NC State's Leslie still deciding on NBA

North Carolina State University

NC State's Leslie still deciding on NBA

Apr 9, 2012

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Raleigh, N.C. — The Wolfpack men’s basketball team put the finishing touches on its successful 2011-12 campaign under first-year head coach Mark Gottfried with its postseason awards banquet at NC State’s McKimmon Center Monday evening.

The Pack’s season culminated with its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2006 and its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005. At season’s end, NC State was ranked 20th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

The banquet came a day before the NCAA deadline to declare for the NBA draft and while guard Lorenzo Brown has said he will return next year, many are waiting to hear what forward CJ Leslie plans to do.

Leslie said Monday that he has not made his decision but is going by the NBA deadline to declare by April 29. He said he will make his decision soon and is leaning one way, but would not say what that way was.

Leslie requested a report from the NBA's underclassman advisory committee and received information from Gottfried on where Leslie could be selected in the NBA draft.

Gottfried said he is letting the family make the decision and has not tried to recruit him to stay.

"I think what’s important is that if Calvin is going to come back, he’s got to want to be a part of it. If he does, then it turns into something great," Gottfried pointed out.

Teammate Lorenzo Brown said he felt that Leslie was coming back.

Leslie led the Wolfpack in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game and was second in rebounding with an average of 7.3 per outing. Leslie and Brown shared team MVP honors at the banquet Monday.

Here is the complete list of basketball awards and recipients:

Chris Corchiani Most Steals Award
Lorenzo Brown – Led the Wolfpack with 67 steals this season including a career-high eight in the season opening victory over UNC Asheville. His 1.8 steals per game was the top average in the ACC.

Thurl Bailey Most Blocks Award
C.J. Leslie – His career-best 54 blocks this season led the Pack. Matched his single game career-high in the category with six rejections against Duke. Leslie’s 1.6 average ranked seventh in the ACC.

Ronnie Shavlick/Tommy Burleson Most Rebounds Award
Richard Howell – Recorded the 11th highest single-season tally in program history, grabbed a career-high 342 boards during the year. Howell’s 9.2 rebounds per game was the highest average since since Todd Fuller notched 9.9 boards per game. Concluded the season as the third ranked rebounder in the ACC.

Rodney Monroe Best Three-Point Shooter Award
Scott Wood – Shot .409 from long range this season, connecting on a career-high 95 three-pointers. Hit a season-high six threes versus Wake Forest in an 87-76 win. Wood’s three-point percentage led the ACC and his total made (2.6 per game) was second in the conference.

Terry Gannon Best Free-Throw Percentage Award
Scott Wood – His .907 percentage at the line this year is the best single-season mark in program history. He set the ACC record for consecutive free throws made with 66. That mark is also the fourth longest streak in NCAA history.

Kevin Thompson Field-Goal Percentage Award
C.J. Leslie – Recorded a career- and team-best .525 shooting percentage this season. Leslie hit a career-high nine shots in back-to-back games versus Virginia and UNC in the ACC Tournament. Also against the Cavaliers, Leslie posted a career-best .818 field-goal percentage.

Chris Corchiani Most Assists Award
Lorenzo Brown – His 234 assists this season ranks as the seventh best single season total in program history. Brown’s 6.3 assists per game were the highest average by a Pack player since Corchiani doled out 9.6 in 1991. Brown’s average was the second best in the ACC and 12th best nationally at year’s end.

Everett Case Scholar Athlete Award
Kendall Smith – This marks the second time this season that Smith has been the recipient of the Everett Case Scholar Athlete Award. A biochemistry major, Smith owns a 3.55 grade point average and will graduate in May.

Sixth Man Award
DeShawn Painter – One of the first reserves called on by Coach Gottfried this season, Painter provided a spark off the bench. He recorded a career-high 231 points and grabbed a career-best 158 rebounds. He had a milestone outing against Morehead State with career-high 19 points, 12 rebounds and six field goals made. He also hit a career-best eight free throws on a career-high 10 attempts in a 78-73 win at Miami.

Nate McMillian Best Defender Award
Alex Johnson – In just one season in a Wolfpack uniform, Johnson proved to be one of the team’s best defensive players. His willingness to take a charge, dive for a loose ball, get a steal or deflect a ball, helped to spark NC State on both ends of the court.

Norm Sloan Most Improved Award
C.J. Williams – A four-year letter winner, Williams embraced the opportunity to be a starter. In this role, he increased his scoring from 4.7 a year ago to 10.6 this season, an improvement of +5.9. He also shot a career-best .337 from three-point range and a career-high .808 from the charity stripe.

Jon Speaks/Julius Hodge Award
Richard Howell – As the recipient of this award, Howell is being honored for showing the attributes of former Wolfpack captains Jon Speaks and Julius Hodge. He proved to be the emotional leader whose poise, confidence and support for his teammates was integral to the success of the Pack this year.

