Hornets players, UNC step out of routine with preseason game in Chapel Hill

The NBA season can be a long, grueling process with lots of travel and high levels of stress.

This week, though, the Charlotte Hornets had a chance to trade the routine of facilities in Charlotte for a chance to decompress at training camp on the campus of UNC. 

“I had a real good time,” Hornets shooting guard Jeremy Lamb said after three days of practice and a preseason game at the Smith Center. “It makes me want to go back to UConn and get that college feel again.” 

Once college basketball players turn pro, it can be hard to ever get the feeling of campus back with the lifestyle change. Lamb said the facilities on campus reminded him of days before he was a pro, which is exactly what Hornets officials had in mind by traveling from Charlotte to Chapel Hill to prepare for the upcoming season.

When the front office of the N.C.-based NBA team — with connections to the University through General Manager Mitch Kupchak and owner Michael Jordan, former UNC basketball standouts — started exploring destinations outside of Charlotte for training camp for the first time since 2014, Chapel Hill came to mind for its basketball history and campus life. The organization believed it would be a positive experience after missing the playoffs last season and the turnover that followed.

“A lot of it has to do with walking back on a college campus,” Executive Vice President Pete Guelli told The Daily Tar Heel in an exclusive interview in July. “In some ways, it can be cathartic for your entire organization. When you're preparing for a season as grueling as an NBA season, to go to a place like Chapel Hill, with all the history, (it) just creates a lot of energy and excitement for your players.”

By all accounts, it was a positive experience working outside of the normal routine. The Hornets stayed at the Siena Hotel on Franklin Street this week and practiced twice a day on the recently-named Roy Williams Court. Players did not indicate they spent much time exploring campus or the surrounding areas between practice sessions. Nonetheless, many Celtics and Hornets had complimentary things to say about the campus where Charlotte's Marvin Williams played and became a 2005 national champion.

"UNC has a beautiful campus," Celtic Jaylen Brown tweeted on Friday afternoon. He then tweeted later that night, "It was a blessing to play in Chapel Hill tonight." 

With NBA stars descending on Chapel Hill, Williams wasn't the only one on the court making his return to the area. Three other players — former Duke players and Celtics Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum and Hornets rookie Devonte' Graham, who played at Broughton High School in Raleigh — also had basketball bring them back to the Triangle.

“My family drove like 30 minutes up the street to come see me,” said Graham, a Raleigh native and former Kansas guard. “I couldn't ask for anything better than that.”

Graham, who grew up a UNC fan, said during college the closest he ever came to his hometown was West Virginia, a five and a half hour drive away from the N.C. capitol. Long after the game was over, he and his family were still hanging out on the court, enjoying a rare moment to see him so close to home. 

But if the Hornets reaped benefits from a week of the college treatment at UNC, the preseason game at the culmination of the week was a chance for UNC to take a rare night off at the Smith Center.

Practice began this week for Tar Heels, but the home opener against Stanford on Nov. 12 is still more than a month away. To celebrate the occasion, Roy Williams left the suit and tie at home, taking in the game with his wife, Wanda, from court side in a casual blue-and-white striped polo. 

Media professionals with the program were just as free to have the night off, ceding responsibility to organize interviews and handle the media to the visitors in town, while sitting in the stands with their kids instead. 

Most of all, though, the UNC players, the usual entertainment on the court, were perfectly content not to be the center of attention. 

They laughed and joked under the tunnel, while shaking hands and talking with Kemba Walker and other players after the game. Without the spotlight on them, they sat at mid-court pregame, then moved to a special view box to watch the game before heading to the locker room after the game once the Hornets won 104-97. 

While high-flying dunks from Miles Bridges highlighted the night for the Hornets, it was clear the experience was much more important than the game itself. With long seasons ahead, it was a chance for the Hornets and the Tar Heels to mutually decompress from the usual routine — and for that, training camp was a success.

@_JACK54_

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com