CONTINUED FROM PAGE 50
Dean Smith made playing basketball at Carolina a family thing. All of you guys love that, don’t you?
Oh, yeah. And, believe me, it isn’t that way anywhere else. We go back to Chapel Hill every summer and get together. No matter where I’ve been, when I get on 15-501 heading down to the Smith Center, and then see that dome with the Carolina blue everywhere, I know I’m home again. Every time I walk on that floor, it takes me back. Is there one game you played that you remember most?
My favorite is from my junior season. I scored 35 points in a win over Duke, and I had the ball in my hands only 40-something seconds the whole game. That blew my mind, to have a dominant-type game without dominating the basketball. (In that game, second-ranked Carolina defeated nationally top-ranked Duke, 97-73.) You had a great NBA career. Now that your playing days are over, what is it like?
I never dreamed I would have the success in the pros that I had. I was blessed with God-given talent, and I used it. I was also blessed to be coached by Dean Smith, and he is the reason I was prepared for the NBA. I had been doing this – playing basketball – since middle school, and I thought not playing would be difficult. But it hasn’t been. For me, it’s so great being around my family so much. I do commentary for some of the Lakers’ and Wizards’ games, so I’m still around the game … enough, but not too much. Being inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame is such a terrific honor. How does that make you feel?
Man, when they told me about this, you cannot imagine how exciting it was for me. To be raised up in this state and see all of the great athletes whose names are in the Hall of Fame, and now to have my name up there with theirs ... I haven’t stopped smiling.
52
OutreachNC.com | JUNE 2016