R.I.P. Lorenzen Wright
Posted by Neil Paine on August 4, 2010
We've all heard about Lorenzen Wright's tragic death by now, and even worse the fact that investigators suspect foul play. By all accounts, Wright was a great guy, one of those pro athletes who truly cared about the fans and the city he played in. But I've been struggling to eulogize his career, because at the NBA level it didn't quite live up to expectations -- as the #7 pick in the '96 draft, Wright turned out to be an average player at best, eventually settling into a part-time starter/backup role for most of his career. That said, though, Wright was unquestionably a good defender, ranking 12th in defensive rating among qualified power forwards during his stint in Memphis:
| Rk | Player | Tm | G | MP | DRtg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Wallace | DET | 390 | 14405 | 92 |
| 2 | Tim Duncan | SAS | 378 | 14024 | 93 |
| 3 | Kevin Garnett | MIN | 403 | 15805 | 97 |
| 4 | Kenyon Martin | TOT | 341 | 11201 | 98 |
| 5 | Jermaine O'Neal | IND | 322 | 11691 | 98 |
| 6 | Andrei Kirilenko | UTA | 350 | 11212 | 100 |
| 7 | Donyell Marshall | TOT | 364 | 10838 | 101 |
| 8 | Rasheed Wallace | TOT | 380 | 13504 | 101 |
| 9 | Chris Webber | TOT | 286 | 10787 | 101 |
| 10 | Brian Grant | TOT | 320 | 8584 | 102 |
| 11 | Dirk Nowitzki | DAL | 392 | 15032 | 102 |
| 12 | Lorenzen Wright | MEM | 336 | 8884 | 102 |
As former Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown said in the sidebar of J.A. Adande's piece:
"Lorenzen Wright was our rock at the defensive end of the floor.
In my second season with the team (2004-05), he helped us win 50 games and make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. He had a physical presence, understood his job, was totally professional and, in our style of play, he excelled.
[...]
Every guy on the team had a job and every guy had a major contribution toward what we were doing. But you can't do it unless you can rebound and have a physical presence, and that was Lorenzen Wright. Because of his size and physical toughness, his ability to defend and score in the low post, he stayed in the league for 13 years."
Wright was also one of the rare players to be among the best in the world at every level of basketball he played. Since 1977, here are the only players to: A) Make the McDonald's High School All-American team; B) Be picked in the Top 10 of the NBA Draft; and C) Play at least 775 career NBA games:
| Player | McDAA | High School | Draft | College | Pick # | NBA Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shareef Abdur-Rahim | 1995 | Wheeler (Marietta, GA) | 1996 | california | 3 | 830 |
| Mark Aguirre | 1978 | George Westinghouse (Chicago, IL) | 1981 | depaul | 1 | 923 |
| Kenny Anderson | 1989 | Archbishop Molloy (Jamaica, NY) | 1991 | gatech | 2 | 858 |
| Benoit Benjamin | 1982 | Carroll (Monroe, LA) | 1985 | creighton | 3 | 807 |
| Mike Bibby | 1996 | Shadow Mountain (Phoenix, AZ) | 1998 | arizona | 2 | 882 |
| Chauncey Billups | 1995 | George Washington (Denver, CO) | 1997 | colorado | 3 | 910 |
| Shawn Bradley | 1990 | Emery County (Castle Dale, UT) | 1993 | byu | 2 | 832 |
| Antoine Carr | 1979 | Wichita Heights (Wichita, KS) | 1983 | wichitast | 8 | 987 |
| Vince Carter | 1995 | Mainland (Daytona Beach, FL) | 1998 | unc | 5 | 852 |
| Derrick Coleman | 1986 | Detroit Northern (Detroit, MI) | 1990 | syracuse | 1 | 781 |
| Patrick Ewing | 1981 | Rindge & Latin (Cambridge, MA) | 1985 | georgetown | 1 | 1183 |
