The question was put to Pace Academy’s coaches: Does Wendell Carter Jr. remind you of any famous player? Mick Assaf, Carter’s teammate, overheard and offered this pithy comparison: “He’s Anthony Davis 2.0.”
Not to get all carried away, but there are similarities. Davis was the nation’s No. 1 recruit in 2011. In 2012, he became the collegiate player of the year and carried Kentucky to the NCAA title. Not yet 23, Davis is a three-time NBA all-star.
Wendell Carter Jr. — his first name is pronounced Wen-DELL — is a junior at Pace Academy, the private school that sits not far from the governor's mansion on West Paces Ferry. Rivals rates him the No. 1 player in the 2017 recruiting class. Not unlike Davis, who grew eight inches as a Chicago high schooler, Carter keeps rising in stature: His ESPN profile lists him at 6-foot-8; Pace Academy goes with 6-10 and, according to coach Demetrius Smith, might have undershot.
“He’s still growing,” Smith said Friday. “His shoe size just went from 18 to 21. We’re having a hard time finding shoes.”
Pace Academy beat Hapeville Charter 72-48 on Friday. Carter scored 14 points, took four rebounds, blocked three shots and made three assists and three steals. He sat most of the second quarter and all the fourth. He didn’t show many low-post moves because there was no need, the game essentially being one Pace Academy fast break after another.
What Carter did display was skill to match his increasing size. He’s a deft passer. He can handle the ball. (Smith keeps pushing him to take rebounds and lead the break.) He made a 3-pointer. All of this left Carter unimpressed. “I haven’t been playing the way I’m supposed to,” he said.
He doesn’t give the impression of someone in the midst of a growth spurt. He doesn’t trip over his considerable feet, which even the great Davis would do as a college freshman. He’s big enough — he weighs 249 pounds — to play center; he’s smooth enough to play almost anywhere. His favorite player is point guard Chris Paul, whom he visited in the Clippers’ locker room Wednesday at Philips Arena.
Both of Carter’s parents played basketball — Wendell Sr. at Pearl River (Miss.) Community College before working as a pro in the Dominican Republic, mother Kylia at Ole Miss. “He’s been playing since he was 6,” Carter Sr. said. “We’d always do fundamentals. I’d tell him, ‘Play the game.’ Some guys just want to score. He has a high basketball IQ.”
Which parent is a tougher critic? Neither, Carter said. “They’re not really that hard on me. That’s because they’ve played on such a high level. They understand what it’s like. Most parents haven’t been through that.”
Even the Carters haven’t been through what’s coming. The fight for his collegiate services will be intense, and any player ranked No. 1 in his class doesn’t figure to be long for campus life. What’s it like, Carter Sr. was asked, knowing his offspring could be a millionaire 2 1/2 years from now? “I’m in denial. I never thought I’d have a son of this magnitude. I’ve talked to (former NBA players) Dale Davis and Gary Payton about it. We’re learning as we go.”
Carter has taken one unofficial visit — to Duke. North Carolina coach Roy Williams was in attendance for Carter’s game Tuesday. Kentucky is on the case. So are Georgia and Georgia Tech, and Carter said he’s not averse to giving the locals every consideration. Even Harvard, which doesn’t give athletic scholarships, is intrigued. (He has a 3.8 GPA.) As yet, there’s no short list.
The sport’s most famous coach came to Atlanta to offer a scholarship in person. Sitting with the player and his coaches, Mike Krzyzewski asked what player Carter saw as a model. (See, everybody wonders.) “Anthony Davis,” he said.
Said Pace Academy assistant Pete Pope, a Kentucky grad: “You could see Coach K twist his face. Then he said: ‘I might see you more as (Duke one-and-done) Jabari Parker.’ ”
The point being: If the antecedents are Davis, the NBA’s No. 1 draftee of 2012, and Parker, the No. 2 player taken in 2014, you’re in rarefied air. Already a big deal, Wendell Carter Jr. is about to get much, much bigger.
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