NEW YORK—Michael Carter-Williams was just getting started. You might
think that, in the wake of hearing your name called on NBA draft night,
your next step is into a town car and off to a Manhattan establishment
for dinner and revelry. Not exactly.
Instead, what happens is this: You’re handed over to a league
employee, who carries with her a checklist of obligations each player
must fulfill, starting with, “Player shakes hands with David Stern on
stage,” rolling through two live television interviews and a live radio
interview, followed by a press conference with print and Internet
reporters.
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Then comes the gauntlet—the TV Live Shot Room. Ten interviews with a
variety of outlets, including NBA TV, ABC, CBS, NBC and Comcast Sports.
Oh, and also on the list is a talk with two diminutive reporters from
the NBA wing that reaches out to kids, Hoop Troop. The Live Shot Room is
a lively place, draft prospects milling about among the booths of
television interviewers, NBA employees directing them from spot to spot.
It’s also a powerful place. When Carter-Williams sat down with Craig
Sager for his NBATV spot, he was doing an interview that would be
beamed into 61 million homes. When he did a chat with the NBA’s social
media team, he was on a platform that has more than 410 million ‘likes’
and followers combined, on a website that had a record 9.5 billion page
views. For his stint in that spotlight then, Carter-Williams was very,
very famous.
The Live Shot Room is not, however, a fun place. After the third or
fourth interview, having answered the same questions six or seven times,
most prospects look physically winded. That may be why the area is
off-limits for most. But Carter-Williams agreed to let Sporting News
tail him throughout his draft night, and it was here in the Live Shot
Room, after just his second interview, that Carter-Williams got a
message from an NBA official.
Check your phone, he was told. There is a message, from a 215 area code. It’s Sam Hinkie.
Less than an hour earlier, Hinkie—the new general manager of the
Sixers—had changed Carter-Williams’ life, choosing him with the No. 11
pick in the draft. Naturally, he wanted to talk to his new player. But
there was a problem: Carter-Williams’ phone was dead. He shrugged. “What
do you think I should do?” he asked an NBA official. It was decided
that he should simply finish out his interviews, and contact Hinkie
afterwards.
Heck, he still had eight interview sessions left to go.
…..
Carter-Williams is, of course, a sophomore point guard from
Syracuse. He played just 10.3 minutes per game last year, but came into
his own this year, averaging 11.9 points and 7.3 assists for the Orange,
and establishing himself as one of the top point guards in the nation.
Coming into the draft, though, he had little idea of where his stock
stood. Despite his obvious playmaking skill, and the fact that he is
6-6, scouts had questions about Carter-Williams, starting with his poor
shooting—he shot just 39.3 percent from the field as a sophomore. He is
also thin, just 184 pounds. Would he have the strength and physical
stamina to withstand an 82-game season?
I stood with him in the green room about a half hour before the
draft was scheduled to start. He was rumored to be on the board for the
Pelicans at No. 6, though it was conceivable that he could slip out of
the lottery altogether. “I have no idea,” he said. “I haven’t been told
anything, my agent hasn’t been told anything. Your guess is as good as
mine.”
It wasn’t until Noel was finally picked by New Orleans at No. 6 that
Carter-Williams got his first inkling of what was going to happen. Noel
was traded by the Pelicans almost immediately after he was chosen,
going to the Sixers for All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday.
Carter-Williams had been somewhat baffled last weekend when the Sixers
asked him in for a workout, just days before the draft. Carter-Williams
can play some shooting guard, but he is a point guard at his essence. If
the Sixers had Holiday, why were they working out Carter-Williams?
“I almost didn’t go to that workout,” he said. “It didn’t seem to
make sense. But I figured, I will go, I will get through it and just
finish it and move on. I figured it couldn’t hurt. I am definitely glad I
went.”
Is he ever. Not only will he walk into a situation in which he will
take over the starting point guard spot from Day One, he will be doing
so with Noel. Carter-Williams grew up in Hamilton, Mass., and Noel grew
up in Everett, Mass. They’ve been friends for years, and played on the
same AAU team.
“Seriously, he is one of my best friends,” Carter-Williams said,
beaming a smile. “It is just unbelievable the way it worked out.”
……
Carter-Williams entered the NBA’s Live Shot Room at 9:05 p.m. It was
well after 10 when Carter-Williams sat down for his final interview,
with Comcast in Philadelphia. Before going on camera, his interviewer
asked whether he was a Sixers fan growing up. No, Carter Williams
informed him, saying he grew up near Boston and was a fan of the
Celtics.
“Maybe I will start with that,” the interviewer suggested. “Who is your favorite team?”
“I don’t know if I want to start off with that,” Carter-Williams
said. “I don’t think people in Philadelphia would like that, a Boston
fan. I am a Sixers fan now.”
Now that’s some high basketball IQ.
When he was done with television, Carter-Williams had been grinding
through the interview circuit for more than 75 minutes. Keep in mind
that, after the most momentous point in his life, he hugged his parents
and his stepfather, went to shake Stern’s hand, and had not seen his
family since.
“It was a lot,” Carter-Williams said. “It’s just interviews but it wears you out. I am anxious to go see my family.”
There was still one more to go, an interview with Sirius satellite
radio. Carter-Williams sat down, holding a microphone. The interviewer
began by saying, “We’re here at the NBA Draft with C.J. McCollum …”
Carter-Williams politely shook his head. Um, no.
“Sorry, we’re here with Michael Carter-Williams. Sorry, it has been a long night.”
Indeed.
……
At 10:50, Carter-Williams had moved on from the interviews and was
taking post-draft photos for the NBA in a curtained-off area behind the
draft stage. That was when his family contingent wandered back to the
area and was directed to his booth.
It has been a difficult year for Carter-Williams’ family. In March,
when Syracuse was playing for a spot in the Sweet 16, he noticed his
mother had begun to cry in the stands. During a break, he tried to find
out what was wrong with her. She didn’t want to upset him, so she
pretended things were fine. In fact, the house she shared with
Carter-Williams’ stepfather in Hamilton caught on fire, and nearly
everything in it had burned. Only after Syracuse beat California that
night did she tell her son what had happened.
When Carter-Williams emerged from the photo area, he saw his family
for the first time in three hours. Immediately, he hugged his mother.
“That was hard, of course,” Carter-Williams said. “But this is kind of
the reward. We have been so focused on this now that, really, we’re not
even worried about it anymore.”
The 11th spot in the draft, likely a starting job on a young team,
alongside one of his best friends. It might have been a grind of a night
for Carter-Williams. But as he left the Barclay’s Center bound for a
Manhattan dinner, he was much more focused on the reward. --------------------------- SportingNews NBA
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Silverstone
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