A 6-foot-8 man-child from Fanwood, N.J., Caracter was once considered a surefire NBA lottery pick after his performances at Sonny Vaccaro’s old ABCD Camp in Hackensack, N.J..

“He was always much bigger than the other players at a young age,” Florida Gulf Coast coach Andy Enfield, who has known Caracter since he was 12, told SNY.tv Tuesday. 

“He matured early. A lot of people thought he was going to be the next Shaquille O’Neal because of his body type and he was so athetlic at 6-foot-8 when he was in ninth, 10th grade.”

But Caracter never did make it to the NBA Draft lottery. His time at Louisville was marked by clashes with head coach Rick Pitino over his weight, conditioning and attitude, and he ultimately finished his career at UTEP.

The Los Angeles Lakers selected him with the No. 58 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, but Caracter never made it big in Hollywood.

Caracter is now hoping to work his way back into the NBA by playing on the Atlanta Hawks summer league team. Atlanta opens action Thursday in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas against Washington.

“I’m definitely down a different path now,” the 6-foot-9, 275-pound Caracter, 24, told SNY.tv from the training room at Hawks camp Tuesday.

“These past six months have just been very humbling and humiliating at the same time. I appreciate it and I’ve always had the never quit attitude, so it’s been an experience and I just continue to look forward and I’m very optimistic on what’s going to come next.”

He is in Hawks camp along with several of his former Big East mates, including his former Louisville teammate Jerry Smith, Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell and Pittsburgh’s Brad Wanamaker.

“[We are] just trying to accomplish some dreams up here and make some money for our families,” Caracter said.

His time with the Lakers was hardly storybook.

During the 2010-11 season, he averaged just 2.0 points and 1.0 rebound per game. In April 2011, he was arrested in New Orleans after reportedly “grabbing and pulling” a pregnant waitress. He was booked into jail on charges of battery, public drunkenness and resisting arrest.

Caracter then spent several stints in the D-League before tearing his lateral meniscus during practice last December.

After another stint in the D-League, Caracter was waived by the Lakers in February. He ended up playing for Mets de Guaynabo, a team in Puerto Rico, but was released after two weeks.

“Mentally, I think I could’ve done some things differently off the court [with the Lakers],” Caracter said. “I think a lot of things with my attitude off the court, I was really focused on the wrong things instead of just focusing on my game and what’s really important.”

Still, Caracter says his confidence is “at an all-time high” in part because he has a newfound spirituality after discovering Jesus Christ this past May.

“Honestly, Mother’s Day 2012, I was touched by Jesus,” Caracter said. “My aunt was dealing with brain cancer and spinal cancer and some things like that….She’ll pull through hopefully. I believe she will.”

Caracter said he experienced a powerful transformation that caused him to break down in tears while at a church in Sarasota, Fla.

“This time when I was touched it was a weeping,” Caracter said. “I closed my eyes and I was standing in this church and my body started to break down and weep and I had never cried that way. In my head, I didn’t know what was going on. I couldn’t deny it…My body, my soul was weeping.”

Caracter said he now has a couple of trustworthy mentors — as well as his agent, Happy Walters — whom he now runs things by when he needs to.

Caracter also worked out with Enfield, the coach at Florida Gulf Coast and a former assistant with the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks, for several weeks recently in Fort Myers, Fla.

“For his size, he moves exceptionally well and he’s in shape,” said Enfield, who has known Caracter since he was 12. “He’s naturally very strong. And in my opinion, he’s an NBA player if he’s in great physical condition.”

He added: “Derrick is very talented and has just a great physical body, NBA-ready when he’s in shape. I think it’s up to Derrick to make sure he stays in the condition necessary to give himself a chance.”

Caracter said he trusts his current mentors more than the people who influenced him during his tumultuous time at St. Patrick, Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Notre Dame Prep.

Asked about recent St. Pat’s products Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the No. 1 and 2 picks in the last two NBA Drafts, respectively, Caracter said they had better advisors than he did.

“When they say college is the most important decision in life, in your career, that’s very true,” he said. “At the time, the guys who I had leading my camp are no longer leading my camp, no longer making my decisions. I’m making my own decisions in my life.”