Jim Valvano Coaches Award
C.J. Williams – In his four-year career, Williams showed the highest level of team loyalty, dedication to his school and an attitude and spirit that inspired his teammates to never give up.

David Thompson MVP Award
C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown – This duo provided the Pack with a dynamic one-two punch. Leslie and Brown were State’s leading scorers this season with Leslie averaging a team-high 14.7 points per game while Brown posted 12.7 points per contest. Each received All-ACC honors this season, with Leslie being named to the second team and Brown to the third team. For their performances in the ACC Tournament, Leslie was first team all-tourney honoree, while Brown was tabbed for the second team.

Also handed out on Tuesday were the yearly participant awards and Johnson, Williams and Smith were also honored by Gottfried with the presentation of senior gifts.

Web Editor: Erin Summers

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RE: NC State's Leslie still deciding on NBA

Judging by his interview I would say he is leaving. He is just as ready as Harrison Barnes is. Not sure what they both averaged, but there was certainly a lot more hype about Leslie's NBA potential over Barnes.
- Posted by tj7

He really wants to leave. No doubt about it. But he doesn't have good news regarding his draft status. All we know is he WANTS to leave, and he is weighing his options and possibilities.

I think he stays one more year. He could have already declared if he was going to. If he declares, my guess is it will be today. If no news comes out today, then I bet he stays.

RE: NC State's Leslie still deciding on NBA

Judging by his interview I would say he is leaving. He is just as ready as Harrison Barnes is. Not sure what they both averaged, but there was certainly a lot more hype about Leslie's NBA potential over Barnes.

RE: NC State's Leslie still deciding on NBA

He definitely needs to develop a little more before he'll be a top-10 pick. If he develops a consistent mid-range jumper, who knows. He has scary athleticism that you can't teach a kid. He really came along this year. One more year of development, and I think he could certainly be in the top-10. It depends on who else is in the draft, obviously. But it's not inconceivable.

RE: NC State's Leslie still deciding on NBA

Let's give CJ a little credit here for not making a snap decision. It's not the first time he's done this. How many people were telling him he should go to Kentucky, not State? And how many were telling us that's where he would go? He seems to do OK with screening out the noise and making up his own mind.

Personally, I don't think he's a #5 pick this year, next year, or any other year. Waiting isn't going to change that. There is always going to be a new crop of studs with "potential" in every draft, and there are a lot more players of CJ Leslie's caliber than Anthony Davis' or Muhammed Shabazz'. But TBK is right about this being an unusual year. If there had been no threat of an NBA lockout, a lot of players in this year's draft would already be in the league. This year they are all coming out, and that will clear the field for next year's class to be more normal.

He may not be top 5 or even top 10 next year, but he will probably be higher than he would be this year. And as I said elsewhere, there have been a lot more bad decisions to come out early than bad decisions to stay in school. I think he should stay, and I think Gott's comment about wanting to stay sends him just the right message.

RE: NC State's Leslie still deciding on NBA

I think Leslie will stay. I don't think the lure of being a late first round or early second round pick is enough. One more year under Gott and Leslie should be a lottery pick. I have already seen 3 different preseason polls that have State in the top 10 for next year (#4, $5, & #7), but those rankings assume Leslie comes back. One more year would be fun to watch. GO PACK!
- Posted by mike28

I read somewhere that Leslie's mother only wanted him to go if he was a first round pick, and since that doesn't seem to be guaranteed, I think he's coming back. Gott did say something interesting yesterday - he said he only wanted Calvin back if he wants to be there. Leslie probably wants to declare, but may hold back and return to school if he doesn't get the feedback that he's lookng for.
- Posted by jgunn

I hope he comes back (partially for selfish reasons, and partially because I think he isn't ready yet, and partially because I think he will improve his draft status if he stays another year). So I hope you're right. I hope he doesn't develop a sour attitude, though, because he'd rather be playing for pay next year.
- Posted by TruthBKnown Left The Building

I think that's (the sour attitude) what Gott was alluding to. If Leslie wants to be in the NBA (and I think he does), but he wants to be a first round pick (not guaranteed), Gott doesn't want him back, sulking because he didn' get what he wanted from the NBA. If he does come back, he has a lot of time to digest not getting the deal he wanted in the NBA, and to work towards having a positive attitude about playing another year in school, and I'm sure his teammates will be pumped he's coming back, which will be a positive for Leslie's mindset.

I also remember when State made it to the Sweet Sixteen, Leslie and Yow were all happy and hugging each other, and Leslie was talking about his grades and a paper or something he did for one of his classes, and that he got a good grade. That tells me he was still thinking about school, not going early to the NBA. Of course, this is just speculation on my part.

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