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Featherston: Back At Duke, Carrawell Begins A New Dream
1/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. ? Chris Carrawell played in a lot of tough places and in front of some hostile crowds during his days at Duke.
But nothing the former Blue Devil standout faced at Cole Field House or Reynolds Coliseum or in the Smith Center could match the ferocity he saw two years ago at a playoff game in Venezuela.
“The games we would have were so crazy,” Carrawell recalled. “Once, there was a foul called on Carl Herrera, who used to play for the Houston Rockets. He fouled out of the game and was really going off to the refs and the fans started throwing rocks and other items.
“I mean, this guy played in the NBA! They took it really, really seriously. It ended up where they had to stop the game for about 30 minutes and escort him out with security guards and policemen. It was about to become an all-out riot. You talk about hostile environment. We were the home guys, but they even had to get us in the locker room for awhile.
“It helps keep things in perspective ? basketball is important, but win or lose, you go home alive.”
Carrawell survived seven seasons of international basketball and has returned to home ? in this case, to Duke University ? alive and well. The 2000 ACC Player of the Year has joined the school's staff as Athletics Outreach Coordinator.
“Basically, it entails working with our student-athletes here, setting up different programs and activities, so they can go out and work with kids in the community,” Carrawell said. “One of the programs is the Verizon Read with the Blue Devils program. I did it when I was in school. You always have a behind-the-scenes person [coordinating it] and I'm that guy now.”
Carrawell cited Habitat for Humanity as another program that he's involved in.
“[Recently] I went out and worked with our Duke men's golf team, helping clean and hammer and measure and cut things to get these houses ready,” he pointed out. “I'll be involved with different programs and events like that, I will be coordinating, along with Leslie Barnes and others in our athletic department.”
As much as Carrawell enjoys his new duties at Duke, it's not where he thought he'd be seven years after finishing his career as the winningest player in ACC history (his 66 career ACC wins were later tied by Chris Duhon and surpassed by Shane Battier). He thought in 2000 that by late 2007, he'd be completing a long NBA career.
Instead, he never played a game in the NBA. Drafted in the second round by the San Antonio Spurs, he was cut before the start of his rookie season.
“I was very disappointed,” Carrawell admits. “There are not too many ACC players of the year who don't even get an opportunity to even play a game in the NBA ? and for me, that was my dream. Every kid, growing up and playing the sport, they want to reach the highest level. In basketball, of course, is the NBA.
“To not reach it, that's a sore spot.”
To this day, Carrawell is still not sure what went wrong.
“Who knows ? I couldn't tell you,” he said. “It seemed like they questioned everything about me. They said I wasn't athletic enough. But [at Duke] I guarded point guards and Tim Duncan. I guarded every position from one through five. I guarded Steve Francis ... so I guarded NBA greats and guarded them well.”
Indeed, Carrawell first endeared himself to Duke fans when he shut down future NBA MVP Tim Duncan down the stretch of a key 1997 game in Winston-Salem. The 6-6 Blue Devil freshman denied the 6-11 Deacon senior the ball as Duke rallied to snap a nine-game losing streak to Wake Forest. Later, he guarded future NBA star Steve Francis during two lopsided Duke victories over Maryland in 1999. He dueled future NBA all-stars Vince Carter and Antwan Jamison in Duke's memorable 1998 comeback win over North Carolina. He outplayed future NBA standout Ron Artest in a 1999 overtime victory over St. John's in Madison Square Garden.
He was not only ACC Player of the Year as a senior, but earned consensus first-team All-America honors after leading Duke to an unexpected 29-5 record and a final No. 1 ranking in the AP poll.
After all that, Carrawell was stunned and disappointed when he dropped to the second round of the NBA draft.
“I didn't respond to it very well,” he said. “I felt like I got jobbed ... so when I went into the summer league, I didn't handle it well. Instead of going there and working hard, I had a negative attitude. As I look back on it ? as a kid, I didn't know how to respond to it. Instead of saying, ?Okay, I'm going to show everybody!' ... I didn't take that attitude.”
Carrawell actually played well enough in training camp to earn a one-year guaranteed contract. But the Spurs were a veteran team tooling up to contend for an NBA title and in the end, just didn't have room for Carrawell. The cut came too late in the process to hook on with another team.
“I could have played in the CBA, but my agent was able to get me a job in Italy,” Carrawell said. “I started off playing in Sicily. It was not a great experience ? great food, but not a great experience.”
He blames himself for some of that.
“It was like a rebellious stage for me,” he said. “I had just gotten cut from the NBA. You come from a place like Duke University, where everything is first class, and you're playing under a Hall of Fame coach, then you go to Sicily where you have to wash your own uniforms. It was difficult.”
But Carrawell gradually came to appreciate his time overseas. He got to see a lot of the world, playing on four continents.
“One of the best places I played was in Australia,” he said. “I was able to play in Sydney and help the team win a championship there. The people in Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane ? they were so nice and [there were all these] great restaurants. You had the Outback, Koala Bears and kangaroos. You could go to the beaches ... and the basketball was top flight. So that was probably my number one experience overseas.”
Last season, Carrawell played in Holland.
“I won the MVP of the finals, even though our team lost to the No. 1 team,” he said.
Last spring, Carrawell talked about returning overseas for more basketball, but that was before he learned that his wife was pregnant. That changed his thinking.
“I could have gone overseas, but I didn't want to separate,” he said. “I stayed. I want to be there for the process. I had a couple of offers, but it's a long season and it would have meant nine, 10 months by myself.”
Although Carrawell grew up in St. Louis, he's used Durham as a home base since finishing his education. He and former teammate Nate James have sponsored a summer camp for kids. Joining the Duke support staff was an attractive option ? and could open up future opportunities for the former Blue Devil star.
“My lifelong dream is to become an NBA general manager,” Carrawell said. “I looked up to Jerry West. I wasn't able to see him play, I wasn't born yet. The fact that he was a great general manager who always seemed to make the personnel moves to help the Lakers win ? my favorite team growing up. So I always looked up to Jerry West, like, ?Man, I definitely have a passion for the game and I love watching players and I love that part of the game.' The people who put the teams together are the major movers in the NBA.”
Carrawell's new job will allow him the flexibility to pursue that dream.
“Hopefully I can do some volunteer scouting at ACC games,” he said. “I'm going to try to send out a report to all 30 NBA teams and see what they think and somehow, some way, get involved in scouting. You've got to work your way up, but definitely NBA scouting would be a good way to get involved.”
It would be ironic if the player so disappointed by his failure to make the NBA were to someday become an executive in the league.
It's not going to be easy, but if any former Duke player has proven his ability to rise to the challenge, it is Chris Carrawell.
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