[情報] WRIGHT專訪全記錄
They nearly met before, this unlikeliest of couples.
They were in Los Angeles then, the two of them. Dorell Wright was four years
old, with visions of baseball stardom just beginning to bloom in his head. Pat
Riley was in his last year as coach of the Lakers, where he crafted his image
and captured four World Championships before moving on to New York and, later,
Miami.
So when The Kid would spot The Legend after a Lakers practice at Loyola
Marymount University, he would do what most kids would do when an adult icon
appeared before him.
He would run and hide, his curiosity overwhelmed by insecurity.
“I’d be like, ‘Mom, there’s Pat Riley. There’s Pat Riley,’” remembers
Wright. “And she’d be like, ‘Say something to him.’ And I was like, ‘No.’
He’d walk away, and she’d say, ‘See? You should have said something to him.’
”
“Dorell would just be in awe when he would see Pat Riley,” says his mother,
Stacy. “And he’d just sit there, and when he would see him walk out the gym,
he would say, ‘Mom, Pat Riley is gone.’ And I’d say, ‘Well, you should have
said something to him.’”
The two will have plenty of opportunities to talk now.
Riley is settling comfortably into a superstar executive role now, carefully
constructing a HEAT team that is as long on youth and athletic ability as it is
, well, long. And in the 18-year-old, 6-foot-7 package of skills and speed
named Dorell Wright, the HEAT President saw exactly what he felt his team
needed with the No. 19 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft.
“We feel that Dorell is somebody that, through all the scouting and thinking
and talking about what it is we wanted and how we wanted to build this team,
that he was ideal,” says Riley. “He has something that’s very intriguing
from a talent standpoint, and we just feel very fortunate that we were able to
get him.”
While Riley felt fortunate on the evening of June 24, HEAT fans and league
observers alike felt other emotions. Like surprise. Confusion. Shock. And, in
some cases, outright anger.
Much of the surprise came because Riley, who authored his aura by masterfully
motivating men, had selected a high school kid – a first in HEAT history.
But the anger? The anger came because Riley made the surprising selection at
the expense of a man named Jameer.
Jameer Nelson, the tiny All-American point guard who made tinier St. Joseph’s
matter last season, was surprisingly available at No. 19. Nelson stands 5-foot-
11 on a good day, but his toughness, vision, leadership and scoring ability
earned him the Wooden and Naismith Awards as college basketball’s premier
player. So when the HEAT bypassed the four-year college star in favor of a
little-known prep star, it naturally caught people off guard.
Riley understands this. But he also insists that, before too long, it is Wright
who will catch people sleeping.
“We had some mixed emotions, only from the standpoint that I had great, great,
great respect for what Jameer did,” says Riley. “Four years toiling away,
doing it the right way. College Player of the Year. Team was 27-0. Class,
quality kid and, you know, one of the very best at his position.
“But we had Dorell on the board ahead of him. And we took him.
“Being the first player in the history of the HEAT to be a high school player
is irrelevant to me. He’s a basketball player. He’s got great skills. And
he’s going to have to develop those skills. We will work very hard in trying
to do that.
Wright insists that he is willing to put in that hard work. And he naturally
shrugs off any talk of having to escape Nelson’s surprisingly long shadow.
“In my house, I didn’t hear not one boo,” says Wright. “I guess they were
looking for someone who could fit into their program.”
Wright already appears to be emotionally mature beyond his years. He insists a
fifth year of high school at South Kent (CT) Prep “matured me as a person and
a player.”
“I think that year away helped him a lot,” says Wright’s father, Ray. “From
the time he left the house last year until now, he matured a lot. I even
noticed that in some of his games. He just looked a lot more ready.”
He sure did. Utilizing his sublime blend of ball-handling skills, leaping
ability and quickness, Wright dominated the country’s toughest prep school
league last season. Alternating at point guard, shooting guard and small
forward for South Kent, Wright averaged 29.0 points, 14.0 rebounds and 5.0
blocks to earn Ocean League Player of the Year honors. He scored 53 points and
pulled down 20 rebounds in South Kent’s 106-94 win over Lafayette College’s
JV team on Nov. 15, 2003, and was tabbed as the top prep school player in the
nation by Basketball Times.
“We feel very excited that we have somebody who has a multi-faceted game,”
says Riley. “And [somebody] that can be honed into the type of player that we
envision.”
With his California-cool demeanor and infectious smile, Wright comes across as
anything but the stereotypical selfish, self-absorbed teenage star. But ask him
to cite his strengths as a basketball player, and he responds confidently and
immediately.
