’s point guard the last two years and ended his prep career leading the Crusaders in career points (1460). Paul, a 2006 graduate who plays basketball for Dallas, also owns season and single-game scoring records for Trinity.

“It’s a new learning curve this year,” said Dan, the team’s only returning starter, who averaged 11.4 points per game as a shooting guard as a sophomore. “I’m trying to do just the best I can. We all have different roles on this team. It’s exciting being with these new guys, learning and winning with them, and growing as a team.”

Dan Streett has learned a lot about basketball from not only Paul, the Offensive Player of the Year on the All-County team last year, but also his father, John Streett, Trinity’s third-year head coach. Dan, who is proficient with either hand and can score against a zone or man-to-man defense, has had some 1-on-1 battles with his brother over the years.

“It’s big shoes to fill,” Dan, 17, said. “I’ve learned a lot from him, so I think I’ll be all right. Everything he did I tried to learn along with him.

“He helped me, as he got a lot of assists, was a good passer, and he got everyone involved. I’ve watched the best players go against him.”

Dan doesn’t take time off from the game. He works throughout the offseason and particularly during the summer months on his shot and getting used to the mechanics and the release point of the ball at his home in Marin County. It’s all about developing consistency, said Dan, who is a team captain along with Sean O’Brien and Phil Figueroa.

“I’m pleased for him that he’s doing well this year,” said John Streett. “We haven’t been pressed that much, but when we have been then the load falls on him a lot to break the press. When we play some of the bigger teams and they put a real athletic, big guy on him, it makes it difficult to initiate the offense with somebody that’s trying to overpower him. But he doesn’t get picked clean too often.

“He’s been a hard worker at this game. One of his significant advantages as a player is that he can go to his left. He will go to his left, drive with his left, finish with his left, or take his shot off the left-hand dribble.”

Dan Streett is tough mentally as well, having played and competed against older athletes for three years now. As a freshman, he averaged 7.1 points per game.

Basketball a family affair

Opposing coaches must have nightmares when they see the name “Streett” in a scorebook, knowing what kind of player Paul was for four years, and now seeing Dan score from just about anywhere on the floor while also playing well on defense. Their older sister, Ann Marie Streett, also played basketball for four years at Trinity.

Paul averaged 25.2 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3.3 steals as a senior for the Crusaders in their final year in the SVCL; they were realigned into the Division VII NPAC by the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section after the 2005-06 school year. He went for a school record 41 points in a game last year against North Hills-Vallejo.

At Dallas, he plays for an NCAA-Division III independent team.

“I’ve always loved the game of basketball, and fortunately they really took to the game and loved the game of basketball as well,” said John Streett, who works as an attorney in Novato and played high school basketball at Marin Catholic-Kentfield. “It’s real nice to see them take up something that you like. My daughter enjoyed it immensely playing here. She had some success, too.”

If he keeps playing and producing at this pace, Dan could be on his way to rewriting the school’s record book. He handles the ball well and sees the entire court, allowing him to create opportunities by passing the ball out of a motion offense.

“Usually he’s unloading the ball before he shoots it,” said John Streett. “It’s very unusual that he’s come down and shot it. It’s his responsibility, by and large, to initiate the offense by calling out whatever motion or whatever play we’re going to employ to get it going. He usually directs the traffic.

“From the time he played park and rec and CYO (Catholic Youth Organization), he was one of the kids that had court vision. He was just blessed with that particular ability to see the court. Some people can see the court and some people can’t.”

John feels fortunate to be able to coach his sons. He said it’s something that you can’t put a price tag on.

“The time goes so quickly,” he said. “Looking back on the time with Paul, I wish we could have him just one more year together, because it’s so much fun. We’re not going to be able to repeat it.”

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