Painter Ready to “Earn Respect”

The signing of DeShawn Painter not only gave the Pack the number 13 rated recruiting class nationally, but it also shored up a depleted frontcourt that lost both leading scorers in Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley. Painter saw this glaring hole in the front court as an opportunity. He’s ready and willing to work hard in hopes that he’s the one that will make the Pack fans forget the loss of the two experienced bigs. We got to talk to DeShawn last night and he filled us in on his decision to run with the Pack and the role he’s expecting to play next year. Here it is…

WPH: We’ve received a lot of questions regarding your decommitment from Florida. Could you explain that situation a little bit?

DP: Oh yeah of course. It basically came down to the fact that I wanted to be closer to home. I wanted my friends and family to get to see me play. At Florida I felt like it was a little far away and my Mom really wouldn’t get to see me play as much.

WPH: So where you really set on Florida or was it just the kind of thing where you feel like you made a decision too quick?

DP: Not really. I mean I was 100% set on Florida. It was a good situation, they were a hot school at the time, and I was going to get playing time there but I just felt like I wanted to play closer to home so I decided to decommit.

WPH: That makes sense, So talk about your visit to NC State. What did you do and what sold you on the Wolfpack?

DP: It was just a good time and I really vibed with the players and coaches. It was just that they were real. You know, you could tell they weren’t putting on a show or anything. I just vibed real good with Julius Mays, he’s a cool dude. Really thought it was the whole package and the coaches, I just got along good with them. Pete Strickland is a real high energy dude and Coach Lowe is real laid back, like me. It was a hard choice because Maryland was good too but there were just no knocks on NC State, It was a great opportunity where if I work hard I can get a lot of minutes early on.

WPH: We heard that you got to eat downtown Raleigh at “The Pit.” How was that? You know it was rated as one of the top BBQ stops in the south by the New York Times.

DP: Oh yeah? I didn’t know that. That's Big Time right there! That place was real good though and the people there were good people. You could tell they were big fans.

WPH: Well I know the Wolfpack fans are very excited about your decision, however most of them haven’t had the chance to see you play. Can you explain your game to us a little or is there any certain player you pattern your game after?

DP: Oh Kevin Garnett for sure. I’m tall and long and I can do a lot of what KG does. I mean, I know I’m not as good as him or as strong yet, but that’s the player I pattern my game after. I always say I want to be better than KG but of course I have a lot of work to do, but I’m ready to come in and work hard. Even Coach Lowe told me he saw a lot of Garnett tendencies in my game. I guess you can say I like to shoot it and I can shoot it. I like to face up and attack the basket too. I’m not too much of a back to the basket guy but,I know if I get stronger I can be.

WPH: So let me ask you. Did the Coaches tell you about the NC State / UNC rivalry and how big it is?

DP: Ohh haha, I got to tell you a funny story about that. We were staying in the Renaissance in North Hills and the coaches came in and I had some light blue on. They were like “OHHH NO, What are you doing! You gotta take that stuff off!” I didn’t know it was that big but now I do. I mean I got me some Carolina blue Jordan’s at home but I’m probably going to leave them up here now haha.

WPH: I think that might be a good idea, that probably wouldn’t go over all that well on campus. So did the coaches go over their expectations with you or what your role is going to be next season?

DP: Oh yeah. Coach Lowe is real up front and I liked that. He didn’t promise me anything. It was basically like if I work hard I’m going to have an opportunity to play. But at the end of the day I’m going to stay humble. That’s who I am. Just stay humble and work hard you know. You got to earn respect to get respect, you know. I’m not coming in thinking anyone owes me anything, I’m going to work hard and earn it.

WPH: That’s a great quote and I think a very true one. Just talking to you I can tell the Wolfpack fans are going to take a liking to you. Is there anything you’d like to tell them?

DP: You can tell them that I’m going to give it my all. I mean I can’t make any promises but I’m going to stay humble and work hard. I just want to help the team and put in lots of work to be the best I can be. Basically I want to win and I want to help this team win, that’s why I’m coming to NC State.

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I think you can tell by the interview that DeShawn Painter is a high-energy guy that is ready to go to work for the Pack. This is definitely a guy with a lot of personality and those players seem to always do well in Raleigh. We’d like to thank him for taking the time to talk with us and we’re excited to see him don the red and white this upcoming season.