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3 UNC players will return to school
Lawson, Ellington, Green withdraw names from the NBA Draft
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Published: June 17, 2008
Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green are headed back to North Carolina after examining the NBA Draft process and finding it not to their liking.
All three withdrew from the draft yesterday and will return to UNC for at least one more season in the forthcoming academic year. Players who had not hired agents after declaring for the draft had until 5 p.m. yesterday to withdraw to preserve their college eligibility.
Each player cited a desire to win the NCAA Tournament championship next season after UNC was eliminated in the Final Four semifinals in April and finished 36-3.
None of the three was a certain lottery selection or first-round draft choice. Lawson, a sophomore point guard last season, said last Saturday that he was 50-50 for making his decision.
"The process of testing the waters has given me valuable information about my draft status and I have decided it would be better to return to school," Lawson said in a prepared statement released by UNC.
"I love school, my teammates and the coaching staff. I look forward to playing next season and trying to win a national championship."
Lawson and Ellington are UNC's starting backcourt. Green is a top reserve swingman. All three went through NBA evaluation camps after declaring for the draft.
Ellington, a sophomore last season, said that he made his decision after talking to his parents and Coach Roy Williams of UNC. Green, a junior last season, said the process gave him valuable information and experience for next year when he will be eligible for the draft after completing his college career.
"This was an easy decision for me because I'm going to enjoy my senior season with great teammates and our great coaching staff for one more year," Green said in a prepared statement.
Williams welcomed all three back after earlier losing Alex Stepheson, a sophomore reserve forward who is transferring to another school. Williams had no problems with his players evaluating their draft status.
"After a long and exhaustive process of gathering information and sharing it with these youngsters, I stepped back and asked them to make their own decisions," Williams said in a prepared statement. "I'm very pleased with their decisions because I get to coach them for another year.
"I'm also pleased that they went through the process and gained valuable information. It was reassuring that the feedback they got from the NBA teams is the same type of feedback our coaching staff has been giving them."
While the three players prepared to return to Chapel Hill, J.J. Hickson was making plans for leaving N.C. State after deciding to stay in the draft.
Hickson, a 6-9 center, said that he will sign with agent Andy Miller today to prepare for the draft later this month. Hickson said that he decided last week to leave N.C. State after one season in the program after receiving positive feedback from NBA personnel.
"Basically they told me I have good potential and have a good mindset," Hickson said. "I'm willing to learn and I'm very coachable. They told me I have a great NBA body and I'm NBA-body ready."
Hickson worked out for teams in Seattle, Portland, Denver, Sacramento, Phoenix, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Toronto. He said that he has received no assurances about which point in the draft he might be taken but wants an NBA career.
"I wouldn't say (one organization is a) best fit," Hickson said. "I think I'll fit in good wherever I go. I feel like I'm going to have a positive influence on a team and I'm not going to bring any negativity to them."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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