100% COTTEN: Moving On
4/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 15, 2005
by Stan Cotten
I remember the first time I ever saw Chris Paul. It was during the off-season in a pick-up game between some of the Wake Forest players and this kid who looked younger than the Deacs with whom he was playing.
Let me clarify.
At least he looked younger with respect to age. His game was anything but young.
I walked over to Trent Strickland and asked Trent who the kid was. "Oh, that's Chris Paul," Strickland grinned, happy that the phenom would soon be a Demon Deacon. I watched Chris zig zag down the court against older, more experienced players making no-look passes and hoops with the ease of a veteran. A very skilled one at that.
So that's Chris Paul. Wow - is all I could think. He's as good as advertised.
During the first few weeks of practice I tried to leave Chris alone. He had plenty to handle without me nosing around. But we had a chance to visit for a while on the first road trip of the season when Wake Forest traveled to New York City to face Memphis in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. The Deacs' charter was diverted to a small airfield about an hour and a half north of the city, so the travel party had to kill some time at a local airfield while the team bus made the trip to pick us up. We sat and chatted for a few minutes about all sorts of things, and I remember being impressed with his poise and his manners and his polite, good-natured demeanor. Yes sir. No sir. Look-you-in-the-eye kind of a guy. That was Chris Paul.
On the court, though, no more Mister Nice Guy. He's as competitive a player as I've ever seen. His desire to compete is what drives him.
And it's what is driving him away.
In the same room in the Miller Center that Ron Wellman announced the long-term contracts that would keep Jim Grobe and Paul's coach Skip Prosser around for a decade, CP3 said good-bye - that his time as a Demon Deacon would be cut short to try his moves in the NBA.
I can only imagine how difficult this decision must have been for Chris and his family. Critics of Paul's decision will look at the money and argue how hard could the decision really be? But it's more than that. I walked up the steps to the press conference with Chris' father, Charles, who didn't look very good. I could tell this had been weighing on him. The opportunity to realize a dream was conflicting with feelings of loyalty to a coach, a school and a team that had given Paul the opportunity to realize, coming out of high school, another dream. But it had to be made. And Chris stepped up to the microphone, looked us in the eye, and made it.
He did so with the support of the very coach and team I know during the process he felt he would let down if he left. Coach Prosser was by his side, and his teammates had his back. If they had not been able to be there, in support, I think Chris would have stayed.
He said that he had intended all the while to stay four years, that he had no idea he would be in the position he's in now after just two years with the Deacs - a near lock in the draft as a top three pick, top five worst case if you ask NBA experts.
I'll miss him. Chris Paul is the type of player you pay to see, because you never know what to expect. I'm glad he was a Demon Deacon - even only if for two seasons. He raised the bar.
The next question is: Who will grab it?
