University of North Carolina Athletics
THM: Felton Sees Bright Future
October 23, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 23, 2003
Tar Heel Monthly is the premier magazine devoted to the stories and personalities behind UNC athletics. Click here for subscription information.
The following is the cover story from the basketball preview issue of the magazine.
By Adam Lucas
You can't see what Raymond Felton sees.
Not on the basketball court, you can't. He's standing just six-foot-one in a sea of fast-moving bodies, most of which stand at least three inches taller than him. He's very seldom slowing down, always bouncing from one end of the court to the other. He has no time to stop, no time to think, no time to hesitate.
And he still sees things you don't see. He sees David Noel's man leaning toward the perimeter, knows that Noel will sneak by him on the baseline, knows exactly how high and at what velocity he should toss the basketball so that his roommate will be able to grab the ball and slam it through the basket at the apex of his jump. He sees all this without really seeing it, with his vision blocked and a pesky opposing point guard trying to pickpocket the basketball. No time to think, no time to plan. Just see, throw, score.
"I see things happening before they happen," Felton says without a hint of braggadocio while trying to explain the way he sees the court. "I can get the ball on one end of the court and know something is happening at the other end. I pass the ball and all of a sudden, he's there. It's just a sense I have. It's nothing I can explain or that anyone taught me."
What he sees, fans don't see. That's how he can throw a pass that looks destined to roll out of bounds, only to be snatched up by a teammate at the perfect moment. Other players don't see it. Even his coaches don't see it.
Felton sees it. He's using his mind to see while everyone else is using their eyes. Wired into that mind somewhere is information about each of his teammates, each member of the opposition, the clock, the game situation. He knows he can throw a pass harder to Sean May than he can to Byron Sanders, knows where Jawad Williams likes the ball on an alley-oop, knows just when to feed Rashad McCants on a two-on-one fast break.
He knows. He sees.
After just one year in Carolina blue, his court vision is enough to make some exalted observers make some heady statements about Raymond Bernard Felton, Jr.
"I hate to put this kind of pressure on Raymond, but he and Phil Ford are two of the finest college guards I've ever seen," says Dean Smith.
Whoa. Lumping the new guy in the same group with Phil Ford? The Phil Ford? The player who defined a generation for Carolina fans, the player who merely had to raise four fingers to signify the death knell for Tar Heel opposition, the player who may still be the most beloved Carolina player of all time?
Yep, that Phil Ford. Even the man himself is impressed by the newest generation of the Tar Heel point guard. Ford was an assistant coach on an AAU squad featuring Felton the summer before the kid from Latta enrolled at Chapel Hill. As a veteran player and coach, Ford was skeptical of the hotshot.
"Most times, when someone has gotten that much hype before you see them play, it's kind of a letdown when you watch them for the first time," Ford says. "That's not a slap in the face, it's just reality. Very seldom does someone live up to those types of expectations. But the first time I saw Raymond play, I was in awe. He is very talented for a young point guard."
Can we take a breath right here? We've got praise from Dean Smith, we've got praise from Phil Ford, and if we don't watch out, it's going to be time to grab a chisel and start adding Felton's countenance to Mount Rushmore. So let's bring him down a notch or two.
Felton is not Phil Ford, not yet. Right now, he's not even Ed Cota, the occasionally-forgotten Carolina point guard who holds virtually every Tar Heel assist mark. Cota averaged 6.9 assists per game as a freshman; Felton handed out 6.7 per game during his rookie campaign.
And what about the shooting? Ford shot 52.7 percent from the field for his career. The kid from Latta finished his freshman year a hair under 40 percent (39.8) from the field.
That's where his summer began. After failing to hit more than a third of his three-pointers in eight of Carolina's last 11 games, he devoted his offseason to developing a smoother, more consistent form on his jumper. Last season, the coaching staff tinkered with his mechanics, altering his release point and elbows and occasionally creating a scattershot point guard. This year, after hoisting between 500 and 700 perimeter shots per day during the summer, Felton expects more consistency.
"I've been constantly shooting," he says. "Being a good shooter is about how much time you put into it. It's about good mechanics, too, but it's about how many shots you put up."
Shooting is about how many shots you put up, but winning is about how a point guard directs his team. Felton gets the keys to a new offense this season, a Roy Williams-favored attack that placed the Kansas Jayhawks third in the NCAA in points per game (82.7 ppg) last season--a full 10 points per game more than Carolina averaged. There were times last year when Felton walked the ball up the Smith Center court. Under Williams, there will be no more walking.
And there will be no more losing. Or at least no more acceptance of losing. They don't know it yet--they're still getting used to each other after Williams spent most of the summer recruiting and coaching the United States national team--but Felton and Williams are soul mates.
When Carolina's new head coach talks about his favorite Kansas players, he doesn't mention the biggest scorers in Jayhawk history. He talks about competitiveness, mentions names like Jacque Vaughn and Jerod Haase. Williams is frank: "To me, it's not OK to lose," he says one hot June afternoon in the Smith Center.
