11 minute read
He Can Play
HE COULD PLAY
Hubert Davis followed a unique path to become one of the best shooters in basketball history
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BY ANDREW STILWELL // PHOTOS BY BOB DONNAN
Ask almost anyone associated with basketball about Carolina head basketball coach Hubert Davis, and they’ll tell you one of two things.
First, he has a strong passion and knowledge for the game.
Second, he loves Carolina.
Davis’s uncle, Walter, played for Dean Smith from 1973-1977, but there was no guarantee that Hubert would have the same opportunity to don the Carolina blue and white. In fact, it required a little bit of convincing during his in-home recruiting visit.
As a senior at Virginia’s Lake Braddock Secondary School, Davis averaged 28 points per game and was a McDonald’s All-American, but only had two college offers—from George Mason coached by Rick Barnes and George Washington, coached by former Tar Heel John Kuester, a college teammate of Davis’s uncle. Out of respect to “Uncle Walt,” Coach Smith, accompanied by assistant coach Roy Williams, gave the younger Davis an in-home recruiting visit.
“It was different, because in my living room, Coach Smith told me I should go to George Mason or George Washington,” Davis recounted in his introductory press conference. “He didn’t think that I was good enough, athletic enough, quick enough to play right away at Carolina.
“I remember at 17 years old telling Coach Smith and Coach Williams, ‘You might be right, but you’ll never know for sure unless you give me a chance’,” he continued. “I told them that I wanted to come [to Carolina]. This is where I wanted to get my education. They left my house without extending an offer.”
Those words resonated with Coach Smith, who called Davis two days later to offer him a scholarship at Carolina. He committed on the spot, and would go on to play at Carolina for four years from 1988-1992.
During his time at Carolina, Davis averaged 11.8 points per game and remains the all-time leader at UNC for career 3-point percentage, making 43.5% of his career threes while at Carolina. The Tar Heels reached the NCAA Sweet 16 each season Davis was on the team, and in 1991, Davis’s junior year, they made it to the team’s first Final Four since winning the 1982 National Championship.
Named team captain his senior year, Davis earned secondteam All-ACC honors in 1992, averaging 21.4 points per game in his final season. He was ready for the next level.
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
Hubert Davis was selected by the New York Knicks with the 20th pick in the 1992 NBA Draft. New York would be his home for the first four years of his NBA Career. “I just loved playing in New York,” Davis revealed in an interview earlier this year. “Coming from Chapel Hill, going to New York City, I knew the Knicks were important, but with [all of the other professional teams], I wondered how many people would really be interested in Knicks basketball. I wish I had played all 12 of my NBA years in New York City. When I think about New York basketball and the Knicks, I think about home.”
One of Davis’s signature moments as a Knick came during his second season in 1994, facing the Michael Jordan-less Chicago Bulls in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The series was tied at two games apiece, and game five had come down to the wire, with the Bulls leading the Knicks 87-86 with 7.6 seconds remaining.
The in-bounds pass came to the Knicks’ John Starks, who dribbled toward the corner, executing a pick and roll with Knicks center Patrick Ewing. As Ewing rolled toward the basket, Davis, known throughout his career as a three-point specialist, headed to the top of the key. Starks found the wide-open Davis, who attempted the game-winning shot. He was met at the top of the key by the Bulls’ Scottie Pippen, who fouled Davis on his elbow.
While the shot did not go in, both Pippen and Bulls head coach Phil Jackson were visibly angry with the “phantom” call, believing that Pippen did not foul Davis.
“He absolutely fouled me! It was actually a flagrant foul!” Davis recalled with a laugh nearly three decades later. “I’m still having surgery on my right elbow to this day!”
With 2.1 seconds on the clock, Davis, an 84 percent free throw shooter during the 1993-1994 season, calmly stepped to the line and made both free throws, giving the Knicks the Game 5 win. They would go on to win the series, eventually advancing to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Houston Rockets in seven games.
Over his career in New York, Davis averaged just shy of 10 points per game and made 45 percent of his three-point shots, with his career high of 32 points coming in a game against Minnesota during the 1993-1994 season. He was traded to the Toronto Raptors prior to the 1996-1997 season.
“It’s going to be a great situation for Hubert at Toronto,” said Knicks President Ernie Grunfeld at the time of the trade. “He had steady improvement every year in all facets of his game, and that’s because of his work ethic. He worked at it. Hubert is one of the nicest people ever to wear a Knicks uniform. He’ll be missed.”
Davis’s Knicks head coach, Jeff Van Gundy summed it up best.
“Hubert was what you want in a player: dependable, reliable, trustworthy and his work ethic was second to none,” he said.
EVERYTHING’S BIGGER IN TEXAS
After being released by Toronto, Davis signed with the Dallas Mavericks ahead of the 1997-1998 season. “Hubie not only was one of the most accurate shooters in Mavs’ history, [but he was] a 3-point wizard long before they were common,” said Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, “He has a heart of gold and cares about his teammates, the organization and the community.”
