Point Guard
(Thanks to PointGuard for the idea of doing a dynasty from multiple perspectives)
April 16, 2020: Office of NJIT A. D. Wes Chino. He is with his assistant, Pete Cummings:
“I don’t know. All that drinking…”
“He hasn’t had a drink in 3 or 4 years-”
“Yeah but once a drunk…”
“Who else do we have? Give him an interview, Boss. At the very least he’d bring us a lot of publicity, probably get us some recruits we’d never get otherwise.”
“Maybe…”
April 18: Home of Zak Zachery. Zak and his wife, Dawn:
“You can do this, Zak. It’s the biggest chance we’ve had in a long time.”
“I know. Jesus, I’m scared.”
“Just be yourself in the interview, hon. No one knows the game better than you.”
“Yeah, but what do I do when they ask me about-”
“Answer all the questions honestly. The drinking is behind you. You beat it- beat it to hell and back.”
“But will they believe it?”
The Story- Outline:
Zak Zachery came to the University of West Virginia as the most highly touted freshman since, well, probably since the man he was most compared to, Magic Johnson.
Zak was known as “White Magic.” 6’ 8” Point Guard, but he could play all five positions, could shoot the lights out, especially from three point range, could pass like no one since Stockton, defend like no one since Bill Russell, rebound- he did it all. The only thing that differentiated him from the original “Magic” was speed. He was way quicker than Johnson was.
He put together a freshman season unparalleled in college hoop history. Hit more threes, and at a higher percentage, than any Division I player ever. Broke the season assist record, had the fifth highest scoring season in NCAA history, finished fourth in the nation in rebounding, third in steals, and 3rd in blocked shots. He was national Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player as he led the Mountaineers to their first and only national title.
He then left for the NBA. He was the #1 pick overall, going to the Clippers. His first 20 games were incredible. He was at least as dominating in the NBA as he had been in the NCAA. Then in game 21 he tore both his ACL and MCL, as well as everything else there was to tear, in his left knee. Most of these injuries can be repaired, but after two years and four surgeries, it was clear that his knee injury was not going to be reparable. He would walk with a limp forever unless he got a new knee.
And with or without a knee replacement there was no way he would ever play competitive basketball again.
Money was not an issue. He had managed to get himself a four year guaranteed contract for several million, and his wife, Dawn, was a financial analyst. They were set for life.
They bought a beautiful home on the northern end of the Jersey shore, and lived within their means. Dawn saw to that.
So Zip’s career ended at age 19 ½, and at age 21, when he got the definitive word that there would be no return, he became a professional drunk.
He drank himself into oblivion for the next 4 ½ years. He was seen drunk in public too often, managed to get only one DUI arrest, but got a lot of the very worst kind of publicity.
Somehow the marriage survived- barely. Zak said he never cheated on Dawn, and the evidence seems to back that up. No doubt that helped. But what really helped was that Dawn’s love for, and belief in Zak never wavered, no matter how bad things got.
“One day I woke up next to Dawn, feeling like absolute hell, and said to myself that it had to stop. I got out of bed and found an AA meeting. It changed my life- not in the way you think. That meeting scared me so bad that I told myself I would do ANYTHING not to have to go back there again. AA would get me to quit, I was sure of that, but Jesus, I just couldn’t face those people again, not even once. So I quit drinking. That day. For good. Dawn didn’t believe it at first but it stuck.
“At age 26 I decided it was time to build a life. All I knew was hoops. I went to my old high school coach, Dick Burns, and asked if I could work with his program- for free. He looked at me in ‘that way’ people look at a drunk. Somehow I convinced him to give me a chance. I also coached a kids’ rec league team.
“I had a ball that year, Loved every minute of it. Dawn could see the change, and I was lucky enough that she gave me a chance to rebuild what we had had in our relationship before the knee injury. We’ve been building it ever since and frankly, my relationship with my wife is the best, most important thing that could ever happen to me.
“Anyway, Coach Burns retired that year and convinced the school to give me the job. I held it for two years and was very successful.
“At that point I decided it was time to apply for a head coaching job at a small Division I college. I’m a Jersey guy, born and raised. When I saw that NJIT had an opening for a head coach I applied. I applied to a couple of other schools as well, but this was the job I wanted.”
Dawn Zachery:
“I don’t suppose ours has ever been a ‘typical’ marriage. We met when Zak was 18 and I was 26. He was on his way to the NBA and needed a financial manager to negotiate his contract and then to manage his money. Coach Burns gave him a few names. He chose mine, called me, and we hit it off right away.
“He was just a kid but he wasn’t a kid, really. He knew what he wanted, in basketball, and in life. His plan was to go to the NBA, to avoid the pitfalls like drugs and fast women, to be the best basketball player who ever lived, and to take care of himself in order to do that- exercise, eat right, get plenty of sleep... He made it clear that he wanted a home life, a wife and a family. I didn’t see any wildness at all in him.
“And I liked what I saw. It didn’t occur to me that we would become romantically involved; I was too old for him. But in very little time we found ourselves drawn to one another. We talked through the age thing, the fame thing, everything, at least it seemed that way. And we got married just before the start of the Clippers training camp.
“Everything was great, couldn’t have been better. Then the injury. He was heartbroken, devastated. He stayed positive through all of the surgeries, the consultations, the many failed attempts to reconstruct the knee.
“Then when he got the word that it was hopeless it was like the air went out of him. I don’t think he had ever had more than one drink in a night at any time in his life. That night he got completely, falling down, throwing up drunk. And then proceeded to continue to do so… for a few years.
“I don’t know how I stayed with him. I really don’t. I guess it was love; I have no other explanation. I kept telling myself this was not a surprise given how invested he was in something that was now irretrievably lost. I told myself he’d get past it. He’d come out of it.
“Finally he did. And ever since, I have never stopped being thankful that I stayed with it.”