By Charlie Goldsmith
RICHFIELD, Ohio — Pete Nance pauses to mull the question.
Do you want to be just like your father?
The highest-rated player Northwestern has ever signed sits in the bleachers at Revere High School, six miles south of where his father Larry Nance became a Cavaliers legend and where his No. 22 wine-and-gold jersey earned him a place in the vaunted rafters of a downtown NBA arena.
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Pete has a No. 22 jersey of his own: it’s red and white with his high school’s name across the chest. The number is one of many things he shares with his father.
Pete Nance’s favorite memories are going to Cavs games with his father Larry, and Pete’s favorite stories are the ones his dad has told him about being a Cavalier in the franchise’s pre-LeBron James heyday.
Pete knows all about how his father, then with the Phoenix Suns, beat Dr. J in the 1984 NBA slam dunk contest and how the Cavaliers eliminated the Celtics in Larry Bird’s last season after Nance’s near triple-double in Game 7 of the 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals.
Larry Nance beat Julius Erving in the inaugural All-Star version of the NBA slam dunk contest in 1984, one year before Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins’ epic showdown (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
And while Pete’s older brother, Larry Nance Jr., plays for the Lakers, their father has been drilling Cavs fandom into Pete for a while, giving him a better understanding of what he accomplished in 13 seasons.
“He lived the dream,” Pete said. “Like it’s a game, the game that I love and I think about every day. Doing that is my ultimate goal.”
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Pete Nance appreciates the perks that come as the son of one of the greatest players in the history of his hometown franchise. Pete and Larry go to Quicken Loans Arena for more than 20 games a year. The younger Nance finally met James in the parking lot at “The Q” after a Taylor Swift concert in 2015.
Pete and LeBron had some common ground to cover — Larry’s No. 22 jersey hanging in the rafters definitely came up — and Pete left the conversation encouraged James won’t be leaving the Cavs in free agency this summer.
But being raised by Larry Nance also means hearing a lot about Michael Jordan. Nance was an arms-length away from Jordan when he hit “The Shot” over teammate Craig Ehlo in the 1989 playoffs, and the Bulls eliminated Nance’s Cavs again in 1992.
“That’s like a nightmare for him, it’s stuck in his head,” Pete said. “Dad said they think they could have won that year [in 1989], but Jordan ended all that for him.”
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No, Nance doesn’t hide the game footage from Pete and Larry Jr. They’re a family that will turn on any game, even the “Hardwood Classics,” and dissect how other power forwards have found success.
Pete looks at his older brother through that lens. When he watches Larry Jr. play with the Lakers, he said he sees one of the grittiest players in the league, a rebounder and defender establishing himself alongside a young Lakers core focused on scoring. Larry Jr., who played collegiately at the University of Wyoming, is averaging 8.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game in his third NBA season.
When Larry Jr. is coming down the lane, Pete said opponents have to fear one of the top dunkers in the league.
Larry Nance Jr. obviously inherited his father’s dunking ability, as he has shown in his three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Larry Jr. is thinking about participating in this year’s slam dunk contest in Los Angeles. Given their father is considered one of the greatest dunkers in NBA history, the pressure is on.
But as much as he likes watching his brother play with the Lakers, Nance is mesmerized by the passing ability of his brother’s teammate, Lonzo Ball.
Instead of partaking in the family tradition of dunking on people, Pete said he would rather set up a teammate like Ball.
“My coaches tell me I do that a little too much,” he said.
But it seems to be working out for him. He’s also putting up points for Revere High, averaging 20.6 per game through Jan. 7.
Pete Nance. Best passer in Ohio.
— PrepScouting (NCAA) (@highmajorscoop) January 7, 2018
Pete’s favorite team isn’t the Cavs or the Lakers. Not anymore. And the best game he and his father saw last year took place in Evanston, but they watched it from Ohio.
It was Northwestern’s 67-65 win over Michigan on March 1, in which coach Chris Collins drew up the play that likely sent Northwestern to its first NCAA tournament: Nathan Taphorn threw it to Dererk Pardon across the court and just over the Michigan defense, Pardon finished the layup and a historic weight was lifted off the Wildcats’ shoulders.
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As they watched the students storm the court on TV, Pete remembers getting excited about the program’s future. Northwestern and Michigan were two of his top choices, and Pete and Larry were joking throughout the game.
“It was like, ‘Whoever wins, I’m going there,’” Pete said.
He couldn’t ignore the impact of the win and Northwestern’s first NCAA tournament appearance. That’s the kind of domino effect the program has been waiting for all these years.
“They were just getting three-star, two-star recruits because they didn’t have much history, they hadn’t been there,” Pete said.
But now they have.
Pete Nance committed to the Wildcats three months later.
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To find something that distinguishes Nance from the rest of his family, look at the things that he’s built: a collection of colorful plates, an orange and black basketball bigger than his head and a red crab that would look real on the beach.