After all he’s been through, Caracter believes he’s not a cautionary tale for young players, but is instead in the midst of a transformation that will take him to new heights.

“I feel amazing,” he said. “I feel great mentally, physically. I’m going to be more than ready to go for summer league.”

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Now he’s headed to the NBA D-League.

The Lakers on Wednesday assigned the 6-foot-9 Caracter to their D-League affiliate, the Los Angeles Defenders.

Caracter, the 58th pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, appeared in 41 games for the Lakers last season, averaging 2.1 points and 1.0 rebounds in 5.2 minutes.

Caracter has yet to play this year for the Lakers because he underwent surgery Dec. 14 to remove part of a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. He sustained the injury two days before training camp started in December.

Caracter spent two stints with the Bakersfield Jam of the D-League last season.

Caracter was a national star by the time he was in the eighth grade and then bounced around from Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick to Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Notre Dame Prep (Mass.).

“In 10th grade, I started getting spoiled a bit,” he told SNY.tv in 2009. “Maybe 10th to 11th grade, that was the only time I was arrogant and a little full of myself. That’s also the time I put on 15-20 pounds. Sophomore year I was probably like 260. Junior year I was 285. I went to the camps. I didn’t do all my workouts. I didn’t put any extra work in.”

After signing with Louisville, Caracter fell out of favor with head coach Rick Pitino over concerns about his weight and work ethic, and completed his college career at UTEP.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Jennings’ agent is none other than Eddie Lau, the infamous New York-based basketball personality who was a mentor to former New Jersey prep star Derrick Caracter and an alleged runner for NBA agent Dan Fegan.

“I’ve been working with Eddie for a while now,” the 6-foot-10, 235-pound Jennings, a Sacramento, Calif., native, said in an exclusive interview Wednesday morning after a workout at Baruch College. “He’s helped me through this whole process.”

Lau, 36, became a certified NBA agent after Christmas and said he counts Justin Brownlee of St. John’s and Vernon Teel of Loyola Marymount among his clients. He also works with former NBA guard Rafer “Skip to My Lou” Alston. The National Basketball Players’ Association confirmed that Lau is a certified agent.

BECOMING AN NBA AGENT

Louisville coach Rick Pitino has known Lau since Lau and current Manhattan coach Steve Masiello were Knick ball boys during Pitino’s tenure in New York in the late 1980s. Pitino said he didn’t advise Jennings one way or another on whom to hire as an agent.

“I didn’t even know Eddie was an agent until just recently,” Pitino said Wednesday by phone. “I guess he got certified…I have nothing against Eddie. I think he cares about T.J.

“Now is he going to make a difference of whether T.J. gets drafted or not? Absolutely not. And by the way, no agent’s going to make a difference. He’s got to just be diligent making sure T.J. gets in front of as many teams as possible. And if he does that he’s doing a good job. But I just hope he gets T.J. a good deal over in Europe because I think this lockout’s going to be an ugly one.”

A native of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Lau said his main goal is to help players such as Jennings get accurate information about their draft status and help them transition to the NBA

“Everybody wants to make money, but I think at the end of the day I don’t think everybody tells these kids the truth,” Lau said during an extensive interview at Baruch.

ON FEGAN, CARACTER AND HELPING KIDS

A Google search of Eddie Lau does not portray him in the most positive light.

Gregg Doyle of CBSSportsline.com wrote a 2005 article which portrayed Lau as a runner for Fegan who was involved with Caracter.

“Don’t write about me,” Lau reportedly told Doyel then. “Don’t do it, or we’ll have problems.”

Looking back, Lau said he simply wanted the story to be about Caracter, not about him.

“I realize the media has to write what they have to write,” Lau said. “Probably the way I handled it wasn’t right, but at the end of the day people know who I am. I’m not the person who’s trying to hurt any of these kids or hurt anybody. I just want to make sure I always tell them the truth about this whole basketball thing.”

Lau says he worked for Fegan, but insisted he never took money in exchange for directing a player toward a certain agent.