“Probably running the floor, using my athletic ability and finishing at the
rim, things like that,” says Wright. “I can handle the ball real well, bring
up the ball. We’ll see. It’s a different game [in the NBA], so I’m gonna see
what I can bring.”
Before he can bring anything to the HEAT, the rail-thin Wright will have to
prove that he is strong enough to withstand the mental and physical rigors of
the NBA. Nobody is under the illusion that this transition will be easy. But
all parties seem confident that it will indeed occur. And that Wright will fit
into the HEAT program just fine.
“Our philosophy, first and foremost, is conditioning,” explains Riley. “We
know he has the athletic ability and skills, but you’ve got to be able to
endure. He’s very willing, and from what we understand, he’s like a sponge.
He takes everything in, and he has a good demeanor about it. He’s a young man
who I think is going to understand what it takes to be a professional.”
“I think too much is made of just his age and everything, the high school
thing,” insists HEAT head coach Stan Van Gundy. “He’s going to be like
anyone else coming in. We’ve always tried to develop our players as quick as
we can.
“He’s got to get stronger. That’s going to be a long process. But that
doesn’t mean that in that process, while he’s still getting stronger, he’s
not going to be ready to play at some point. He’s going to try to get in the
rotation as quickly as he can. When he’s ready, he’ll play.”
“Whatever it is I have to do to prepare my body for me to get out there on the
court, that’s what I’m going to do,” promises Wright. “I’m willing to be
patient. To take on whatever I have to in practice, off the court. If I just
work hard and try to get in that rotation, everything will be good.”
Given his recent meteoric rise up the basketball ranks, Wright is likely to
stay true to his word and practice patience. After harboring dreams of playing
professional baseball since about the time he was hiding from Riley out in L.A.,
the sweet-swinging first baseman/right fielder began to get serious about
basketball during his junior year at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, Calif.
“I was getting all the attention from the college coaches,” remembers Wright.
“And I was like, ‘Man, I must be good at basketball.’ There were a couple of
[Major League Baseball] teams that came out to see me for baseball. But it got
to a point where I had to put all my eggs in one basket. So I chose basketball.”
And, before long, Wright also chose to dominate basketball.
After averaging 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks as a junior, Wright
upped his averages to 24.8 points, 12.6 rebounds and 4.1 blocks as a senior.
Then, he decided to head east for a year at South Kent.
And that decision ended up making all the difference in the world.
“I would recommend that for any young player that’s trying to be somebody in
life,” says Wright. “It helped me so much. Getting away in a different
atmosphere. Deep in Connecticut. About an hour-and-a-half from everyone. It was
just a good experience for me. I’m glad my mom and dad let me go, because they
weren’t going to let me go.”
Wright initially thought his next step would be to Chicago, where DePaul
University was eagerly awaiting his arrival. But he had dreams of a leap into
the NBA, and as his sensational season at South Kent continued to unfold, his
confidence continued to grow.
Wright says he began to really believe in his NBA dream after showcasing his
all-around game in the three-day War on the Shore tournament in Delaware last
November. His 108-point, MVP performance at February’s three-game National
Prep School Invitational in Rhode Island opened a lot of other eyes. And a 17-
point performance at Chicago’s EA Sports Roundball Classic in March and a 24-
point, seven-rebound showing at the D.C.-area Jordan Capital Classic in April
awoke anyone who was still sleeping.
So Wright put aside his plans to enroll at DePaul, and declared confidently for
the NBA Drat. When Miami called his name at No. 19 – ahead of more public
suitors like Boston and Utah – he was just happy to have put the whole
process behind him.
“I just knew it was gonna be in the first round,” says Wright, who was one of
eight high school players drafted in the Top 20. “But I didn’t know where. I
had no clue where I was going. Man, I was so nervous that day. I don’t think
words can explain how nervous I was.”
Now, the nerves have been calmed. Now, he knows where he will call home.
Now, he finds himself a fast favorite of the man he once was too shy to speak
to.
“We brought him back twice [for private pre-draft workouts],” admits Riley. “I sort of actually fell in love with him.”
Sounds crazy, right? Well, maybe it is.
“It’s still all crazy,” says Wright. “It still hasn’t hit me yet. I’m
still real calm and cool about everything. I had no idea that I would be in
this position a couple of years ago. I’m just real happy, and I know my
parents are. That’s all I was really trying to do – make my parents proud.”
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