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SPORTS
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2005
Black College Sports 4C
Business 8C
Section
I’ve got
answers
for every
question
This week, several of you -
OK, three of you - stopped me
to ask my thoughts on ca*tam
issues going on in the sports
world.
I figured I’d take the time to
answer a few
questions in a
public forum.
Question:
Assuming
Charlotte
lands the No. 3
pick in this
year’s NBA
Draft, and
assuming
Andrew Bc^t
C. Jemal
Horton
and Marvin Williams are off
the board, should the Bobcats
draft Wake Forest’s Chris
Paul, North Carolina’s
Raymond Felton or Illinois’
Deron Williams?
Answer: I know Paul and
Felton are sort of local kids,
but Williams is the best point
gu&rd in the draft. At 6*foot-3,
210 pounds, he has the size
and power, and he generally
thinks pass first. He is a com
plete guard in the mold of
Jason Kidd, except he can
shoot, making 36 percent of
his 3-pointers last year. And
he is a much better defender
than Paul arid Felton.
Question: Can the
Carolina Panthers’ second-
roimd pick Eric Shelton be a
good replacement for Stephen
Davis at running back?
Answer: Maybe it’s just me,
but I wondCT* if an inability to
maintain a good playing
weight is going keep Shelton
fix)m being a firanchise run
ning back.
He’s listed at 246 poimds
but looks heavier. I stOl think
DeShaun Foster is the best
option after Davis.
Question: What do you
think of this talk about race
playing a factor in Steve Nash
winning the NBAs Most
Valuable Player Award?
Answer: Let me start by
saying I don’t have a problem
at all with Nash winning the
award. He’s worthy It’s not as
if he were a bum this year.
That said, I would have
voted for Shaquille O’Neal. I
just don’t think enou^ credit
is being given to Nash’s team
mate Quentin Richardson for
helping the Phoenix Sims
improve. Richardson added
an all-important outside
shooting threat to the Suns,
plus the team finally had star
Amare Stoudemire healthy
for the entire season.
Shaq meant everything to
the Miami Heat, even thou^
he had All-Star Dwayne
Wade as a s^isational side-
kick.
But to answer your question
about race; I honestly don’t
know. However, Tm not nmve
enough to believe that race
COULDNT have played a
role. Rmiember a year or so
ago, when Larry Bird said on
national television that the
NBA needed more white
superstars because “the
majority of fans are white
America’? I think a lot of peo
ple, including those voting for
MVP, agree with Bird’s
assessment.
So it wouldn’t diock me at
all if, years fiiDm now, we find
out that a lot of people voted
for Nash to win because of the
color of his skin.
Let’s not be siUy and think
the NBA somehow is immune
to the ills that plague the rest
of society, folks.
Question: Do you think it’s
just a coinddaice that home
runs in Major League
Baseball have declined just as
the sport implemented a
See YOU’VE/2C
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Charlotte Sting head coach Trudi Lacey gestures during a drill Tuesday in Fort Mill, S.C. The Sting play
Los Angeles in a preseason game today at 6 p.m. at the Bobcats Basketball Center.
Measured steps
Rebuilt Sting tries to get acclimated in preseason
By Herbert L. White
herb.white®thecharlottepo5t£om
^ Preseason basketball isn’t
about wins and losses. For the
Charlotte Sting, which pla5/s Los
Angeles today at 6 p.m. at the
Bobcats Basketball Center, it’ll be
about figuring who can play good
basketball consistently and
qirickly
‘It’s an opportunity for me to
evaluate,” Sting head coach Trudi
Lacey said. ‘T don’t put a lot of
wei^t on exhibition games in
terms of wins and losses. What I
want to evaluate fiom my team is
what we’re doing well or not
doing weU so I Ccan) recognize
what we’re not doing well so we
can come back and improve on
that.”
The Sting will have to improve
quickly Five players remain fix)m
last 5/ear’s team that missed the
playoffs, and all-
time leading scor
er Andrea Stinson
wasn’t re-signed.
This year’s new
comers include
rookies Jessica
Moore and veter
an acquisitions
Sheri Sam and
Helen Darling,
Sam
See STING/3C
“What I want to evaluate .. .is what we’re doing well or not doing well.”
Charlotte Sting head coach IVudi Lacey
JOHNSON C. SMfTH UNIVERSITY
Johnson C. Smith football coach Datyl McNeill (second from right) congratulates Pettis Norman Award winners
Jennifer Lee, Justin Jackson and Brandi Young. The award is given to JCSU’s top male and female athlete
3 JCSU athletes earn Norman Award
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Johnson C. Smith held its annual
athletics award ceremony in which
Jennifer Lee, Brandi Young, and
Justin Jackson earned the Pettis
Norman Award.
