SECTION C


By Leland Stein III My brother, my friend, Lorenzen Wright, has


left us. No, has been take from us. He is gone to the heavens. But he will be remembered always for not only his basketball prowess, but his life off the court.


I got to know this him after he was select-


ed in the first round (seventh overall pick) of the 1996 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clip- pers. From the time Wright was in the Clippers’ house, he and I had been friends. I’m sure him being a Kappa man helped our relationship, but he had more intrinsic depth that that.


The 6-foot-11 Wright honed his game in


Memphis before entering the NBA draft as a top 10 draft pick in 1996.


The 13-year NBA veteran was a people’s


person. He established the Sierra Simone Wright Scholarship Fund following the tragic death of his infant daughter in March 2003.


He hosted a free week-long summer bas-


ketball camp for Memphis youth, volunteered as a member of the All-Star Reading Team for three years in Memphis, provided tickets to the youth of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Mem- phis through the Tickets for Kids program, and he re-enrolled at the University of Memphis in the summer of 2003 to complete his degree.


COMMENTARY Wright wanted to coach at the end of his


career to pursue a career upon his retirement from basketball. Always putting others first, he told me he wanted to do what he could to uplift his fellow man.


I do not now if I’ve ever met a nicer and


kinder person than Wright. When the Clippers first drafted him he and I used to go on lun- cheon and meet at other venues after games or practice. He was a genuine and trustworthy person who cared about all he encountered.


The circumstances behind his passing are


still in question as I write this e. Consider after a ten-day search, the body of Wright was found in southeast Memphis last week. The ex-NBA player, 34, was last seen on July 18, and a miss- ing persons report was filed on the 22. Police are now saying his death was a homicide.


used as a sho r t - cut


that a woman to


his moth- er’s house and it was his mother who re- ported him miss- ing on July 22. A dis- patcher in the suburb of Germantown said she heard


Lorenzen Wright


dropped W r i g h t off at a M e m p h i s r e s t aur ant . Later that day he turned up at his ex-wife’s home to see his six children. He had planned to drive his kids to


Lions open camp, optimistic about improvements


By Michael Niziolek “I think we made strides in a lot of areas,”


Jim Schwartz said on the first day of training camp.


The Detroit Lions coach opened camp with


a press conference and discussed the new look roster that includes high draft picks Ndamu- kong Suh and Jahvid Best as well as big name free agents like Nate Burleson and Kyle Vanden Bosch.


Suh and Best were without contracts as of


Friday afternoon, but Schwartz wasn’t overly concerned that deals weren’t yet in place. He anticipated Best getting signed fairly soon be- cause the picks around him (27th, 28th and 32nd) had all just recently finalized contracts. Suh’s deal might take a little longer because the Lions and Suh’s agents are still waiting to see what the Rams do ahead of them.


“When one domino falls all of sudden you


get a lot more,” Schwartz said. “I think the biggest domino in this draft is obviously Sam Bradford.”


As long as neither player misses significant


time, Schwartz said it wouldn’t be an issue. Schwartz was very upbeat about the roster


the Lions were bringing into camp. He was especially pleased with the improvements the team made at the offensive skill positions. One of the team’s biggest flaws last season was not


having enough weapons to help Calvin John- son. This year he said that shouldn’t be an issue.


“The more weapons you have the better pre-


pared you are,” Schwartz said. “We have one of the best players in the NFL in Calvin Johnson, but it’s not that difficult to take one player out of the game plan. You can devote enough re- sources to take one player out of the game, the difference is having other guys that can make the plays.”


Best and Burleson will help with that, but


so will the additions they made to the offensive line like Rob Sims.


The other big upgrade on offense will be the


maturation of Matthew Stafford. Schwartz is confident that with a full offseason under his belt, the 22-year-old will take a big leap this year.


“The biggest improvement that we made in


the off-season is at the quarterback position because Matt Stafford went through an entire off-season,” Schwartz explained. “He was here every day throwing on the field, working out, studying film, he was in the playbook – all those different things.”


Plus, this year in camp Stafford only has to


think about one thing. “His whole objective now is to just get


better, not everything else,” Schwartz stated. WILLIE GREEN’S young group at UDM. – Andre Smith photo


76ers’ Green: ‘This is home’ Former PSL star host youth camp at UDM


By Leland Stein III Willie Green, former Detroit


Public School League, Cooley High and University of De- troit Mercy basketball player, is continuing in the long and noteworthy history of Motor City men doing more than just being professional athletes.


Those who really know


Green will recall the type of person he is – spiritual and caring.


After tearing up the PSL,


Green then chose UDM to play for Perry Watson, a smart move. In his senior year he earned Honorable Mention All-America and was voted 2003 Horizon League Player of the Year as a result of lead- ing the league in scoring (22.6 ppg). He then was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round (41st overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft and was promptly traded to Philadel- phia.