The 6-foot-10 forward doubles as a ceramic artist, presumably the tallest in his advanced level high school class. In a family trained to throw basketballs through the net, he said it was just as exciting making one out of clay which would shatter if he ever tried to dunk it.
After taking a rubber sphere, layering clay around it, and popping the interior structure, he was able to finish the ceramic basketball on his first try. Then, he presented it to his parents.
“They have to tell me they like it,” Nance said.
Pete Nance (second from right) poses with his family, which includes a current NBA player in his brother Larry Nance Jr. (far left) and a past slam dunk champion in his father Larry Sr. (center) (Courtesy of the Nance family)
On his first attempt with the crab, it exploded in the kiln because he layered the clay too thick. Air bubbles formed, and the pressure broke the piece of art. But that hasn’t happened since because in his second year studying ceramics, he knows more about the craft.
“Some people might make fun of you for it,” he said. “But I don’t really care that much. I enjoy it, so it doesn’t matter what other people think.”
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Choosing Northwestern was a similar trip off the beaten path.
Northwestern was on Nance before anyone else. At nearly every AAU game he played, a coach was there. When he met Collins, Nance said he saw the same passion for basketball that he sees in his family, and the connection was one factor that separated Northwestern from Ohio State and Michigan, the other two programs he most heavily considered. The other was Northwestern’s recent success.
When he made his official visit to campus, he saw the buzz around the program was real. Assistant coach Armon Gates showed him around Evanston, and he spent time with sophomores Barret Benson and Isiah Brown. They ordered him a pizza from the dining hall as Nance asked them about the team’s style of play, places to live on campus and the quarter system.
Then, the sophomores took him to a run in a players-only open gym led by the captains, Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey, Vic Law and Gavin Skelly. The captains picked teams and Nance, just a high-school junior, was nervous.
He was reluctant to shoot at first, trying to not give any of his future teammates the wrong impression before he even had a uniform. Then the captains pulled him aside.
“They were like, ‘Shoot it, we’re trying to get a feel for you and your game,’” Nance said. “Then, I started shooting it a little bit more and showed them all what I can do.”
The four-star recruit didn’t take long to fit in.
Pete, ranked 39th in the nation by Rivals, was the third four-star recruit to commit under Collins, and he’s joining two more four-star players in his class: point guard Jordan Lathon and wing Miller Kopp, as well as an unranked center, Ryan Young.
With three graduating starters, McIntosh, Lindsey and Skelly, leaving after this season, Nance said he hopes to play right away in Collins’ frontcourt rotation. Skelly currently splits time with sophomore Aaron Falzon at forward, and Nance said he will have the opportunity to fill Skelly’s role in the frontcourt and make a significant and immediate impact.
Had a great scrimmage against Revere today. One thing I can say is they are legit and going to make noise this year. Pete Nance is the real deal I don't think he will do 4 years in college.
— Sonny Johnson (@sonnyjohnson32) November 29, 2017
“Pete is going to school where he has the opportunity to put them on the map and take them to the next level,” said Dean Rahas, Pete’s high school coach, in an interview with the Akron Beacon-Journal. “When it’s all said and done, Pete will probably be the best player to ever play at Northwestern.”
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When Pete and Larry sit down to watch Northwestern now, the younger Nance can become a little distracted. His father continues to analyze how big men aren’t being used the way they used to and how the pace of the game has changed, but Pete checks his phone a little more often. He keeps getting texts from a group chat.
Nance, Lathon, Kopp and Young text throughout the games, thinking about their future roles and praising the captains who influenced their recruiting visits. The incoming freshmen watch McIntosh tell someone to shoot more, which the four of them can definitely relate to.
“We break it down,” Nance said. “We try to see how we could affect the game. … We’ll see if we can add some input when we get there.”
Northwestern is struggling with a 10-7 record and a 1-3 start in the Big 10 going into their Jan. 10 game against Minnesota. Collins could use Nance right now.
Pete Nance (Revere) '18 Jr. Season https://t.co/dRwZgBYcmg via @YouTube
— guestavo (@guestavoo) April 10, 2017
The three seniors, McIntosh, Lindsey and Skelly, as well as Law, a redshirt junior, made up Collins’ first recruiting class at Northwestern and they are credited with turning around the program.
Without their success, Northwestern would probably still be in the spot it was when it hired Collins away from Duke in 2013. After all, the four of them combined for 46 points in that fateful win against Michigan last March.
But now, Nance and the incoming freshmen are entering a different reality. Pete calls the transformation “brand-new everything,” led by the new arena and practice facility expected to be completed by next season.
When he signed with Northwestern in June, the rebuilding had just begun for a program that doesn’t yet boast the same pedigree as the Nance family. But when Collins gave him a black-and-purple Northwestern jersey with No. 22 on the chest, it came with a chance to start a career that will stand on its own.
(Top photo: Courtesy of Pete Nance)
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