“Not even close, not even close to it,” he said. “I’ve known the [Caracter] family a lot also. They helped me with a lot of stuff that I was going through myself. I was still young and the whole thing. People don’t realize, I was dating his aunt [Alean Terry] for a long time.

“But at the end of the day, though, it had nothing to do with Dan Fegan. It had nothing to do with my agent stuff.”

He said Caracter simply needed guidance during a troubled childhood that took him to several high schools, including Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick and Fitchburg (Mass.) Notre Dame Prep. (Jennings also attended Notre Dame Prep and said that is how he made the connection with Lau.)

“The biggest thing is Derrick needs to be stable, and also needed a male role model besides his uncle,” Lau said. “His mom, his grandmother, his aunt, everybody did a great job. But I think people kind of looked at Derrick like he had accomplished so [many] basketball goals at such an early age, that they really looked at him like this kid is not allowed to make any mistakes. But he was still a kid. At 15 years old, 14 years old, he was ranked No. 1 in the country.”

Asked if he remains in touch with Caracter, Lau said, “We see other here and there, not a lot. I’m just happy that he’s on the [Lakers] team, playing with Lamar Odom, who I’m a good friend of, and Andrew Bynum.”

Lau said he also remains in touch with Fegan, the agent.

“I still know Dan really [well],” Lau said of the agent who handles Dwight Howard, John Wall and Jason Richardson among others. “We’re still friends. But I’m basically doing stuff on my own right now, just trying to really help the kids out.”

WORKING WITH DRAFT-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS

Lau said he’s been around basketball “since I was 10 years old.” He counts former St. John’s and NBA player Jayson Williams as his Godfather. He began his high school playing career at Archbishop Molloy under legendary coach Jack Curran before finishing up at a North Carolina prep school called First Assembly Christian School. He said he played one year of college ball at Quinnipiac and also was a graduate assistant at McNeese State under current Duquesne coach Ron Everhart. Along with current Masiello and the late Troy “Escalade” Jackson, he served as a Knicks ball boy under Pitino.

He said he loves the game and has always remained involved.

“I helped a lot of kids go on to get scholarships, and that’s my original goal,” Lau said.

Now he’s working with Jennings and Brownlee, among others.

Both players attended a recent NBA draft workout in Houston hosted by John Lucas and Lau said Jennings will attend the workout this weekend at the Nets facility in East Rutherford, N.J..

“Everybody’s intrigued [by Jennings] because he’s 6-10, long, athletic,” Lau said. “Great kid. And after the Nets workout we’ll find out what other teams are going to be more interested.”

Jennings said he felt it was time to come out after averaging 9.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in 23 minutes a game last season.

With players like Jared Sullinger, Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Tyler Zeller electing to stay in college, some have portrayed this year’s draft as weak, but Jennings said that didn’t enter into his decision-making.

“I really didn’t think too much about it,” Jennings said. “I’m just focused on working out, getting better and going to these workouts and showcasing my talents. Show these guys that I can play, I can rebound, I can block shots and find a spot on the team.”

Pitino said he consulted with the 21 members of the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee and that most of them said Jennings would go in the middle or late second round. Pitino said he advised Jennings to take the first European deal he is offered

“I gave him all the information and said to him, ‘You’re probably, if you have good workouts, going to get drafted in the second round,’” Pitino said. “That being said, you must understand that the first deal that comes across from Europe, you need to take because a lot of these pro guys are very good and they’re going to need money and they’re going to have to go to Europe because of the lockout.”

Jennings has been working out at Baruch with Jason Curry, the President of Big Apple Basketball.

Curry has known Lau since both attended college and said Lau seems to have Jennings’ best interests at heart.

“I can unequivocally say that,” Curry said. “Just based upon some of the questions that I’ve asked him, in terms of where Terrence is…and a lot of things that I’ve seen over the past week, Eddie’s articulated a lot of those same thoughts and I can tell that that’s definitely in the best interest of Terrence.”

RELATED CONTENT

**Pitino: NBA players will flood Europe during lockout

**Gibbs, underclassmen must make quick decisions on NBA

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

Police said Caracter, 22, was arrested early Sunday and booked into jail on charges of battery, public drunkenness and resisting arrest.

