BURTT'S SHOTS GO AROUND THE WORLD : EX-NBA GUARD PROSPERS IN ITALY.

Byline: Howard J. Fendrich Associated Press 

Steve Burtt is a basketball mercenary, a free-agent-for-life bouncing from league to league in search of the highest bidder.

The 34-year-old's travels have taken him on a ride that peaked with the NBA playoffs and hit bottom with a lifetime drug ban from the Greek League.

His latest stop, with Genertel Trieste of the Italian League, is one of the highlights. He's playing a full 40 minutes per game and averaging a league-high 35.1 points at the season's halfway mark.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound shooting guard is one of a number of American players who have found work overseas, many after NBA careers dried up. Some eventually return to the United States, like Dominique Wilkins, who's now with the San Antonio Spurs after leading Panathinaikos Athens to the European championship last year.

``If I have to jump around, it's what I have to do,'' the soft-spoken Burtt said in an interview in Rome. There, Burtt scored 37 points against Telemarket Roma in a 102-94 Trieste loss.

``He's just so hard to guard,'' Roma coach Attilio Caja said. ``He shoots the 3-pointer, plays well one-on-one and is a good passer if you double-team him.''

However, Burtt's skills never secured him a lasting place in the NBA.

``Some guys are blessed with talent and are in the right place at the right time. So - boom

- you get a four-year contract in the NBA,'' he said. ``That gives you more stability. At least you know where you stand. I haven't had that.''

What he has had is a chance to see the world as a self-described ``scorer-for-hire.'' Burtt's resume resembles alphabet soup - the NBA, USBL and CBA, plus leagues in Israel, France, Philippines and Greece. This is his third year in Italy; he was with Trieste, a city 75 miles east of Venice, in 1994 and with second-division Venezia in 1995.

A second-round draft pick out of Iona in 1984 by Golden State, Burtt spent one injury-shortened season with the Warriors. He also was with the Clippers, Suns and Bullets.

In 1992, Phoenix plucked him out of the CBA as late-season insurance on the way to the playoffs. Burtt, a native of New York, got a chance to start when Kevin Johnson was injured.

``It was where I wanted to be. I remember everything so well because it was a long road back'' to the NBA, Burtt said. ``I worked hard to get there. What I did is rough. You're talking about playing in the CBA, not making a lot of money, and night in and night out you have to play hard, because you're sort of auditioning.

``It's a career and it's a dream.''

But the dream ended when he was cut by Phoenix, becoming a salary-cap casualty when the team traded for Charles Barkley the next offseason. He went to play for Iraklis Salonica in Greece and after 10 games was scoring a league-high 28.8 points a game.

But his stay was cut short. In November 1992, Greek police said they found cocaine and hashish in Burtt's luggage when he returned from a vacation in New York. The Greek Basketball Association then banned him for life, citing positive drug tests.

``I take responsibility for what happened,'' said Burtt, who acknowledged there was marijuana in his bag. ``I don't blame anybody. I'm not bitter towards anybody. . . .

``It was bad because of the implications. It was bad because of what was involved. It was bad because of how well I was doing at the time. It was bad because of where it put me as far as my career goes.''

Burtt believes his experience in Greece is the reason he's never made the Italian League all-star team despite strong statistics.

He helped Venezia win the second-division title last season.

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Photo

Photo: Steve Burtt is leading the Italian League in scoring, averaging 35.1 points per game for Genertel Trieste.

Associated Press