Along with being maybe the most scrutinized prospect in this year's NBA Draft, former Syracuse Orange point guard Michael Carter-Williams is also enduring the embarrassment of having his pre-professional career viewed through the eyes of his mother, Mandy Carter-Zegarowski, and being blogged to nearly everything that wants to read about it.
As you expect it is the most motherly blog a Syracuse basketball mom could write. It is wordy, overly descriptive, overly detailed and shares way too much information about MCW. Need an example? Here's how Mandy breaks down McDubz's deep-tissue massage from a lady named Gail after workouts.
Gail is no joke!! She is a short black woman with a boisterous voice who makes you smile every time you talk to her. She wears gym shorts, a T-shirt and no shoes or socks. She has short black curly hair and her soft brown skin can fool you into thinking a relaxing massage is coming your way.
Mandy also breaks down what MCW's day-to-day, hour-by-hour life is in Glen Cove, N.Y., where he's training.
Michael’s day starts out with Zach making breakfast, and then they head to the gym. He typically has his first workout around 9 or 10. After the first basketball workout Zach and Michael head to his strength and conditioning trainer at a gym about 10 minutes away. They grab a salad at noon, eat and then head to a huge gym, the next town over. Dean is his trainer, and that strength and conditioning workout usually is about an hour. After that workout Michael typically has about 45 minutes to relax and eat again. Around 2 p.m. he heads back to Jay for a second basketball workout from 2-3:30.
Despite its ability to bore the hell out of anyone with ADD or ADHD, it is informative and gives one a look into what kind of household MCW grew up in. Surprisingly enough, MCW actually finished the semester at SU out, something many NBA Draft prospects do not do.
When this happens, the team can suffer academically if the player does not finish the semester. It sounds strange that a player would choose to leave early and not finish school, but it is common. The rational is that after the tournament, college basketball coaches spend a lot of their time recruiting so they are not around to train the players and prepare them for the NBA draft workouts.
There are also NCAA rules about how much time a coach can spend with a player out of season. There is also the fact that some players value leaving school more than their education. Michael carried five classes and he finished with the highest GPA on the team. It was not easy considering the amount of time his team spent on the road second semester.
To me, the best thing about the blog is Mandy's breakdown of MCW's jump shot. Now, I am sure there were many times this season that Syracuse fans wanted to punch a wall because of the sophomore's play, however, I will say there's was probably one person more angry than you -- his mom.
You don’t have to struggle shooting the entire workout. You can make the adjustments during, but you have to be aware and realize what needs to change. Michael has great mechanics shooting, he needs to consistently lift his shot and make sure it comes off his fingertips. Those are two things that he now pays more attention to so he can be more consistent.
When I was there one day I watched Michael miss five shots in a row. I saw him keep the same pace cutting during the drill and not make any adjustments, which made my insides start to burn. I pounded on the window and screamed, "Get your legs underneath you and lift your friggin’ shot." Michael looked at me like I was nuts and Zach asked me if I was all right. I asked him how the hell he sits up here and does not feel tempted to go down and coach him. He said, "Michael is fine, Jay gets him going, just watch." He was right, but for me its hard not saying anything, and I’m not going to promise that I wont say anything the next time, either!
You can check out the whole blog post here. There will be more to come from Mandy and if you're a MCW fan you should bookmark it and go back.
Until then, make sure your mother has no idea how to run a blog.