The former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick and Fitchburg (Mass.) Notre Dame Prep standout allegedly grabbed and shoved the cashier at an International House of Pancakes after he was refused service and became belligerent. The woman wasn’t injured.

Police initially said the cashier was pregnant, but later said that was an error.

Authorities say Caracter was freed later Sunday morning on $1,000 bond. It wasn’t clear if Caracter had a lawyer, and a call by The Associated Press to the Lakers’ organization wasn’t immediately returned.

Caracter’s agent, Happy Walters, was not immediately available for comment.

(The AP contributed)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

And like ZAGS on Facebook

The troubled Caracter was serving one of several suspensions related to conditioning, academic problems and disobedience that dotted his career at Louisville.

Figuring it was time to send him a message, Caracter’s mother and grandmother left a Dunkin’ Donuts employment application where he couldn’t miss it.

Read the full story at SNY.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

The former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick star scored a career-high 18 points Monday to lead No. 9 North Carolina to an 81-67 victory over Rutgers at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Rutgers (9-3) closed within four points with about 2 minutes left, but Strickland hit a 3-pointer with 1:54 left that pushed the lead to 74-67.

“I mean, down four points with two minutes to go, we really gave ourselves a chance,” Rutgers head coach Fred Hill said. “But we made a mistake on the defensive end there. We didn’t pick up Dexter Strickland in transition, we made him hesitate, but he still got an open look. But you have to give him credit, he knocked down a big shot.”

Strickland, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Rahway, N.J., whose game is coming along nicely after a rough start to the season, also had 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers.

Deon Thompson added 14 points and Ed Davis had 11 points and 15 boards for Carolina (10-3), which played without injured swingman Marcus Ginyard (sprained ankle).

Mike Rosario led Rutgers with 22 points on 1o-for-21 shooting and 1-for-9 from 3. Jonathan Mitchell added 14 points on 6-for-16 shooting.

Hill gave North Carolina native James Beatty his first start playing in his home state. He went 0-for-4 from the field but dished six assists.

“James and Mike [Coburn] have both been outstanding for us at the point guard position,” Hill said. “James, being home in North Carolina, gave him the start tonight. It was his first start of the year, but I look at home as a starter. He gives us great energy, he can really push the ball up the floor. We want to play fast and I think you all probably saw a much different style than we have played in the past. And James is one of the reasons for that. He can really get the ball up the floor and get the ball to our big guys.”

Rutgers returns to action Saturday at the RAC against Lance Stephenson and Cincinnati in its Big East opener (SNY, 8 p.m.).

CARACTER PUTS UP ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE

Derrick Caracter put up his fourth consecutive double-double with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds as UTEP routed Norfolk State, 93-56, in the first round of the 48th Sun Bowl Invitational at the Don Haskins Center.

Read my recent feature on Derrick here.

(Photo courtesy Gerry Broome / AP)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

Derrick Caracter was planning on continuing his basketball career at Long Beach State when his mother received a phone call last December that changed his life.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

“He made it,” UTEP coach Tony Barbee wrote by text.

Barbee had previously said if Caracter’s grades were certified,  ”I expect him to have a big role.”

“He’ll bring a tremendous inside presence to our team to go along with Arnett Moultrie, Jeremy Williams, Claude Britten and Wayne Portalatin. We’re big already and I think we’ve got a very productive front line. We’re athletic and long and all those attributes get better when you add Derrick to that mix.”

Caracter transferred to UTEP after Louisville coach Rick Pitino made it clear that he no longer wanted Caracter on the team.

Caracter hasn’t played college hoops since the 2007-08 season when he averaged 8.3 points and 4.5 rebounds. He arrived at UTEP weighing “well over” 300 pounds, but has worked hard to get back into shape.

“He’s in the best shape he’s been in since he got here,” the coach said. “Last January he weighed well over 300 pounds and now he’s down to a  great playing weight of about 270.”

Caracter was a storied, yet troubled high school star who spent time at three different high schools, Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick, Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Notre Dame Prep.

Barbee first recruited Caracter when he was an assistant at Memphis from 2000-06, but Caracter chose Louisville instead.