How much, then, is he going to love his new point guard, the kid who came in the locker room after Carolina lost to NC State in the Smith Center last year and apologized to all his teammates for causing the loss? All Felton had done was play 41 minutes, lead the team in scoring with 16 points, and grab six rebounds. And he wanted the blame.
Not that his teammates were surprised. They'd already seen him challenge Jackie Manuel in a game of video game basketball earlier in the season. Manuel, the team expert, had Felton down nearly 40 points in the second half. That's about the time when most of Manuel's challengers usually shut off the game, chucking down the controller and mumbling something about a defective game console.
Felton didn't quit.
"I played the whole game," Felton says now, remembering the contest with a grimace. "Jackie was trying to make me mad, trying to make me quit. But I never quit. I never stopped playing. I took my beating."
Put Felton and Williams together, and there aren't likely to be many beatings in Chapel Hill this season. The sophomore will play well. He will shoot better than he did last year, hand out more assists than he did as a freshman. Factoring in the uptempo style of play, if the entire team stays healthy to receive his passes then Cota's single-season record of 284 assists could be in danger.
Good basketball, however, isn't enough to put Felton in Ford's category in the UNC pantheon. The Tar Heels have had plenty of good players. There is only one Ford.
"Number one, Phil was an outstanding young man who competed hard," Smith says. "He has a great enthusiasm for the game and for the University. He has turned down jobs to leave here, because this is his school. It's a 'We love him, he loves us,' type of thing."
We love Raymond. But does he love us? Does he love us the same way Ford loved us, love us enough to cry when he takes off the Carolina uniform for the last time?
He just might.
"It almost brought me to tears the first time I ran out of the tunnel at the Smith Center for a game," he says. "I was like, 'Wow, I've done it. I've accomplished one of my main goals in life, which was to come to college and receive a scholarship to the University of North Carolina.' It's a pride and joy every time I come out of that tunnel, and I want to play like it's my last time every time I step on that court."
OK, let's take a breath again. Before we fit Felton for the halo, let's remove a little wind from his sails.
Start with that choirboy image. No doubt about it, he's the kind of kid you'd want to have over for dinner, the kind who peppers every sentence with "sir" and "ma'am" and refers to Carolina's legendary radio broadcaster--a man nearly everyone in the state knows as simply "Woody"--as "Mr. Durham."
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But there's a devilish side to Felton that he'll let you see once you get to know him. Asked to appear for the photo shoot that graces the cover of this magazine, Felton and Ford arrived at the appointed location at the same time. Ford, a man who while a Carolina assistant coach continually reminded his players that his jersey was hanging prominently in the Smith Center rafters, immediately began needling his prot?g?.
A photographer held up Ford's game-worn Carolina jersey.
"Where's my shoes?" Ford asks with a sly grin.
"We didn't have any shoes," he is told.
"Aw man, I thought you said you wanted a picture of me dunking on Raymond," he says. "I can't do that without my basketball shoes."
"Going to need more than shoes," Felton replies with perfect timing. "Going to need a trampoline, too."
Zing, pow, score one for the kid. No surprise, really. He saw the barb before it was coming, knew exactly how to respond to it, knew the perfect reaction. In doing so, he got something that might be even more rare than a Carolina assist record--he got the last word on Ford, at least temporarily.
Whether he'll get the last word in the hearts of Tar Heel fans remains to be seen. Ford played a full four years, had 123 career games to build a relationship with the Carolina faithful. By the time he was a senior, playing that epic Senior Day battle against Duke in Carmichael Auditorium, there were tears shed on both sides as the fans bid farewell to one of their favorites.
Let's be realistic. Felton may not get a Senior Day. He's not the ideal height for an NBA point guard, but T.J. Ford of Texas was listed at just 5-foot-10 and was selected eighth in last year's draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. The rest of the country doesn't know this yet, but they'll soon find out that Felton is a better player than Ford, whose offensive game was limited by a nearly unwatchable outside shot.
Felton will be asked the question numerous times this season. For now, this is his response to any NBA queries: "I don't think about it. I have goals here. My goal is to win the national championship."
Win a national championship? Now you're talking Ford-like status. Or Jimmy Black and Derrick Phelps-like status, the last two Carolina point guards to claim a title.
Funny thing about Phelps. He could also see what most people can't see.
"The first time I saw Derrick I had actually gone to watch somebody else play," former Carolina head coach Bill Guthridge says. "I went to see Khalid Reeves, but while watching the game I kept noticing this other player. After the game I asked their coach about the other player, and I said, 'That's who I really liked.' That was Derrick. He just had instincts about basketball and about the way the game should be played. You can't teach that."
You can't teach it, but Raymond Felton doesn't need to be taught. He already sees a teammate getting open for a pass, sees a promising future that will end up in the NBA, sees the rafters of the Smith Center that may one day include a certain number-two jersey.
You can't see it, not just yet. But don't worry. Raymond can.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
