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Here's how good Gerald Henderson is.
He went to Duke. The Charlotte Bobcats drafted him anyway.
Go to a Charlotte practice and yell “Tar!” About 10 guys, some in suits, some in warm-up outfits and some in uniform, will yell “Heels.”
The managing partner is a Tar Heel, as is the head coach, as is the point guard and two assistant coaches. The power forward was and another point guard was and so was the director of scouting. Nobody who played for Duke had ever worn a Bobcat uniform.
But on Thursday night Charlotte used its first-round pick, the 12th overall, on Henderson. The pick was sensible and safe. The Bobcats need a big guard to back up and eventually supplant the incumbent, Raja Bell.
Bell is one of those players I admired from a distance but didn't really appreciate until the Bobcats acquired him from Phoenix last season. He's a tough guy and a superior defender who has learned to become a good shooter and a decent scorer. He's smart and so economical. He works hard and wastes nothing.
But all those years of fighting through the picks opponents throw to free their best perimeter scorer have worn Bell down. He'll be 33 when the season begins. And when the Bobcats lost him to injury as they were making their playoff surge last season, they lost a leader, lacked a backup and ceased to be the same team.
Henderson offers some of the same skills Bell does. He's athletic, he's smart and he's a capable and willing defender. You saw him at Duke. He wants to play defense. He'll go to the hoop and he'll go to the floor.
He is a pleasant guy, with one of those perpetually smiling faces. But in March of 2007 he briefly became an instrument of evil, the dirtiest player in the ACC.
You remember. Duke was playing North Carolina. Tyler Hansbrough, who was drafted by Indiana one spot after Henderson Thursday, was having his way with Duke's gentle big men and the Tar Heels were having their way with the Blue Devils. Fewer than 15 seconds remained. Hansbrough went up for another easy basket and Henderson nailed him with an elbow.
Hansbrough went down hard. Blood splattered. Hapless officials looked for a metal folding chair. Wrestlers pulled them out from beneath the ring apron. Basketball players grab them from courtside.
I was there, and it was like sitting at ringside. I never thought the elbow was deliberate. I thought Henderson was tired of Hansbrough going over and through his less than physical – “Mom, Tyler is being mean again, make him stop” – teammates and decided not to give up anything easy. So he swatted. If he hit the ball, that worked and if he hit a nose, that worked, too.
A player can learn to become a shooter and even a scorer. But he can't learn to become a better athlete, can't learn to stay in front of his man, can't learn to acquire the nastiness defense requires. Henderson comes with those qualities. They're part of the package.
Some of you believe that all Blue Devils flame out when they leave the safety of Cameron Indoor Stadium and advance to the NBA.
But you're probably the same people who believe that Henderson was intentionally trying to bust Hansbrough's nose.
