BRANDAN WRIGHT one of the fastest rising stars in the basketball scene.
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Allure of NBA may be UNC’s worst enemy By Dan Wiederer Feb 24, 2007 Fay Observer CHAPEL HILL — If you haven’t noticed by now, Brandan Wright is long, his 7-foot-6-inch wing span capable of snaring loose rebounds, swatting weak shots and redirecting commercial jets away from storm trouble. That length and athleticism was evident Wednesday during North Carolina’s 83-64 whooping of N.C. State, a blowout in which Wright totaled a career-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds and three blocks. That was plenty clear during one first-half sequence in which reserve point guard Quentin Thomas got free on a 3-on-1 break, spotted Wright lingering near the basket and softball pitched a pass toward UNC’s national championship banners. With relative ease, Wright let his wingspan take over, snatched the ball from near the top of the backboard and flushed it down. During a two-hour presentation Wednesday, Wright showed why fifth-ranked Carolina is a popular favorite to be in the Final Four next month while also showcasing his talents as a surefire NBA lottery pick. Listen all you want to his polished insistence that he isn’t thinking about the future. The reality is that Wright is a versatile and athletic difference-maker whose playing career in Chapel Hill has, at most, five weeks left. Therein lies the complexity for Tar Heels coach Roy Williams, who constantly finds himself making a concerted effort to keep his young superstars grounded, even as projections of Final Four glory and NBA stardom seep in from all directions. NBAdraft.net, for example, projects Wright as the third pick in this June’s draft. Teammate Tyler Hansbrough is slated to go 26th. Freshman guard Wayne Ellington is projected to go 17th — in 2008. Such predictions, Williams believes, help allow outside influences to distract kids from their ultimate focus of helping the team. “We’re in different times than we were in 15 or 20 years ago,” Williams said. “Nowadays everybody’s mother, father, uncle, aunt, homeboy, pharmacist, the guy over at the service station is telling these kids, ‘You should be doing this,’ or ‘You should be doing that.’ That makes it more of a struggle every-day for the kids and for us as a coaching staff to continue emphasizing that the team aspect of things is the most important.” Williams knows that if UNC has a weakness, it may come in the form of distraction, a tendency for players to look too far ahead. For players such as Wright, Chapel Hill is just a pit stop on the way to NBA millions. And Williams understands that Carolina’s hopes of winning its second national title in three years are heavily rooted in his ability to keep his players in the moment. To aid that cause, the 56-year-old coach has one favorite prop he likes to use. It’s a framed picture taken on the night of June 28, 2005, at Madison Square Garden. That was the night Williams, fresh off his first national title, watched like a proud papa as four of his players — Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants — were selected in the first 14 picks of the NBA draft. The lesson: Sometimes college glory and NBA riches go hand in hand. “Ask anybody, in 2005 who led the nation in scoring?” Williams said. “The silence says it all. You can’t name it. I don’t even know who’s leading this year. But I do know who won the national championship last year. I know who won it in 2005. So what we try to do is go old fashion. When teams win, the players get the rewards and awards. That’s what you have to sell the kids on.” The sales pitch is simple. Yet convincing teenage kids to buy into such a concept proves complicated and it just might be the biggest factor in UNC’s pursuit of a national title. |
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