It seemed like it was yesterday when you'd see the #40 of Joseph Forte's jersey number on a North Carolina jersey. At UNC, his name could be seen on a list among Jerry Stackhouse, J.R. Reid and the great Michael Jordan to earn consensus First Team All-America honors.

Indeed, it seemed like yesterday that he was ACC Rookie of the Year, winner of the Jimmie Dempsey Award and a scoring leader for the UNC team. Such a smooth quiet guy who had the wettest jumper when he took the shot and would swish it, the 6'4 Forte would give his usual shy smile and carry on back to get on defense.

During his freshman year at North Carolina (1999-2000) he began under Head Coach Bill Guthridge. He began his collegiate career giving the fans a sample of what he had to offer within his next two years in Tar Heel blue. In his first game, he scored 24 points (a then-freshman record at UNC - broken in 2002 by Rashad McCants) against Southern California, then going on to lead the team to the Maui Invitational championship.

He led Carolina in scoring and scored 600 points -- shattering the school record for points by a freshman -- a record that was previously held by Sam Perkins (550 points in 1980-1981). Also, Forte averaged more points than Phil Ford's 16.4PPG(1974-1975).

During his Freshman campaign, he was a big part of helping UNC to the Final Four. He led the team with 17 points in a upset victory over top seeded Stanford. After even more upset victories, Forte was named MVP of the NCAA South Regional, where he averaged 25.0 points in key wins over Tulsa and Tennessee. In 5 NCAA Tournament games he scored 95 points, second to Morris Peterson's (Michigan State) 105 points (in 6 games). In the Final Four, Joe scored 15 points and the Tar Heels were defeated by Florida.

During his second season, under new coach Matt Doherty, Forte continued to shine shooting his jumper in front of the 20,000 faithful at the Dean Smith Center. He was named first-team All-American as he averaged 20.9PPG for the Tar Heels and shared ACC Player of the Year with Shane Battier of Duke.

Forte was winner of the Jimmie Dempsey Award and a preseason candidate for the Wooden and Naismith Awards. Forte helped the Heels defeat rival Duke and compile an 18-game winning streak -- taking #1 in the nation for a while. This also resulted in another trip to the NCAA Tournament where the Tar Heels defeated Princeton, but went down to Penn State in the second round. That game, Joe only scored a quiet 15 points.

After the season as it had became evident throughout the season, there was some friction between Coach Doherty and Forte. Even players had begun to show bitterness towards Forte as some called him selfish and a ball-hog who shot too much. But what stuck out the most was that the relationship between Doherty and Forte was in a decline.

Forte decided he would enter the NBA Draft, saying he didn't want to play under Doherty's aggressive coaching. Dean Smith and Doherty both advised Forte to stay at Carolina. Doherty promised to help prepare Forte for the NBA by teaching him to play the point guard position, as that would more likely be the position he'd play in the NBA. Forte decided against stay and left. In the 2001 draft, he was taken as the 21st overall pick by the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics signed Forte to a 3-year contract that was guaranteed to be worth around $3.2 million. The Celtics decided to turn Forte into a point guard during his rookie season. Forte, however, was unable to adapt to the ball-handling that was a big part of being a point guard and he found himself on the bench where he grew bitter, due to lack of playing.

The Celtics were only looking at him as a long-term project. He was used to lighting up the boards at his natural shooting guard position and was unable to grasp why they were switching him to point Guard.

During most of his rookie season, Forte was hurt and found himself on the injured list. During his sophomore season with the Celtics he became a cancer in the team locker room with his "I-Don't-Care" attitude in which he would show up late for practices. Midway through the 2002-2003 season, Forte was part of a blockbuster trade that sent him out to Seattle.

In Seattle, Forte also found himself on the bench. He was unhappy at his lack of playing time. Forte’s attitude was cancerous in the clubhouse – resulting in an altercation with teammate Jerome James. Forte received a four-game suspension and forced to pay an $11,000 fine, while James was neither suspended nor fined. It appeared his career might be hitting the bricks even more when Forte was stopped going 90 mph in a 65 mph zone. During a search of his car, the police found a pistol and marijuana.

After the 2002-2003 season, the Sonics were really fed up with him. They released Forte and paid him the final million dollars of his contract mainly to stay away from the team. It has been two seasons since Joseph Forte was last seen in the NBA. During his short time in the league, he averaged 1.4 PPG, .60 RPG and .60 APG.

Where is he now?

After a great deal of research I found out that Joseph Forte is trying to get his career back on track. After the 2003-2004 season, he played in the Summer League for the Detroit Pistons, but was unable to secure himself a spot on the roster. After being added to the NBDL player pool, it wasn't long before Joey Meyer remember that former sharp-shooting Forte and brought him to be apart of the team.

Currently, Forte is working on his attitude to become a better team player. Where? Forte is in the NBDL with the Asheville Altitude, where he was added to the roster in December 2004. He comes off the bench and appears to be comfortable with his non-starting role. He is averaging 5.8PPG while playing 17 minutes per game. Every now and then he shows that side of what he used to be when he'd have the ball in his hands, pulling that wet jumper. But the 20,000 fans have now been replaced with around 500.

Joseph Forte is one of, if not one of my favorite basketball players to ever play in Tar Heel blue. I am hoping this young athlete will prosper in the NBDL and someday become an All-Star in the NBA. Someday, I may hope to see his #40 jersey in the rafters. The ball is on his court.

Copyright 2007 - MOP Squad Sports

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