Yahoo Sports Devin Carter poised to end 11-year NBA Draft drought for Miami-Dade County players
Anthony Carter, a 6-1 guard in his day, forged a 13-year NBA career that can be best described as miraculous.
He quit high school as a freshman so he could hustle for money playing street basketball, eventually ending up at a junior college, the University of Hawaii and in the league as an undrafted player.
Now, a dozen years after he retired as a player, his son, 22-year-old Devin Carter, is poised to make the NBA with an entirely different profile.
Devin is much longer at 6-3 and with a 6-9 wingspan. He is also more athletic than his dad with a standing vertical leap of 35 inches and a running leap of 42 inches.
Another big difference: Basketball was Anthony’s only way out of extreme poverty.
Devin has had no such issues, but he insists he is just as hungry – metaphorically speaking – as his father was a couple of decades ago.
“I’m very blessed having an NBA dad and never having to worry about my next meal,” said Devin, who played high school basketball at Doral Academy. “But I haven’t taken basketball for granted. Hearing how my dad came up just made me work even harder.”
That hard work is paying off.
It has been nearly a dozen years since a player from a Miami-Dade County high school – Tim Hardaway Jr. in 2013 -- was selected in the first round of the NBA Draft.
Broward County produced three first-round picks last year — Amen (fourth) and Ausar Thompson (fifth) of Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest and Jett Howard (11th) of Davie University School.
Carter is poised to end that Miami-Dade drought.
Carter, who finished his amateur career at Providence College, seems to be a consensus first-round selection.
Mock drafts have Carter going 11th (Bleacher Report); 13th (The Ringer); 17th (Sports Illustrated); 18th (NBA.com); 19th (CBS and also Tankathon); and 24th (NBADraft.net).
“In talking to my agents,” Carter said, “I believe my range is eight through 17.”
That means that the Heat, with pick No. 15, could be in the mix for Carter, the reigning Big East Player of the Year.
Frank Martin, who coached Carter for his true freshman season at South Carolina, raved about his former player.
“The NBA team that drafts Devin is getting a rotation player from Day 1,” Martin said. “He has the ability to run, defend, rebound, pass and get to the foul line.
“I can’t remember Devin ever having a bad practice. Usually for a freshman, it’s hard to remember them ever having a good practice.”
Known for his defense, Carter is also a crafty ball-handler who has developed into a dangerous pick-and-roll offensive threat.
But make no mistake: Carter has traveled quite a road to get to where he’s at, attending two high schools, a prep school and two colleges.
His freshman and sophomore years were spent at Cherry Creek in Colorado.
But when the Heat hired Anthony Carter as a player-development coach in 2018, the family moved to Miami, and Devin ended up at Doral.
Playing under coach Jorge Fernandez at Doral, Carter was Florida’s Class 7A Player of the Year in 2019-2020, averaging 28.8 points and 8.7 rebounds as a senior.
“When you get a kid in high school, you don’t know if he will become an NBA player, but that was his goal,” Fernandez said.
“Devin was underappreciated as a three-star recruit, and I always told him to focus on defense and rebounding and not just scoring.”
Carter didn’t finish his senior season at Doral as he required minor shoulder surgery.
After high school, he wanted to play for Martin at South Carolina. But because Martin did not have a scholarship available – and also coming off the shoulder surgery – Carter opted to play one season at a prep school, Brewster Academy in New Hampshire.
One year later, as a true freshman in the rugged SEC, Carter got into 30 games, including seven starts. He averaged 9.0 points but shot just 26.7 percent on his 3-pointers.
“He has a slower-type release on his 3-pointer, but he has learned to shoot it from deeper, which gives him more space,” said Martin, now the coach at Massachusetts. “He makes them, and he can defend everybody.
“Devin is strong like an ox (at 195 pounds) and competitive as hell. He’s a bear.”
After Martin was dismissed as South Carolina’s coach in March of 2022, Carter transferred to Providence.
Carter played his sophomore season for coach Ed Cooley, averaging 13.0 points and shooting 29.9 percent on 3-pointers.
In March of 2023, Carter dealt with even more change as Cooley took the job at Georgetown.
Kim English was hired at Providence, and, according to Carter, he got a call from the new coach just 10 minutes into his tenure.
“He told me I was way better than a 30-percent 3-point shooter,” Carter said. “He told me he wanted me to shoot six or seven 3-pointers per game.”
Anthony Carter said no coach had ever told his son to shoot 3-pointers that often, and it worked.
“I knew I was a great shooter,” Devin said. “I knew I could shoot, but I just didn’t have the confidence at that time.”
He does now.
Indeed, Carter this past season averaged 19.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks. He shot 74.9 percent on free throws and 37.7 percent on 3-pointers.
Carter was first in the league in scoring, third in rebounds, fourth in steals and fourth in 3-point percentage. He also led the Big East in league-play scoring (21.4).
“I’m not sure how many superstars are in this draft, but I’d love to pick in the 12-to-20 range,” English said when asked about Carter. “I’m excited to see where Devin goes.”
NBA.com’s scouting report on Carter sees him as “one of the nation’s top perimeter defenders,” noting his 32 blocks as a high number for a 6-3 guard.
The website also raved about Carter’s “unteachable defensive intensity, toughness and instincts which separate him.”
Martin also appreciates Carter’s loyalty.
After leaving Doral as a relatively low-rated recruit, Carter started getting noticed more at Brewster.
Carter could have bolted for another school, but he stayed true to Martin, who coached him hard.
“Competing is important to him, and he wants a coach that will compete with him,” Martin said. “He’s about winning -- not about looking good.”
And so, with the NBA Draft starting on June 26, Carter figures to join the aforementioned Hardaway (picked 24th out of Palmetto High), Tim James (Northwestern) and Doug Edwards (Miami High) as the county’s most recent first-rounders. James was picked 25th in 1999, and Edwards went 15th in 1993.
Mychal Thompson of Miami Jackson has a record that will never be broken as he was drafted first overall in 1978.
Second-rounders from Miami-Dade County include: Ricky Blanton (Killian, 1989); Chris Corchiani (Hialeah-Miami Lakes, 1991); James Jones (American, 2003); Steven Blake (Miami High and Killian, 2003); Guillermo Diaz (Miami Christian, 2006); and Dewan Hernandez (Norland, 2019).
Undrafted Miami players with successful NBA careers include Udonis Haslem (Miami High); Jose Juan Barea (Miami Christian); and Raja Bell (Killian).
Anthony Carter, who is from Atlanta, wasn’t drafted either, of course.
But, for years, Anthony Carter, 48, trained Devin, helping him develop his talent with daily 5 a.m. workouts.
“I never forced basketball on Devin,” Anthony Carter said. “But once he decided to do it, I made him grind.”
Carter, now a Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach, still has great respect for the NBA franchise that started his playing career, the Miami Heat.
“If it wasn’t for the Heat, I would not have lasted 13 years in the NBA,” Carter said. “They molded me to work hard and play defense, and I think Devin would be a good fit in the Heat culture.
“We’re trying to build that same culture in Memphis.
“After I left the Heat, I felt out of shape. I had to work out on my own after a team practice to get back to that ‘dog’ mentality.”
Carter said Devin always wants to guard the opposing team’s best player.
“He and I have traveled two different paths,” Anthony Carter said. “I molded him behind a gated fence, but I still made him want it. He set his own alarm clock, and I’ve never told him how good he is.
“Devin has had fancier shoes and clothes than I did growing up, but nothing has been given to him on the court.”