As a member of the Mavericks, Davis made more than 45% of his three-point shots. During the 1997-1998 season, he averaged a career high 11.1 points per game. That season, he finished runnerup in the 3-point contest to eventual champion Jeff Hornacek. In the first round, Davis connected on eight consecutive threes at one point to advance. In the semi-finals, Davis was able to outdo himself, hitting 11 straight 3-point baskets, enroute to a secondround score of 24, the second highest one-round total in the
history of the competition’s original 30-point format.
He competed again in his third and final three-point contest during the 1999-2000 season, finishing with 14 points in the first round, one point shy of advancing to the semi-finals. That season, Davis led the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage, connecting on 82 of his 167 3-point attempts, good for 49.1%.
In 2000-2001, his final season in Dallas, Davis connected on seven 3-pointers in a November game against the Seattle Supersonics, his most made 3-pointers in one game, tying his career high in points with 32.
WASHINGTON WIZARDRY
In February of 2001, Davis was part of a nine-player trade that sent him from Dallas to Washington where he became a member of the Wizards organization. He would average 10.2 ppg in 15 games for Washington in the second half of the 2001 season. The following year, Davis would become teammates with the “best player he ever played against,” fellow Tar Heel Michael Jordan.
“It was unbelievable being on the court with him,” Davis recalled. “Michael was the only guy I’ve ever played with that didn’t take a break on any possession, on either end of the floor. He came after you defensively, and then on offense, he never took a rest.
“I was so thankful that I had the opportunity to play with him for one season with the Wizards, just to have first-hand knowledge of the practicing and games, all of the hard work and preparation that he put in to be the best basketball player ever,” Davis continued. “It was great playing against him and even better playing with him as a member of the Wizards.”
Appearing in 66 games with the Washington Wizards, Davis was traded again ahead of his 11th NBA season, this time to the Detroit Pistons. Over the last two years of his career, spent with Detroit and the New Jersey Nets, Davis played in 60 games, appearing sparingly, but it actually helped launch his broadcast career at ESPN.
“My last year with the Nets, in 2004, was the only year I had sat the bench, at any level,” Davis recalled in a 2011 interview. “But, in game 41, my coach said I was going to play. After the game, I was interviewed by radio and television, and a broadcasting agent in New York turned on the local news and saw the interview. He thought I spoke okay, called my basketball agent, and called me, and begged me to try out for ESPN.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Davis finished his 12-year NBA career with 685 games played for six teams, averaging 22.1 minutes and 8.2 points per game. To this day, Davis holds the second-best career three-point shooting percentage (44.1%) in NBA history of those who have made at least 600 career three-pointers, ranking only behind Steve Kerr.
Davis’s basketball career can best be summarized by the man who accompanied Dean Smith on that recruiting visit to the Davis family’s living room in 1988, former head coach Roy Williams.
“Hubert Davis was an overachiever as a basketball player. He was a McDonald’s All-American, he scored 1600 points at North Carolina, and had a 12 year career in the NBA.” Williams said. “I’ve never known a finer person in my entire life, who has a switch he turns on and can be as competitive as anybody around.”
WWhen I think about the people who have had the biggest impact on my life, there’s no possible way that I could leave Coach Davis off of that list. I could go on for days talking about HD but to put it simply, he is the most genuine person that I’ve ever met.
You don’t have to be around him a long time to know what kind of person he is and the energy that he brings to a room. During my career he was a constant source of encouragement and support, and it didn’t matter how I was performing on the court, I always knew that his office would be open and he was willing to talk to me about whatever, for however long I needed. That kind of support is what gave me the room that I needed to grow on the court throughout my career. As much as he is kind and as generous as they come, he is also just as fierce of a competitor as they come, but the impact that he’s had on me goes far, far beyond the basketball court. The biggest thing that I will forever be thankful for is the example that he set as a believer in Christ. He not only guided me with his words or Bible studies but more so with the way that he lived his life on a daily basis. Coach Davis just loves people and he genuinely cares and he proves it every single day that we’re around him. To this day, every time that I talk to him, he asks me if there is anything that he can do for me, and I know that if there is anything that I ask of him, he will do everything in his power to make it happen.
Carolina brought me a lot of relationships that I am thankful for but the one that I was able to develop with Coach Davis is one of the more special ones, not because he offers to help or anything that he does for me but just because of who he is as a person.
He’s someone who everyone would love to have in their corner. Because no matter what, he just wants the best for you. I can’t speak enough about how genuine he is with everything that he does, because I have seen him year after year take the time to build relationships with everyone that comes in. That’s how I know that he cares, because I’ve seen it in action. I will always cherish the relationship that I’ve been able to build with Coach Davis and I couldn’t be more excited that he is the guy that’s taking over to lead Carolina Basketball.
KENNY WILLIAMS
Men’s Basketball
Illustration by Jason McCorkle
