Following speculation from the N.C. State fanbase and several media outlets, junior guard Lorenzo Brown decided to put all of the gossip about his professional basketball ambitions to rest.
Brown, along with head coach Mark Gottfried and his mother Kim Banks, held a press conference Thursday at the Dail Basketball Center to announce he will declare for the National Basketball Association’s 2013 draft.
“I kind of knew it was time,” Brown said. “If I would have stayed I’d have had guys like T.J. [Warren] and Rodney [Purvis] and those guys to help me out, but I figured it was my time to leave and step up to something new.”
Brown helped guide the resuurect of the Wolfpack program from the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference and bring it into national relevance. As a highly touted recruit of former head coach Sidney Lowe, Brown had 10 games with five or more assists and averaged 9.3 points per game on a struggling Wolfpack squad during his freshman year. He said the turning point in his career came with the introduction of Gottfried to the program.
“My freshman year was tough for me … the team struggled, but when coach Gottfried got here he put the ball in my hands and gave me the opportunity to lead this team,” Brown said.
Banks also spoke highly of Gottfried’s trust in Brown to become the team’s floor general.
“All of the coaches were good to Lorenzo,” Banks said. “Coach Gottfried pushed him more to be a point guard because he was the one and the two. That’s what he wanted to do, and he did it.”
In his final two seasons in Raleigh, Brown led the Pack in assists and was named an All-ACC performer. He also led State to two consecutive 20-plus win seasons and NCAA tournament appearances.
Gottfried said the success of Brown’s past two seasons at State garnered first-round draft pick projections from NBA scouts.
“I’ve talked to a lot of different guys in the NBA … most everybody is pretty confident that he can be a first round draft pick,” Gottfried said. “I think there is a general sense with Lorenzo that he’s going to have a great future.”
Despite the loss of Brown, Gottfried said he has prepared the program for its future at the point guard position. Without him, the Wolfpack is left with an inexperienced but talented crop of guards. Freshman guard Tyler Lewis started two games for State while Brown was nursing an injury. Following those games, Lewis began to take on a larger role for the Pack off the bench. But, Lewis’ return to the question is still in question by many amid rumors of him transferring due to a lack of playing time early in the season.
Gottfried will also bring in five-star recruit Anthony ‘Cat’ Barber to the program. The No. 11 recruit nationally out of Hampton, Va. has received praise for his athleticism and ball-handling ability in the open floor.
The future is also uncertain for junior forward C.J. Leslie and freshman forward T.J. Warren. There is also speculation around their draft status, most recently that of Warren’s. Brown is projected as a late first-round draft pick and Leslie is slated as a mid second-round selection, according to cbssports.com.
All five starters could potentially make an exit from the program to fulfill professional aspirations, marking the Gottfried era’s next major test to keep the program afloat.
