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University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Draft Sets Alumni Teams
September 2, 2009 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Sept. 2, 2009
By Adam Lucas
Early Tuesday afternoon, current Tar Heel Marcus Ginyard was explaining the significance of this weekend's basketball activities, which include Friday night's sold-out professional alumni game.
"I don't think any other place could come close to having this kind of weekend," Ginyard said. "There's a lot of things about Carolina you just don't find anywhere else."
A few minutes later, just up a flight of steps and down a hallway, there was a perfect illustration of Ginyard's comments.
Roy Williams was sitting in his Smith Center office, the one with the newly framed photo of Ty Lawson and Michael Jordan hanging out at the Cousy Award ceremony. Across from Williams was Phil Ford; on the office speakerphone was Pat Sullivan. Ford and Sullivan were serving as the designated "general managers" for a draft intended to distribute players for Friday night's game.
As everyone involved reviewed the talent pool, Williams looked at Ford. "You know, Phil, point guard must be a pretty easy position. Look how many point guards we've got on this list."
Both men chuckled...and at that exact moment, Lawson walked in the door.
"See?" Williams said. "They're all over the place!"
Lawson was stopping by before working out with some current and former Tar Heels later in the afternoon. That gave the room exactly 1,361 career assists--plus another 120 on the phone, as Sullivan would probably be quick to point out. It's hard to round up that many assists in some programs, much less on an average Tuesday afternoon.
Lawson--who was quick to note that he was early for his workout--made a grand pronouncement before leaving the office: "Put DG (Danny Green) and me on the same team and we'll win the whole thing."
After Lawson departed, Williams explained the rules to the two general managers: a coin flip would decide the first pick (Ford called "heads" and won). After the winner made the first pick, the next GM would make two consecutive picks. Then the winner would make two consecutive picks, and the drafting would continue until all eligible players were selected.
"It sounds like this is going to be pretty easy," Sullivan said. "Just give me Ty and Danny, and then Phil can have whoever he wants."
The picks didn't exactly go that way, however. Ford chose Antawn Jamison with the first overall pick; Sullivan responded by selecting Jamison's teammate for three seasons, Vince Carter. From there, picks went quickly, with Ford reviewing his roster after the final selections had been made and making this pronouncement: "My team is stacked."
Of course, Sullivan's team is stacked, too (full rosters will be available on TarHeelBlue.com later this week). That's what makes the alumni game so intriguing. Not just on the court, but also on the benches, as an all-star cast of Tar Heel NBA coaches and front office personnel is expected.
The only element of the game that was still undecided as of Wednesday morning? The tiebreaker format.
"Tell you what," Sullivan said. "If it's tied, I get to play Phil in 1-on-1."
"Nah," Ford responded. "I've already told them that I'm going to do the halftime dunking exhibition."
The chatter continued, with Sullivan eventually having to break away for a 5 p.m. practice session with head coach John Kuester's Detroit Pistons. Before he hung up, though, he had one final comment--one that echoed what Ginyard had said a couple of hours earlier.
"Coach," Sullivan said, "I just want to thank you for doing this. It's really neat for all of us to be a part of it. It's a special thing."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of five books on Carolina basketball, including the upcoming book on the 2009 national title, One Fantastic Ride. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