Now entering his eighth


year in the NBA at Philadel- phia, Green noted that it was important to him to have Willie Green’s Homecoming Basket- ball Camp 2010 at the school where he matured from a boy to a man and got himself ready to be an NBA player.


“This is something I always


LIONS HEAD COACH Jim Schwartz during a game last season is ready to get the 2010 NFL season going.


wanted to do, bringing the camp to UDM,” Green said. “This is a great location. It is next to the ’hood, but is also next to one of the nicest communities in Detroit. This school was great for me and it has been a dream of mine to have a youth camp here. When we talked to UDM’s admin- istration, they welcomed us here with open arms.”


Green has always had an


intrinsic connection with the world around him. That is why over the past six years he has brought Detroit kids to the City of Brotherly Love on a life exposition and fun trip. He has also extends himself every year for the basketball camp. The 2010 camp at UDM had close to 270 youth over a five- day experience.


“With the help of my uncle


(Gary Green), we both felt that we have to give back to the game that has given us both so much,” Green noted. “If it wasn’t for men like my uncle and others we would not be in the position we are today. With the way things are in cities across America, it is necessary they we play an active role in the lives of young people and continue to give back.”


Concurred Gary: “With


summer recreation down to almost nothing, it is impor- tant that others step up and provide safe, disciplined and instructional actives for our youth. We use basketball as a tool, but building relation- ships, kids interacting with men and learning basketball fundamentals are the essence of what we hope to do with the camp.”


Said camp director Aaron


Thomason: “As a youth I had plenty of opportunities to get into trouble. But men like Coach Green and others helped me see another way. The numerous coaches are not here for money, they are men that truly care about the youth and how they can make a small impact in their lives.”


Green’s connectedness to


the world around him is not limited to what his friends and family think about him. The


NBA has also taken notice and they selected him as one of 15 players to travel to Africa to represent the league interna- tionally.


“For a 10-day excursion the


NBA Without Boarders selected a group of players to represent them,” Green explained. “The selected group is going to do a number of outreach efforts. We will be doing camps for the top 100 African basketball players, refurbishing YMCAs and we will interact with the less fortunate to expose them to the possibilities available to them. It is wonderful that basketball has become such a global sport.”


When Green comes back


from Africa he will be facing a new coach and a 76ers team in transition.


“I’ve talked to Doug (Col-


lins),” Green said, “and he was very respectful of what I could bring to the table to help this team. He is going to be a dis- cipline coach who will make guys accountable on and off the court.”


Green said that he is a De-


troiter for life and he gives the PSL credit for making him a solid basketball player.


“The city league made me


tough and pushed my game at an early age,” he said. “You had to bring it in Detroit or you would get embarrassed.”


Green said the PSL and UDM were life- changing experienc- es and he really understands that fact. Now out on the na- tional stage, he has held true to his roots and is steadfast in doing all he cane to give back and uplift others.


Leland Stein can be reached at lelstein3@aol.com.


Wright’s body was found


“riddled with bullets” in a wooded area. He was shot at least a dozen times and possi- bly as many as 18. The street near where W r i g h t w a s f o u n d w a s often


a garbled male voice call in and then at least 10 gunshots were heard and then the call went dead and no one answered when the dispatcher called back.


I n


the hours before his death, it is re- port - e d


August 4-10, 2010, 2010 Wright dies under questionable circumstances


an Atlanta suburb and spend time with them for the summer.


But he never got his kids or went to


Atlanta. Instead he was dealt an horrendous blow, the victim of American violence. Some noted that he always carried large sums of cash with him ($2000 or more) and that may have been a motive for the killing.


Like most young gifted athletes, Wright was


lured into a professional basketball career by the promise of big money, expensive clothes, cars and women. He played for several NBA teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers.


Some reports note that he had a custom-


built 17-room home in Eads, Tenn., which was repossessed in May for $1.3 million, and that his Atlanta house was repossessed in January for $1.1 million.


It makes me wonder what the heck is going


on. I’ve been told by many athletes that agents and accountants, mostly White, have ripped them off for thousands of dollars. The question becomes, why do the majority of Black men still select them as their agents and accoun- tants?


How could a man like Wright, who did not do


drugs or overspend have properties foreclose. I suppose the market that collapsed over the past few years affected all and lost million for many. What one paid for a property, no matter their income level, saw a depreciation not seen in this country since the Great Depression.


Now some claim that his loss of money


caused him to commit suicide, but those re- ports were erroneous and unfounded. The fact now points to murder.


The investigation has led to why police didn’t


do more to investigate a 911 call from Wright’s cell phone in the early morning hours of July 19, when he was last seen alive. Initially police said they had no indication of foul play in Wright’s disappearance, but developments are starting to prove otherwise.


My brother and friend, Lorenzen Wright, has


left us all too soon, but his honorable spirit will live on forever.


Leland Stein can be reached at lelstein3@ aol.com.


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