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Albany Academy's Wright yielding offers entering big summer

06/30/2015, 2:15pm EDT

By Jack Goodwillie

Jack Goodwillie (@jackgoodwillie)
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Entering the 2015-16 high school basketball season, Hameir Wright feels he has something to prove.

The 6-foot-7 rising junior helped carry Albany Academy to a 17-4 season that included a serious run at New York’s Class A Federation Championship. Wright and his teammates entered the championship game confident they had enough left in the tank to finish the job.

Instead, Albany Academy fell to Canisius 48-44 in a game in which the team made just 14 of 59 shots. Wright, who led all scorers with 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting has his regrets about the game.

“It seems like every day that game pops into my head at one point or another,” Wright said. “[There’s] just certain plays that I felt like I could have made different that would have won us the game and certain shots that I felt should have fallen.

“There’s nothing I can do now but keep working progress on to next year and hope I can get there again.”

With two years left of high school eligibility, Wright has plenty of time to avenge the loss and in the process continue to build on the prospects of him becoming a major contributor at the next level. He has already received offers from Temple, Cincinnati and Siena.

These offers, however are barely scratching the surface of what Wright may see in the future. Wright has recently made contact with Villanova, SMU, Kansas State, Iowa, George Washington, West Virginia and Davidson.

Wherever he ends up, Wright hopes that he will get to travel and see a different part of the country than what he is accustomed to.

“I would prefer to get out of New York,” Wright said. “I want to use college as a means to travel, explore and see different parts of the nation. I’ve been living in New York all my life and there’s nothing there I haven’t seen.”

Wright, who plays AAU ball for Albany City Rocks, will have the opportunity to showcase the adjustments he has made at the Peach Jam in South Carolina. Unless something changes he plans on making unofficial visits later in the summer.

The lanky forward stands out as the tallest member of this year’s Albany Academy team while weighing just 180 pounds. He has plenty of room to fill out and is committed to a plan this summer that will allow him to do just that.

Regardless of how big he gets, Wright projects better as a swingman because of the skills he brings to the table. He has a smooth shot that can land from anywhere on the court, he is a competent ball handler and is coordinated to the point that he can block a lot of shots in one-on-one situations.

He certainly prides himself on being able to play multiple roles on the basketball court.

“I’m more of a finesse kind of guy,” Wright said. “I have a smooth post game but I’m not the one that’s going to score from brute force. I’m on a nice weight lifting regimen to get a little bit bigger and stronger though so when I have to use brute force I can.”

Finesse is not the only thing Wright brings to the table. As evidenced in a losing effort to Roman Catholic on Saturday during Temple’s Team Camp, the youngster displayed great body language and legitimately looked to be having fun playing the game, taking some well-natured ribbing from the sidelines in stride.

This demeanor is something Wright hopes trickles down to the rest of his teammates as he steps into a bigger leadership role this season.

“I was always told growing up if you’re not having fun doing what you’re doing then don’t do it,” Wright said. “When a player is getting too down on himself I always want to try and pick him up because no one plays good when they’re scared to make mistakes. It’s all about not worrying about making mistakes because if you don’t make them, then how can you learn and progress as a player?”