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Julian Wright is looking forward to the next stage of his career

Julian Wright, the No. 8 ranked player in the 2005 class, committed to Kansas without visiting
Julian Wright, the No. 8 ranked player in the 2005 class, committed to Kansas without visiting (APImages.com)

Julian Wright has decided to retire from professional basketball, but isn’t yet ready to entirely step away from the game that he’s grown to love.

“This is great timing, because I’ve retired from basketball,” former Kansas Jayhawk Julian Wright told JayhawkSlant.com on Wednesday afternoon. “Just this month I decided to hang it up. For me, I just can’t see myself doing another full season. I’m just so focused on my business right now, so I made the decision to retire.

“Technically, this was my last season of basketball,” he added. “I was in China this past season and I was on the roster, but I hadn’t suited up for a game. They have a rule where you can only dress two foreign players and then another rule that only allowed you to change the roster four times. They were basically allowing me six weeks to get in shape and I was just about to start playing, and then the coronavirus hit.

“This was supposed to be my last year and I kind of kept it a secret,” he continued. “I was going to make this my last year and I’m still okay with it. I’m retired from 5-on-5, but I hope to keep up with the Big 3. I hope that’s something that is obtainable and I can kind of do that to keep my competitive juices flowing.”

Wright, the 6-foot-8, 236-pound forward from Flossmoor, Ill., was selected as the 13th overall selection in the 2007 NBA draft by the New Orleans Hornets. Following his time in the NBA, Wright, who was the No. 8 ranked player in the 2005 class, made a successful career playing professionally overseas.

“Man, I’ve played everywhere,” said Wright. “I played in Israel, Russia, Greece, Italy, Turkey, France, and China. In-between that, I also played in Puerto Rico. I played in Italy twice and I played in Israel twice. I was very cultured because I attended school with many different ethnicities. Of course, it was the same at college when I was at KU.

“I got a taste of the international lifestyle during my time playing in Toronto,” he added. “I felt like, because of my experiences, I was open to it (playing overseas) already, because I was used to being around different people and taking in different things. I really had the best of both worlds in terms of my career.”

Officially retired from the game of basketball, Wright is looking forward to the next step in his professional career. He’s started a business, (https://www.adaptbasketball.com), that provides state-of-the-art, safe and family-friendly environment for people to train. The amenities are second-to-none.

A.D.A.P.T Basketball training services are offered to players of both genders from as early as two years old along with grades K-12 on to the collegiate and professional ranks.

“The goal is to create a regiment, basically, for people to workout,” said Wright. “It allows people the opportunity to train with us or to train virtually. The goal is to become a better athlete, understand how the body works and how to strengthen the core. Now that the game has become more positionless, I feel well equipped, probably one of the most equipped people to teach the game when it comes to multi-skilled development.

“You know, that’s been my whole career,” he added. “If it wasn’t for the coronavirus, I would be opening up soon. I’m looking to open in mid-May or early June, but a lot of that depends, of course, on the coronavirus. The actual business is based out of Fort Mill, S.C., which is about five minutes south of Charlotte. It’s a really nice area with some up-and-coming development.

“There are a lot of other sports and recreational buildings around me,” he continued. “I’m renting the space, but to the right of me is gymnastics and the other side is MMA. There is also a place for CrossFit and dance, so it will be a nice experience for people to come in and experience weekday and weekend workouts.”


Wright was the No. 8 ranked player in the 2005 class
Wright was the No. 8 ranked player in the 2005 class (APImages.com)
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Coming out of Homewood Flossmoor (IL) High School, Julian Wright was, without question, one of the most coveted prospects in the 2005 class. Early on in his recruitment, Wright, a five-star prospect, officially visited Illinois, Arizona, and DePaul.

There was a point in his recruitment where Arizona looked like the team to beat for the elite forward, but all of that changed following an in-home visit with Kansas head coach Bill Self and his staff.

At the time, according to Wright, it was an in-home visit that he had absolutely no interest in taking place. Had it not been for his mother, Self would have likely missed out on Wright altogether.

“That’s correct,” said Wright. “I committed to Kansas before taking an official visit. When Coach Self was at Illinois, they were already on my (short) list. I had gone to a game at Illinois when I was in high school and had visited, so when Coach Self left Illinois for Kansas, I was only ranked in the top 30 or top 25 when it came to my class. I had a great showing on the (AAU) circuit that year and was killing it. I went from top 30 or top 25 to one of the 10 best players in the class.

“At that time, Coach Self had some type of surgery,” he added. “At that time, he really couldn’t get out on the road and recruit and Coach (Norm) Roberts took the job at St. John’s, so he was the one recruiting me. I had nobody recruiting me and nobody from Kansas was at my games watching me. I didn’t see Kansas at any of my games, and I was playing better, so I wasn’t sure what was going on.

“The only reason they did an in-home visit was because of my mom,” he continued. “She pleaded with me to have an in-home visit with Kansas. She didn’t want me to go through life wondering what took place and why they dropped the ball. The staff reached out to my mom, because I wouldn’t respond myself. The thing that stuck out to me about that visit was Coach Self telling me that he wouldn’t promise me any minutes. That really stuck with me, because he could have laid out the red-carpet.”

Wright, who appeared in 71 career games at Kansas, finished his career with 738 points, 450 rebounds, 142 assists, 91 blocks, and 86 steals. Throughout his two-year run, he provided Kansas fans with many memorable moments, including the career-high 33 points he scored against Missouri back on February 10, 2007.

The final game of his career took place against UCLA in the Elite Eight. Not surprisingly, it’s a game he still remembers quite well.

“Yes, I still remember that game,” he said. “We played at a high level and I feel like that was a special group of players that I had the opportunity to play with, and the coaching staff was also special. Really, that was just a tough game. We couldn’t make shots. I don’t think it was anything that we didn’t get done defensively, but we just couldn’t make shots that game. It was frustrating the way the season ended.”


Wright finished his career with 738 points
Wright finished his career with 738 points (APImages.com)

When Kansas cut down the nets a year later, Wright was in attendance to see his former teammates and members of the coaching staff celebrate on the court after defeating Memphis in overtime.

Despite being a year removed from the team, Wright was included in all of the post-game celebrations.

“Yes, I was at the game in 2008,” he said. “That was also a great experience. One thing I always admired about the coaching staff – they invited me to the locker room to celebrate with them. I went back to the hotel with the team and hung out with the guys, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I'll never forget how I was treated after the national championship game.

“I’ll never forget what the coaching staff and the guys on the team did for me after the game,” he added. “They treated me like I was a member of the team. Going back to the locker room and back to the hotel to celebrate, I’ll never forget that.”

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