The award is given to the top male
and female athlete for the academic
year.
Lee, a fiieshman tennis player who
possesses a 4.0 grade point average,
was also named JCSU and CIAA
rookie of the year and JCSU most
valuable player.
Young, who shared the award with
Lee, is a junior communication arts
major. As the heart and soul of the
softball team. Young led the nation
in triples and slugging percentage.
She was named first team all-CIAA
and JCSU most valuable player.
Jackson, a senior sport manage
ment major was the team MVP in
•football. He also garnered the most
defensive award, second team all-
CIAA all-region and was a Don
Hansen Football Gazette preseason
All-American.
In his senior year, Jackson had a
4.0 grade point average.
Michael White (tennis) and
- Melanie Harrison (basketball)
received the Coca-Cfola Academic
Award given to the seniors with the
hipest grade point average.
Other most valuable award win
ners;
Men’s basketball - Charles Clark
Women's basketball - Lauren Goss
Football - Justin Jackson
Men’s cross country - John Fulton
Women's cross country - Tlana Pope
Bowling - LaQuanda Higgins
Softball - Brandi Young
Mei’s tennis - Michael White
Women’s tennis - Jennifer Lee
Men’s outdoor track - Larry Moore
Women’s outdoor track - Brittni Dash
Cheerleading - Asha Ude
Men’s golf - Christopher Parker
Women’s golf - Rochelle Rose
Volleyball - Bettina Murray (coaches
award)
Kniglds;
dmeyet
to come
By Herbert L. White
herb.white@thediarloneposijcom
Charlotte Knights manager Nick Leyva
can actually find something good to say afl;^
a poor start to the season.
For instance, the Kn^hts are 4-5 in thar
last nine game, nothing to get excited over,
but consider where they started. Finding con
sistency - especially among the pitchers - has
helped, but 9-23 suggests more needs to be
found.
“They’re working hard and they’re at the
point now where I think they sometimes put
pressure on themselves,” Leyva said.
Leyva is concerned about CJiarlotte’s slow;
start on offense. Center fielder Brian
Anderson, Charlotte’s cleanup hitter, leads
the Knights in batting average (.330 to start
the week), doubles (10) and second in homers
with five. Second baseman Felix Martinez
has been consistent hitting eighth, but the
Knights aren’t hitting with runners in scor
ing position. Althou^ Le5/va isn’t fazed, he
acknowledges some Knights are pressing to
break out of their fimk.
‘We’re five wedis into the season and when
you continue to stru^le, you w^t to do
something different instead of staying within
yourself and doing the things that got you to
this point in your career.”
The pitchers are stn^gling, too, but are
showing some signs of puffing thii^ tc^th-
er. Brandon McCarthy who was in sin^e-A
ball last year, is 4-3 with four quality starts.
Charlotte’s other starting pitchers, however,
are a combined 4-17 with two quality starts.
If and when the pitching improves, Jjeyva
says, the hitters need to be ready to support
them with runs.
‘T think our starting pitching is going to
See KNIGHTS/3C
LeBron’s
good, but
he’s not the
main man yet
Forget Bobby Fischer; I have been search
ing for LeBron James.
I looked on TNT the other
night, while all those teams
were playing NBA playoff
games, and I couldn’t find
him.
And even when I flipped
over to ESPN, the other cable
network broadcasting post
season games these days,
LeBron was a no-show.
This just in; For the second
year in a row, LeBron is not
C. Jemal
Horton
James
See LEBRON/2C
'OI
in the playoffs. You won’t see him this time
of year. Unless, of course, he’s making a
guest appearance in the stands to watch
one of his fiiends perform.
So can we please stop treating him as if
he’s the best player on the planet now?
(jroodness!
Here’s the thing: LeBron, certainly a cele
brated player with the
Cleveland Cavaliers, isn’t
even tl^e best player in his
second-year NBA class. At
least not now That distinc
tion belongs to either Miami
Heat star guard Dwyane
Wade (who gets my vote) or
Denver Nuggets standout
forward Carmelo Anthony
How could I reach such a
decision? It’s easy It’s about winning. It’s
about the playoffs. And as LeBron has been
home for the NBA’s postseason for two con
secutive seasons now, Wade and Anthony
have gone two-for-two in playoff appear
ances.
Don’t try and tell me that Wade is only a
playoff regular because he has Shaquille
O’Neal on his team. Everyone knows this is
O’Neal’s first season in ^fiami, and last
year Wade led a near-upset of the Indiana
Pacers in the first round of the playoffs,
while teaming with the likes of the under
achieving Lamar Odom and a 6-fooot-9 cen
ter named Brian Grant.
And although Anthony^s Nuggets clearly