Caracter struggled at Louisville with weight and disciplinary issues before Pitino finally cut ties.

“We see a 6-9, 300 pound basketball player and we assume he’s a man,” Barbee said.

“But when he stepped foot in college basketball he was a 17-year-old kid and like any of us he made some bad decisions and ours just didn’t happen to be covered by every TV station and Internet site in the country,” Barbee said.

Now he has one more shot at UTEP.

“Whether he looks  at it as a last chance or second chance or whatever chance it is, he’s taken advantage of whatever chance he has left to be effective,” Barbee said.

He has the remainder of this season and one year of eligibility left and Barbee said there is still time for Caracter to reestablish himself as the premier player he once was in high school.

“There’s no denying his second and third jump, his skill level to be able to finish with his left or right hand as efficiently around the rim,” the coach said.

“I know how good of an interior player he was but what’s surprised me I didn’t know that he could shoot the ball from the perimeter like he does.

“He’s got the talent to reclaim his reputation as the talented basketball player he was early on in his career.”

(PHoto courtesy UTEP Athletics)

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.

Derrick Caracter

Caracter, who spent two seasons at Louisville, still needs one class at UTEP to become eligible.

“He’ll be eligible to play at the end of first semester next fall when the final grades are posted. He’s one class short of getting eligible,” Barbee said by phone. “He’s on track to graduate.”

Barbee first recruited Caracter when he was an assistant at Memphis from 2000-06, but Caracter chose Louisville instead.

“We recuited Derrick and knew him well and got to know him and his family and his support system very well,” Barbee said. After Caracter parted ways with Louisville head coach Rick Pitino last summer over issues related to his attitude and weight, Caracter got in touch with Barbee.

“He made contact with us through a third party member who was putting feelers out there to colleges that Derrick might be inerested in,” Barbee said. ”I just had my assistant run down where everything was at and we felt comfortable with where Derrick was at.

“He had been out of basketball since he left Louisville and we wanted to make sure he was still committed to being a college basketball player for the right reasons.

“As talented as he is and as rough as a patch he had leaving Louisville, he could’ve folded up his tent and got a fairly well paid route in Europe. He wasn’t interested in going that route. He wanted to be a college student and a college player.”

Barbee said he emphasized to Caracter that he wasn’t coming in to save the program.

“The biggest thing I told him is, ‘I got a very talented team, not just Stefon Jackson. I’ve got other talented players. You’re not coming here to be the savior. You’re just going to be a cog in the wheel and I’m going to help you get better. The only reason I want you to be here is because you want to come here to win. With winning comes individual success, individual attention. That all comes from winning. If you don’t win, none of us look good.’”

Caracter will practice with the team for the next year, giving Barbee a chance to evaulate and work with him.

“Derrick is a talented player,” Barbee said.  “He has an opportunity over the year. He’ll be practicing with us. He’s got to to treat the practice like his games, as an opportunity to get better without the pressure. He didn’t handle that spotlight very well and now he can practice outside of the spotlight.”

Barbee also want Caracter to focus on staying in shape.

“Obviously, he’s always had a battle with his weight,” Barbee said. “When you’re away from basketball as long as  he was after he left Louisville, he’s got to get his weight back down.”

“I told him you got a year to get yourself right physically, academically and mentally. If you can take care of business and get yourself right in all those ways, youll be ready to change peoples’ perceptions. But it’s going to be based on how you adjust to thosee three things.”

“Derrick really enjoyed his visit to the school and liked what their staff had to say,” said Anthony Ray, an adviser to Caracter.

The 6-foot-9 Caracter, out of Fanwood, N.J.,  is currently enrolled in classes at UTEP and will likely have to sit a year after transferring. He would then be eligible second semester of next year.

I’m trying to track down an official comment from the UTEP coaching staff, but haven’t heard back from them yet.

Caracter spent the last two years at Louisville and was suspended for a total of 17 games. He did not return for this season after repeated conflicts with head coach Rick Pitino over his weight and attitude.

He was linked to several options over the summer — NAIA school Oklahoma City, Division I Southern Miss and the Rochester RazorSharks of the Premier Basketball League.