| Danny Ferry | 1985 | DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, MD) | 1989 | duke | 2 | 917 |
| Kevin Garnett | 1995 | Farragut Academy (Chicago, IL) | 1995 | 5 | 1124 | |
| Richard Hamilton | 1996 | Coatesville Area (Coatesville, PA) | 1999 | uconn | 7 | 788 |
| Grant Hill | 1990 | South Lakes (Reston, VA) | 1994 | duke | 3 | 868 |
| Juwan Howard | 1991 | Vocational (Chicago, IL) | 1994 | michigan | 5 | 1116 |
| Jim Jackson | 1989 | Macomber-Whitney (Toledo, OH) | 1992 | ohiost | 4 | 885 |
| Antawn Jamison | 1995 | Providence (Charlotte, NC) | 1998 | unc | 4 | 864 |
| Magic Johnson | 1977 | Everett (Lansing, MI) | 1979 | michiganst | 1 | 906 |
| Michael Jordan | 1981 | Emsley A. Laney (Wilmington, NC) | 1984 | unc | 3 | 1072 |
| Jason Kidd | 1992 | Saint Joseph of Notre Dame (Alameda, CA) | 1994 | california | 2 | 1187 |
| Joe Kleine | 1980 | Slater (Slater, MO) | 1985 | arkansas | 6 | 965 |
| Christian Laettner | 1988 | Nichols School (Buffalo, NY) | 1992 | duke | 3 | 868 |
| Danny Manning | 1984 | Lawrence (Lawrence, KS) | 1988 | kansas | 1 | 883 |
| Stephon Marbury | 1995 | Abraham Lincoln (Brooklyn, NY) | 1996 | gatech | 4 | 846 |
| Donyell Marshall | 1991 | Reading (Reading, PA) | 1994 | uconn | 4 | 957 |
| Tracy McGrady | 1997 | Mount Zion Christian Academy (Durham, NC) | 1997 | 9 | 814 | |
| Alonzo Mourning | 1988 | Indian River (Chesapeake, VA) | 1992 | georgetown | 2 | 838 |
| Chris Mullin | 1981 | Xaverian (Brooklyn, NY) | 1985 | stjohns | 7 | 986 |
| Shaquille O'Neal | 1989 | Cole (San Antonio, TX) | 1992 | lsu | 1 | 1170 |
| Sam Perkins | 1980 | Shaker (Latham, NY) | 1984 | unc | 4 | 1286 |
| Paul Pierce | 1995 | Inglewood (Inglewood, CA) | 1998 | kansas | 10 | 884 |
| Ed Pinckney | 1981 | Adlai E. Stevenson (Bronx, NY) | 1985 | villanova | 10 | 793 |
| Rodney Rogers | 1990 | Hillside (Durham, NC) | 1993 | wake | 9 | 866 |
| Byron Scott | 1979 | Morningside (Inglewood, CA) | 1983 | arizonast | 4 | 1073 |
| Jerry Stackhouse | 1993 | Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, VA) | 1995 | unc | 3 | 896 |
| Isiah Thomas | 1979 | Saint Joseph's (Westchester, IL) | 1981 | indiana | 2 | 979 |
| Tim Thomas | 1996 | Paterson Catholic (Paterson, NJ) | 1997 | villanova | 7 | 824 |
| Wayman Tisdale | 1982 | Booker T. Washington (Tulsa, OK) | 1985 | oklahoma | 2 | 840 |
| Antoine Walker | 1994 | Mount Carmel (Chicago, IL) | 1996 | kentucky | 6 | 893 |
| Rasheed Wallace | 1993 | Simon Gratz (Philadelphia, PA) | 1995 | unc | 4 | 1088 |
| Chris Webber | 1991 | Detroit Country Day School (Beverly Hills, MI) | 1993 | michigan | 1 | 831 |
| Dominique Wilkins | 1979 | Washington (Washington, NC) | 1982 | georgia | 3 | 1074 |
| James Worthy | 1979 | Ashbrook (Gastonia, NC) | 1982 | unc | 1 | 926 |
| Lorenzen Wright | 1994 | Booker T. Washington (Memphis, TN) | 1996 | memphis | 7 | 779 |
All things considered, that's not the worst company to be associated with as a basketball player.
R.I.P. Lorenzen Wright, you will be missed.
August 4th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I really enjoyed watching those Hubie Brown Griz teams. The played a true team game, lots of movement and running, short rotations, and everybody defended. Not a ton of talent, but a lot of well-played ball.
Wright's willingness to play the banger role was big for them because it freed up Pau from having to cover the opponent's best big man and pick up fouls and get wore out - much like Perkins does for Garnett or Thorpe would do for Hakeem.