Math, Civics, and Sciences wing Nasseem Wright is new to organized basketball. His recruiting stock is rising.
Wright has been impressive as he enters just his second year of playing organized basketball.
If basketball wasn’t his thing, then things needed to change.
Fortunately for Math, Civics, and Sciences Charter junior Nasseem Wright, he has an older brother that made sure they did.
On the court, you wouldn’t suspect Wright didn’t care for the game growing up.
At 6-foot-5, with spidery arms and legs, quick feet, adept passing ability, a deft touch, and what seems like effortless spring, you might even assume he’s been playing all of his life, or that he was born to play the game.
Perhaps he was. It just took a little coaxing. Wright just started his second season of organized basketball.
“It just wasn’t my thing,” Wright said after his Mighty Elephants pummeled host Cheltenham, 70-36, Wednesday. “I just wasn’t interested in it.”
Now, college coaches are the ones interested.
A few could be in attendance Sunday at Ben Franklin High School for the John Chaney Memorial high school showcase.
The event, which is presented by All City Classic founder Charles “Shoob” Monroe, will feature three games beginning at 3 p.m. All proceeds, Monroe said in a phone interview, will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, one of Chaney’s favorite charities.
» READ MORE: Jaron McKie is building a name in Philly — and adding to the reputation of his famous family
The showcase begins with Ben Franklin against Franklin Learning Center followed by West Philadelphia High School versus St. Joseph’s Prep. It concludes with Bonner-Prendergast facing MC&S and the talented but raw Wright.
“Just a lot of untapped, unlimited potential,” MC&S coach Lonnie Diggs said. “He’s really just growing into his body and really doesn’t know how good he can be. I think he’s one of the best players in the city right now. He really doesn’t even know it. I think this season people will start taking notice of him and I expect him to take off.”
Diggs would know. He has coached several talented Division I players.
Samir Doughty, a 2015 MC&S-grad, helped Auburn to the Final Four in 2019. Nisine “Woogah” Poplar is the most recent MC&S standout, and is currently a sophomore at the University of Miami.
Doughty was a 6-foot-4 offensive savant who, as a junior, once scored 45 points in about three quarters during the PIAA playoffs.
In Poplar’s junior year in 2020, he led the Mighty Elephants to their first Public League championship.
Poplar, who also bloomed late, was a 6-foot-4 do-it-all guard whose high school career also didn’t begin until his sophomore year. Diggs said Poplar grew up playing a lot of baseball.
For Wright, 17, it was disinterest that kept him from the court. It certainly wasn’t a lack of encouragement.
“My big brother,” Wright said, “he introduced me to basketball. I watched it, but I just had no interest playing it.”
Growing up in North Philly, the duo would play one-on-one in a parking lot close to their grandmother’s home near Woodstock and Cambria streets, but only if there was nothing else to do.
“It was just something we did when we were bored,” Wright’s big brother Darnell Booth said via phone. “I always cared for basketball. He never cared for it.”
Booth, however, now a sophomore at Millersville University, saw his brother’s potential.
When Wright was in eighth grade, he once tagged along while his brother played three-on-three at the Cecil B. Moore Recreation Center.
When a third player was needed, Booth coaxed Wright onto the court.
“You can tell when somebody tries to play, but doesn’t really know how to play yet,” said Booth, 19. “But he hopped on the court and made some pretty amazing passes and played great defense.”
Still, Wright remained reluctant.
About a year later, he was a freshman at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy when Booth and a friend eventually talked Wright into joining an AAU team with League Bound Elite.
“I think it was our first tournament,” Booth said. “ ‘Seem had like 23 [points] and a put-back dunk. His first game. We were like, ‘Bro?!’ This was around the time he was just going to school. Not even playing basketball. Just going to school. We were like, ‘Bro, you gotta play ball.’ ”
Wright still needed convincing.
“They talked to me for like an hour or two,” he said. “They were telling me I could be really good and that I had a lot of potential because I was just playing off of raw talent. I took that talk seriously and ever since then, sky’s been the limit.”
Then Wright transferred to Lincoln, where he played his sophomore season.
Ironically, it was his 19-point performance in a playoff win against MC&S that made him believe basketball was indeed his thing.
“That was my coming-out game,” he said, smiling at Diggs, who laughed in return.
“I’ll be honest,” Diggs said, “we didn’t know he had that much ability.”
Wright didn’t either, but that game cemented a new goal.
“That was my career high and after that I got rolling,” he said. “I took my team to the championship. We came up short, but that’s when I knew I really had to lock in with it. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”
“Now,” he added later, “it’s my passion.”
It helped that a local college coach, whom Wright declined to name, expressed interest after Lincoln’s loss to Imhotep in last year’s Pub championship game. His length, athleticism, and skill set, Diggs said, have even more college coaches intrigued.
In a 75-59 loss to Constitution on Thursday, Wright finished with a team-high 33 points and 15 rebounds.
“Nowadays, the NBA is big on 3-and-D guys that have length, can shoot, and can defend,” Diggs said. “I think he fits that mold perfectly. If he puts the work in and continues to grow at the rate he’s going, I think he has the opportunity to play at the highest level.”
Wright doesn’t have any scholarship offers, yet. But Diggs said coaches from the Atlantic 10, the Colonial Athletic Association, and some Big 5 schools are tracking his progress.
His older brother also keeps tabs on every game from afar.
“I tell him every day, ‘I’m so proud of you, because we only get this chance once,’ ” Booth said. “From where he came from to where he’s at now, it’s just an amazing feeling. I’m just glad to have him as a little brother.”
The feeling is mutual.
“I say thank you every day,” Wright said. “Every time we talk, I always appreciate what they did for me.”
Later, he added: “It makes me feel proud of myself, because this time around two years ago, I wasn’t even thinking about going to college for basketball. Knowing that I have an opportunity to go to college for free, just makes me feel proud of myself.”