A shocking announcement was made last week by Larry Drew II who said he was leaving the North Carolina basketball program. Many people questioned the decision of Drew to desert the team in the middle of the season, but someone who was supportive of the move was James McCants, the father of former Tar Heel, Rashad McCants.
The elder McCants ripped into Coach Roy Williams on a facebook thread, callin him “a piece of ****” and going on to say “I don’t recommend anyone get recruited by him he wil wreck your career if you are not aware of his underhanded tactic and insincerity.”
Rashad later jumped in on the same thread to say “the good ol boy can never do wrong.”
At the heart of the McCants’ issues is their belief that Roy Williams hurt Rashad’s pro prospects by providing negative feedback to NBA personnel.
If Williams were doing anything, I’m sure he was just speaking honestly about his experience coaching McCants, giving NBA scouts and coaches the proper information they needed to make an evaluation.
McCants was selected 14th overall in 2005 by the Timberwolves, so obviously Williams couldn’t have “sabotaged” him too badly. Plus, once you’re in the NBA, your college coach no longer is around so it’s on the player to prove what he can do.
Rashad McCants never developed in the NBA and is now out of the league. If anyone’s responsible for that, it’s him, not his college coach.
Also, before you give any credibility to their comments, consider that McCants had major issues with former North Carolina coach Matt Doherty, and U.S. junior team coach, Kelvin Sampson, in addition to Williams. Here’s a sampling of what coaches and teammates said about McCants in this 2005 profile in Sports Illustrated.
Roy Williams: “He has an ability to score and make shots with people guarding him about as good as anybody I’ve ever had. But the other thing that’s important with this team is his moodiness, his indifference, whatever you want to call it.
Kelvin Sampson: “He’s a good kid who’s going to be a lottery pick. But the area of the game where he’ll make his biggest improvements is on teammate issues.”
Sean May: “Rashad is one of the coolest, most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met, but you have to know how to approach him. Some days he’ll be upbeat, talkative, making fun of people–just how a teammate should be. Then other days he’ll come into the locker room and not say anything. I’ve told him, ‘We can’t not know what to expect from you.'”
When three different coaches and teammates are seeing something it’s pretty hard to discredit them. Seems like the issue is McCants and not Williams, or anyone else.
